2014 SEC Championships: Coaches Perspective

2014 SEC Championships: Coaches Perspective

Mar 20, 2014 by Brittany Norton
2014 SEC Championships: Coaches Perspective
March 22, 2014
Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center
Birmingham, AL

The SEC is arguably the most competitive conference in all of NCAA Gymnastics. Going into post-season, 4 of the top 6 teams are in the Southeastern Conference.

Auburn head coach, Jeff Graba, went as far as to call it, “one of the premiere events in the country.” Graba also said, “The SEC championship is on a podium, it’s extremely well attended, the competition is bar none the best in the country. It’s a dogfight.”

Georgia head coach, Danna Durante, agrees with Graba about the advantage. “The SEC Championship is a great preparation for the NCAA Championships. In many ways it feels exactly alike and in some ways even more competitive than the National Championships.”


Florida will enter the conference championships as the top ranked team in the country and the defending SEC and NCAA champions. I asked head coach Rhonda Faehn if the pressure from last year’s wins are weighing on the team in the slightest.

Faehn’s response was, “I really feel that this team has their own identity, and they look at last year as an absolutely amazing wonderful exciting accomplishment, and that this team is a new team. They have created their own identity.

We have different strengths, different team members, freshmen, new routines, and faces in the line-ups. I feel with all of that this team has embraced creating their own path and I think that’s what’s exciting. They see there are so many different paths on the road to accomplishing what our goals are, and so far they have followed that and trusted us.”


The Gators only loss this season was to Alabama who is ranked 4th nationally. Head coach Sarah Patterson explained, “You know, I think everybody has kind of beat up on each other.” Patterson also said, “From my perspective it’s always about being the best at the end of the season.”

Patterson also explained how her team used their loss against LSU as a propelling factor for them throughout the season.

LSU is ranked just behind Florida at No. 2 in the nation. Tigers head coach D-D Breaux explained the LSU coaching staff motto.

“The most important thing that we did as a coaching staff early early on was to instill upon our kids the value of consistency, and the message that consistency wins. I think that our ranking this year and the quality of our performance has kind of been built on that foundation.

In this sport you have to win a battle of perception. The judges have to believe that your team is good, your team has to compete well of course, but there is a certain amount of that human factor that you have to deal with every time you step out there.”


Georgia is ranked 6th in the nation and seeded 4th at SEC’s. Gym Dog’s head coach Danna Durante explains their incredible test on the road this season.

“We are voted the toughest schedule in all of college gymnastics. Certainly we’ve seen every team in front of us and those just a few spaces behind us. And when new were on the road at Utah Alabama Florida Auburn, obviously we finished on balance beam. Those have been great opportunities for us to learn from the mistakes that were made and take them and make improvements.”

All of the SEC coaches believe they have an advantage over the over conference teams, because the 2014 NCAA Championship will be held in the same arena as SEC’s.

Auburn’s Graba said, “I think it’s an extreme advantage for the SEC teams. It’s the same arena, same equipment, and we will have been there before everyone else in the country. So not only do we normally get an advantage with being in the toughest conference and on a podium, but we also get the exact same arena.

I don’t know how to take it with it being back there as well. Whether it’s putting more pressure on my team or less pressure, because everybody wants to be there and compete at nationals.”

Saturday’s competition will be broken down into two sessions. The first session being those teams seeded 5-8, and the second session being teams seeded 1-4.

This means that the second session, beginning at 6pm, will host the highest concentration of top-ranked teams, possibly even more than the Super Six. Only time will tell.

Who do you think will snag the 2014 SEC title?



Gymnastike will be on the ground in Birmingham to bring you exclusive podium training videos, interviews,  and live updates from the competition. 

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