Shannon Welker coaching at Michigan. Welker recently accepted a position as Mizzou's Head Coach.
It's that time of year again. College coaches around the country are starting to move to new positions within the NCAA coaching world. Below are the latest coaching transitisions.
The University of Missouri named Shannon Welker as Head Coach of the women's gymnastics program. Welker comes to Mizzou after five seasons with the University of Michigan and one season with Bowling Green. Welker replaces Rob Drass.
Since his arrival at Mizzou, Coach Welker announced the addition of John Carney and Casey Jo Magee to his staff. Carney most recently spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Oregon State, focusing primarily on uneven bars. Magee will join the Tigers after two years as an asstistant coach at Western Michigan University. Prior to coaching, Magee was an All American gymnast for Arkansas and impressively competed at the elite level after her collegiate career.
Casey Jo Magee during podium training at the 2012 Secret Classic. Photo by Scott Hults.
The trio of Welker, Carney, and Magee show huge potential for turning around the University of Missouri program and making it competitive within its new home in the SEC.
Carney was replaced at Oregon State by Brian Amato. After nearly six years of coaching alongside Kelly Pitzen and Brandy Johnson-Scharpf at Brandy Johnson's Global Gymnastics in Florida, Amato has accepted an assistant coaching position at Oregon State University and will be the head uneven bars coach.
Ball State Head Coach Nadalie Walsh vacates her position to become the new Head Coach of Utah State. Walsh led Ball State for the past six seasons and served as Head Coach as UW Oshkosh before that. Walsh is replacing Jeff Richards as the Utah State Head Coach.
Dave Kuzara recently announced his return to the Assistant Coaching position at the University of Michigan. Kuzara is leaving his post as Head Coach at Western Michigan where he worked for four seasons. Kuzara previously worked as an Assistant Coach for Michigan for three seasons under Head Coach Bev Plocki.
The University of Illinois has named Chad Wiest as their new women's assistant coach. Wiest comes to Illinois from Bowling Green where he coached for three seasons. Wiest was a former gymnast on the Illinois men's team.
On the men's side, Olympic medalist Brett McClure has been hired to lead the Golden Bear men’s gymnastics program. He replaces Tim McNeill who stepped down at the end of the season. McClure, who will hold the title of associate head coach, spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach for the Stanford men's gymnastics team. Cal women's head coach Justin Howell has been promoted to Director of Cal Gymnastics.