Katie Minasola Named Head Gymnastics Coach At Eastern Michigan

Katie Minasola Named Head Gymnastics Coach At Eastern Michigan

Eastern Michigan University Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee announced today, July 25, the hiring of Katie Minasola (pronounced MINN-uh-SOLE-uh) as the new women's gymnastics head coach at EMU. A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Minasola

Jul 25, 2017 by Rebecca Johnson
Katie Minasola Named Head Gymnastics Coach At Eastern Michigan
Release via Eastern Michigan Athletics

Eastern Michigan University announced today, July 25, the hiring of Katie Minasola as the new women's gymnastics head coach at EMU in Ypsilanti, Michigan. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Minasola has helped 11 teams to NCAA Regional appearances, including five with Iowa State and six at Michigan State.

"We are thrilled to welcome Katie, her husband, Mike, and their son, Jake, to the Eastern Michigan family," said Scott Wetherbee, EMU's vice president director of athletics. "As a native of Michigan, she knows our state well and how special it is when you get the chance to come back home again."

Minasola spent the past six years working at Iowa State as both an assistant coach and the associate head coach, and has a total of 13 years of coaching experience. She arrives in Ypsilanti following a stint at ISU, where she started as an assistant coach before assuming associate head coach responsibilities during the 2017 campaign. While with the Cyclones, she focused on the beam and assisted in the choreography of the floor routines.

"I want to thank Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee and Senior Associate AD/SWA Erin Kido for this amazing opportunity," added Minasola.

I am honored to become the new head coach of the Eastern Michigan gymnastics team and extremely excited to continue building the success of the program. I cannot wait to be back in my home state and close to family.
Last year in Ames, the Cyclones were successful in their efforts to return to the postseason, making their way into the top-25 twice while qualifying for the NCAA Lincoln Regional. The Cyclones finished the year tied for the second-most improved in the top-30 of the regular season rankings. In addition, she helped Haylee Young qualify for the NCAA National Championship in the all-around.

During her time in East Lansing, Minasola guided the Spartans to the NCAA Regionals six consecutive seasons (2006-11), including posting a pair of top-three team finishes in 2008 and 2011.

Minasola's collegiate career started as a freshman gymnast at Massachusetts in 2000. In her debut season, she was honored as Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for three straight weeks and tied the school record on bars and beam. As a sophomore, she tied her own all-time university record with a on bars. In 2002, Minasola established herself as the all-time UMass record holder on both bars and went on to become the Atlantic 10 conference champion on bars. To complete her collegiate career, Minasola transferred to Mid-American Conference rival Central Michigan, where she set the school's all-time record on bars with two perfect 10.0 performances in 2003. She earned the top score at the MAC Championships, and was also a regional champion on bars, which qualified her for nationals.