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Marsden Hits Another Milestone in Legendary Career at Utah

Marsden Hits Another Milestone in Legendary Career at Utah

Feb 7, 2014 by Anne Phillips
Marsden Hits Another Milestone in Legendary Career at Utah


With Utah's huge 197.200-194.900 win over Arizona State on Saturday, Greg Marsden successfully became the first 1,000-win coach in college gymnastics history. 

Originally a diver in college, Marsden only got involved in gymnastics to help with his own athletic endeavors. In a 2009 interview with Gymnastike, Masden shared, "In college, I was a diver - not a very good one - so I took a gymnastics class to help with my diving and got really intrigued by it. I wound up competing a little bit in AAU, especially on vault and floor which were probably the most similar to my diving." From there, he found himself coaching. 

Marsden never expected those first gymnastics classes would lead him to become one of the most legendary coaches in NCAA gymnastics history. Utah hired the young, new coach in 1976 simply so they could meet Title IX requirements. Since then, his impact on the Utah Gymnastics program and on NCAA gymnastics as a whole has been remarkable. 

Marsden quickly brought the Utah program to National level prominence, winning 10 National titles and becoming the only team to qualify for all 32 NCAA Championships. In addition to being a great coach, Marsden has proven to be somewhat of a marketing genius. Perhaps Marsden's biggest accomplishment has been his lasting impact on the fan base and viability of collegiate gymnastics. He is known for revolutionizing the fan experience at NCAA gymnastics meets and bringing the sport to a wider audience. What started with Marsden at Utah spread nation-wide to programs like Alabama and Georgia. 

When we asked Marsden how this all came about in his early years as a coach, he shared, "I tried to get the media. We were having some success, but I was having a hard team getting a lot of exposure for the program," he reflected. "I kept calling media people, and finally someone said to me, 'You know, coach, it's not our job to help you promote your program. It's our job to report on what people are interested in. If you get four or five thousand people to your meets, you won't have to call us anymore; we'll be there.' That really hit me and made me understand that if I wanted this to become what I felt like it could be, then I had to address that part of it. I had to make it something that was popular and that people would be willing to come and see."

From there, Marsden studied other sporting events with high attendance and began applying these practices to his home meets. He adjusted the meet format and cut out down time during the event. He says one of his first goals was, "to make the audience feel like they were informed and feel like they could make difference in the outcome of the meet."

"We were criticized in the beginning because at that time, gymnastics was almost like a dance recital." They were quiet, slow-paced, and lacked audience involvement. Today, you can expect the exact opposite when attending a Utah Gymnastics meet. Utah home meets are quite the spectacle. They consistently sell out their home meets, held in the 15,000-seat Huntsman Center, and lead the nation in home attendance. This all came about because Marsden chose to continuously push the envelope. 


Along the way, he's always been known to deflect attention and keep the focus on his team, so his humble post-meet reaction to his winning milestone came as no surprise. "I feel it is a great accomplishment for the program and a tribute to our current and past teams and staff, but I'm glad it's over. I didn't want it [1,000 wins] to become a distraction. The team handled the task at hand very well."

Watch Utah Athletics' video honoring Marsden. He earned win No. 1,000 in just 1,206 meets for a winning percentage of .829. 




Add Saturday's 1,000th victory as another great achievement in Marsden's coaching legacy but there is plenty more excitement in store for Utah gymnastics this season. Loaded with with one of his best teams in recent history, Marsden's Utes are currently ranked 4th nationally and have yet to be beaten in 2014. They are off to their first 6-0 start since their NCAA runner-up season in 2008. 

Their 197.20 at Arizona State was the team's highest score so far this year and was also the first time this season they did not have to count a fall on balance beam. Once Utah gets their beam lineup in order, they will certainly be national title contenders. 


In particular, junior All American Georgia Dabritz is having an incredible season and will be one to watch in the post-season. She's been competing three events for Utah and is nationally ranked on each. She is unbeaten on uneven bars in 2014 and ranks 2nd Nationally on the event. She's tied for 6th nationally on vault with teammate Tory Wilson. Finally, she sits in 2nd on floor with one of the most difficult routines in the country - piked full in first pass and triple twist last pass.  

Next up for Utah is a Friday, Feb. 7 home meet against #13 ranked Arizona. According to utahgymnastics.net, fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:45 for a pre-meet celebration of Marsden's 1,000th win. The meet will start at 7 p.m. You can follow LIVE updates of the exciting event right here on Gymnastike.


We especailly love this tweet by Utah asssistant coach Tom Farden: