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Gymnastics: Marsden, Farden move forward after end of era

gym.jpg
Photo credit: Christopher Samuels

When talking about the future of the Utah gymnastics program following her husband’s retirement, Red Rocks co-head coach Megan Marsden slipped up.

“Greg and I — wait — Tom and I are confident we are going to be able to carry on the high standards,” she said.

Sometimes old habits die hard.

A new era in Utah gymnastics history began on Tuesday when Greg Marsden stepped down. But just like the habit of referring to her husband as a leader on the team, don’t expect the trends set by the father of the program to disappear.

The Utes kept things in house, with Megan Marsden remaining in her current position and five-year Utah assistant Tom Farden being promoted to co-head coach. The two have worked under and beside Greg Marsden, but they have had their share of success themselves.

As a gymnast or coach, Megan Marsden has been involved with all 10 of Utah’s national championships, and now people might start to realize just how much she has done.

After an illustrious competitive career with the Utes, where she won three NCAA individual championships, including two all-around titles, she transitioned to being an assistant coach under her husband. For the last 35 years, Megan Marsden has been primarily responsible to train the Utah beamers, and the results speak for themselves.

She is the only coach who can claim back-to-back beam champions, Missy Marlowe in 1991-92 and Summer Reid in 1996-97. Marsden also has three other beam titles to her coaching credit, Theresa Kulikowski in 1999 and 2001, and Ashley Postell in 2007.

She is a proven coach, but she was often overshadowed by her husband.

“This has been a partnership for 35 years. She has never gotten the credit she deserved — hopefully now she will,” Greg Marsden said. “I could not have done this without her. This has been a partnership.”

Megan Marsden now has a new partner.

Five years ago, as Farden was getting off a plane, he noticed he had a voicemail from Greg Marsden, asking if he would be interested in coming to work at Utah.

“Legendary program, unbelievable support, unbelievable results, in a beautiful state — sign me up, let’s go,” Farden thought.

He quickly called his wife and asked, “Hey, want to move to Utah?”

Megan Marsden said she and Greg rapidly realized that Farden would be the one to lead the program after they were gone, and Greg started leaving little hints.

Greg Marsden would often tease Farden, saying, “Hey, maybe one day you’ll be the one running this program.”

The now-retired coach did this to prepare people for what was coming, and Farden picked up on that and started prepping for a bigger role.

“For the past couple of years I have been preparing myself for a leadership role with Megan, and lead this team to great heights,” Farden said.

For a year now, Farden has known he would be taking over as co-head coach, and because of that he used the 2015 season to study what Greg Marsden did.

“Just watching what he did every day, watching his timing on things and watching how things go, from an administrative standpoint and from a coach’s standpoint, with all the attention that I could,” Farden said. “It was my last opportunity to spend time with a brilliant gymnastics coach.”

During the 2015 season, Greg Marsden often took a step back in practice and allowed his wife and Farden to take over. This was done to help them prepare for life without him — something Megan Marsden has never known.

For 35 years she has come to work each day with her husband, and while some have always questioned how she has been able to do it, she’s not sure if she’s going to enjoy him staying behind.

“I guess I’m ready to find out,” she said. “I’m not sure I’m going to love that, but what I do know … is [a feeling] of excitement as we move forward in the future of Utah gymnastics.”

One of the reasons for her excitement is her new co-head coach.

Farden helped Utah win its first individual national championship since 2007 when Georgia Dabritz took home the uneven bars NCAA title last Sunday.

“It was overdue, because Georgia Dabritz has been unbelievable over her four years here on the uneven bars, as we all know,” Farden said. “She finally got the appreciation, and the scores and the championship that she deserved — she is one of the most unique and incredible bar performers that this country has ever seen in the NCAA.”

While the individual championship is nice, the Utes just missed out on fulfilling a promise made by Farden when he got to Utah. When he first arrived in Salt Lake he told Greg Marsden he came to help him win another championship, and on Saturday he was .05 short of making that come true.

During Tuesday’s press conference Farden turned to Greg and said, “You know what, boss, for 43 seconds we were the national champions — until [Florida’s] last bar routine — I just want you to know that I did help you.”

If there is anybody out there questioning Farden’s ability, the Utes’ NCAA championship performance should silence them. In the Super Six, Utah scored a 49.575 on bars, Farden’s primary responsibility, and that score marked Utah’s highest scored set of the championship meet.

Farden has also been the team’s primary recruiter the last few seasons, and considering the Utes had four freshmen (Kari Lee, Tiffani Lewis, Samantha Partyka and Maddy Stover) all contribute in the Super Six, he’s done a pretty fine job in that department.

That group of freshmen is another reason Megan Marsden is excited for the future.

“I think about what’s coming up next,” Megan Marsden said. “I watched our freshmen over the weekend, who were a big part of our success, and they are all around for another three years. But when talking about the future of the program … I think what will make it best for Greg as he moves on into retirement is to watch this program continue to soar, and I feel strongly that we will move forward loud and proud, as Utah gymnastics has always been.”

As for the two coaches’ roles for next season, Farden said he is going to remain on bars, as well as take over vault. Megan Marsden will stick with the beam, and the two are hoping to bring in an assistant to help with floor and choreography.

That assistant, however, won’t be Greg Marsden. On Tuesday, he made it clear that he was not going to be in the gym, and will allow his wife and Farden to completely take over. However, the two both say they are going to continue to come to him for help.

“I do believe that he physically won’t be around, but I am hoping that I can bounce ideas off of him from time to time,” Megan Marsden said. “I hope that doesn’t go away because we are married, we are going to spend time together, and it’s important that I can continue to share my career on some level — hopefully at home, once in a while, we can talk about gymnastics.”

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@millerjryan

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