The résumé of Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski? Nope. Alabama football head man Nick Saban? Try again. Those stats belong to Utah gymnastics co-head coach Greg Marsden, the winningest coach in college gymnastics history, who notched his 1,000th career victory last weekend at Arizona State.
Not bad for a guy who originally used the gig as a gimmick to get some money while a student at the U in 1976.
“I actually thought I was tricking the athletic department,” Marsden said. “I wanted to use what I was learning in sports psychology, so I wanted to try, in a practical sense, to use what I was learning in classes. I thought I would do this for a year or two and be done, but they actually tricked me, and I got hooked on coaching.”
Some might say Marsden got a little more than hooked. With the complications and technicalities involved in gymnastics, it is not an easy sport to just pick up and start coaching, but thanks to his dedication and attention to detail, Marsden’s style of coaching became a popular outline for coaches who came after him.
“This coach took care of every single detail,” said former Red Rock and All-American Missy Marlowe, who competed at Utah from 1989-1992. “He had the recipe for success and was a master of all of it — from promoting to marketing, to practice to the way we worked out, down to the minute. Everything was studied, calculated and written out. There was purpose and intent to everything we did.”
In today’s world, sports teams have marketing and promotion professionals who are tasked with advertising, but back when Marsden began coaching, it was up to him to help the community learn about his team. Truthfully, he was a pioneer in many aspects of the college gymnastics world.
“There is nothing another school or coach can brag about that Greg didn’t do first, or 20 years ago,” Marlowe said. “Everything he has done for Utah was done for the sport and the nation. He never left a stone unturned, and [he] raised the level of gymnastics. He set the bar for the rest of the country to try and get up to.”
All the efforts made by Marsden have paid off, as the Red Rocks are now one of the “greatest shows on earth,” as one of their marketing campaigns says. The team is head and shoulders above the rest of the nation when it comes to attendance, owning every NCAA gymnastics attendance record. This includes the most people to ever watch a collegiate gymnastics meet and highest average attendance over the course of a season.
For Marsden, it has never been about being honored.
“Greg always wanted to get a reaction out of people, whether it was good or bad,” said former All-American Kristen Kenoyer-Woodland, who was on Marsden’s team from 1990-1993. “I remember my junior year at nationals, we wore these hideous pink outfits, and not just us, but the coaches, too. I just remember Greg saying, ‘I don’t care if people hate this, but you will get noticed for this. You are gonna get noticed for it.’ ”
One aspect of Marsden’s career that has received plenty of publicity over the years is his tendency to get fired up during meets. Marlowe specifically remembers a meet during her freshman year in 1989. She was competing on floor and received a high score for her routine.
A common reaction to a high score would be a high-five, a hug or maybe a pump of the fist, but Marsden had an opposite reaction. He took a pen that was nearby and threw it down on the judges table, causing the pen to explode all over the judge who had presented the score. The reason behind the outburst? The score was too high in Marsden’s eye.
“His intensity is what most people remember, but he has a real sense that he was doing his job to the utmost, and he expected his athletes to do that same,” Marlowe said.
The extreme expressions of emotion from Marsden are fewer and farther between these days than they once were, but current gymnasts of his said he hasn’t lost his desire to coach.
“You know, he’s just someone who is very quiet, but passionate,” said senior Hailee Hansen. “There’s time where he is so passionate that if he does get intense, it’s because he cares. He cares so much about what we’re doing and this program that he will have a more intense side. But it’s important because it motivates us as a team.”
Kenoyer-Woodland agreed.
“He was always a motivating coach, and I think that’s obviously key,” she said. “He always had high expectations for everybody involved with the program. Whether they competed all-around or just one event, he expected excellence.”
Marsden hasn’t expected his gymnasts to perform well just in their sport but in all aspects of life. To that end, he stays in contact with all of his former athletes as much as he can.
“He teaches us a lot about life,” Hansen said. “He puts the most importance on us in school and in our grades. He puts that before anything else, especially our gymnastics career. He always says that this is going to end, but what you do in school is gonna go on forever. He really is an amazing guy and is always there for you.”
It’s not just gymnasts who admire Marsden. His peers in the coaching ranks also recognize the impact he has had on college gymnastics.
“Greg is responsible for what NCAA gymnastics has come to,” said longtime Arizona State head coach John Spini, whose team shared the floor with the Red Rocks as Marsden racked up his 1,000th win. “He is the whole package. He is great with his athletes, marketing and is the best coach in the country. We used to be one, two in the country and went at it at a very high level all the time. He is very competitive, and I am very proud I was able to coach against him.”
That afternoon against the Sun Devils, Hansen said the team was particularly focused on helping Marsden reach the landmark victory.
“It really is unbelievable,” Hansen said. “It’s a really huge deal. We went into [the 1,000th win] meet really wanting to do well to get that win, and once we did, it was really exciting and really fun to be a part of and celebrate that for Greg. He’s super humble and doesn’t want to make it a big deal but it really is. It truly was an amazing experience to be a part of.”
While “congratualtions” and “good jobs” have come from all over from many people since last weekend, perhaps the greatest support comes from Marsden’s partner on and off of the floor, his co-head coach and wife, Megan.
“I am so proud of him,” she said. “Since I’m a pretty significant person in his life, I am just really proud of all that he has accomplished and what he has done with these incredible young women that have come through the program.”
While much has been made of the 1,000 wins, Marsden said achieving such goals is not the reasons why he coaches.
“You always get a new infusion of personalities,” he said. “That’s what is so great about college athletics, that it brings a new challenge every year. The wins are great, the attendance is great, and I enjoy all those, but I really enjoy about the job is coming in [the Dumke Center] from 2:00-5:00 every day. That’s the most exciting part of the job.”
[email protected]
Marsden: ‘hooked on coaching’
Photo courtesy of Utah Athletics.
February 6, 2014