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02/12/2012
Top-ranked Utes overcome falls on floor.
02/03/2012
14,926 fans watch epic battle between gym powers
01/13/2012
Utes sweep all four events, all-around.
11/09/2011
Breanna Hughes, Haley Lange are newest Red Rocks
Coaching Synopsis
Year at Utah: 37th
Utah Record: 950-180-6
Career Record: same
Education
Central Arkansas, 1972
Bachelor's Degree
(Physical Education)
Arkansas State, 1973
Master's Degree
(Physical Education)
Highlights
National Championships: 10
NCAA Championships: 9
Top-2 National Finishes: 18
Super Six Appearances: 17 (of 19)
NCAA Event Champions: 24
All-Americans: 317
Coach of the Year Honors: 7
Personal
Hometown: Clarksville, Ark.
Birthdate: Nov. 8, 1950
Family
Married: Megan
Children: Montana, Dakota
Utah's Greg Marsden is the most successful coach in the history of college gymnastics by virtually every measuring stick. On the competitive floor, Marsden's teams have won a record-tying 10 national championships (nine NCAA), accumulated a record 950 victories, qualified for a record 36-straight national championships--including all 30 NCAA Championships--and produced a record 317 All-Americans.
Under Marsden, Utah has accumulated more top-five (27), top-three (22) and top-two (18) national gymnastics finishes than any other school. The Utes have advanced to the NCAA Super Six a record-tying 17 times in the 19-year history of the team finals and Utah is the only school to qualify for the Super Six every year since 2000.
Just as impressive is what Marsden has done in the stands. An innovative and passionate promoter of his sport, he has grown Utah gymnastics into one of the best attended women's sports of all time. The Utah gymnastics team has averaged over 11,200 fans per meet at home for the past 20 years and has won 27 national gymnastics attendance titles.
For the past two years, Utah gymnastics has led all women's teams in attendance, becoming the only sport other than women's basketball to win a season attendance title. The 2010 Ute gymnasts averaged 14,213 fans in the Huntsman Center, while the average attendance at the 2011 home meets was 13,503.
Utah also holds records for single-meet gymnastics attendance (15,558), NCAA Regional attendance (8,469) and NCAA Championships attendance (36,655, three-day total).
Little wonder Ute fans flock to his meets. The Ute gymnastics program set an NCAA record for all sports by going 24 years (1979-2002) without a regular season home loss. Utah's all-time home record of 392-22 has come primarily against the top teams in the land, with a procession of NCAA qualifiers visiting the Huntsman Center each year.
Under Marsden--the only coach in Utah's gymnastics history--the Utes won their first national title in 1981 at the AIAW Championships. When the NCAA began sponsoring women's sports in 1982, the Utes kept winning--capturing five NCAA championships in a row before placing second in 1987. Utah achieved similar success in the 1990s, winning the NCAA Championship in 1990, '92, '94 and '95. The new millennium has been silver plated: Utah finished second in the nation in 2000, 2006, 2007 and 2008, while qualifying for the Super Six all 12 years.
Marsden has always stressed a team approach, but he is also unrivaled on an individual front, where Utah has collected the most All-America awards (317) of any program. Ute gymnasts have also won 24 individual event championships--claiming NCAA titles on every apparatus and in the all-around.
Former Ute Missy Marlowe was the first gymnast to win the coveted Honda Broderick Cup, which recognizes the nation's top female collegiate athlete. Marlowe won the honor in 1992 after winning a record four NCAA individual championships in a single year.
His teams also perform well in the classroom. Marsden has coached eight CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, among them first-team selections Theresa Kulikowski (2002 and 2003), Shannon Bowles (2002), Kristina Baskett (2009) and Daria Bijak (2010). Kulikowski was the 2003 Academic All-American of the Year for all NCAA sports (the only gymnast ever to win college sports' top academic award). Marsden has also coached four second-team Academic All-Americans in Kristen Kenoyer (1993), Molly Northrop (1998) and Baskett (2008), as well as one third-team selection (Melissa Vituj in 2004).
His many coaching honors include a record seven National Coach of the Year citations. In 2005, he was voted the NCAA North Central Region Coach of the Year. He was the 1992 TV Guide/Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Sportsman of the Year and the 1992 MS Sports Person of the Year. In 1986, he won the Dale Rex Award, which recognizes annually "The Utahn Contributing the Most to Athletics." He won five coach of the year honors in Utah's eight years of High Country Athletic Conference and Western Athletic Conference participation from 1986-93. An independent for most of its history, Utah gymnastics is embarking on its first season in the Pac-12 Conference in 2011-12.
Marsden served five years on the NCAA gymnastics committee, was president of the college gymnastics coaching association for two years, and was the NCAA Division I representative for the NACGC/W.
He also has international coaching experience and was the 1987 United States National Women's Program Administrator and U.S.A. National Women's Team coach. As the National Team coach, Marsden led the U.S. to a gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games. The World Championships team he coached finished sixth.
He was a floor manager at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the transportation coordinator at the 1979 World Championships. He brought the 1979 USGF World Championship Trials, the 1980 and '82 USGF Championships of the USA, and the 1993 World University Games Trials to Salt Lake City. In 1988, he was on the organizing committee for the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, also held in Salt Lake City.
Marsden, a native of Clarksville, Ark., was born Nov. 8, 1950. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in physical education from Central Arkansas (1972) and Arkansas State (1973), respectively. He is married to the former Megan McCunniff, a two-time NCAA all-around champion during her Utah gymnastics career. Megan has coached alongside him for the past 27 years and is in her third year as the co-head coach. They have two sons, Montana and Dakota.
Year Record Regionals Nationals
1976 5-3 2nd 10th
1977 10-2-1 2nd 9th
1978 11-5 2nd 6th
1979 14-5 1st 4th
1980 28-1 1st 2nd
1981 26-2 1st 1st
1982 11-2 2nd 1st
1983 20-2 2nd 1st
1984 17-2 1st 1st
1985 13-1 1st 1st
1986 13-1 1st 1st
1987 14-2 2nd 2nd
1988 16-3 1st 2nd
1989 15-2 1st 5th
1990 18-1 1st 1st
1991 13-1 1st 2nd
1992 16-1 1st 1st
1993 17-0 1st 3rd
1994 13-1 1st 1st
1995 16-1 1st 1st
1996 10-1 1st 3rd (tie)
1997 11-1 1st 7th
1998 7-3 1st 4th
1999 12-1 2nd 7th
2000 10-4 1st 2nd
2001 13-1-1 1st 5th (tie)
2002 9-2 1st 4th
2003 7-5 1st 6th
2004 13-1 1st 6th
2005 12-2 1st 3rd
2006 11-2 2nd 2nd
2007 13-3 1st 2nd
2008 12-1 1st 2nd
2009 12-1 1st 3rd
2010 11-3 2nd 6th
2011 8-3 16-10 5th
Total 477-72-2 (950-180-6 with postseason)
