New Cyclone Gymnastics Coach Hired - Ashley Miles Greig

[Cycsk]

Ames, Iowa – Four-time NCAA champion Ashley Miles Greig has been named the eighth head coach in the history of the Iowa State women's gymnastics program following a nationwide search, ISU Senior Associate Athletics Director Dr. Calli Sanders announced today.

Ashley Miles Greig Selected To Lead Iowa State Women’s Gymnastics Program - Iowa State University Athletics

Four-time NCAA champion Ashley Miles Greig has been named the eighth head coach in the history of the Iowa State women's gymnastics program following a nationwide

cyclones.com

Interesting hire. Great college athlete and team caption on Alabama championship teams but has not coaching experience, not even as a college assistant (if I read the summary correctly). I am guessing she must have had a home run hitting interview.

My guess is that she showed great potential for recruitment. She can hire great assistants to do much of the coaching.

 

[Cycsk]

Bold move...never served on a college-level gymnastics coaching staff...

Hoiberg-esque!

 

[Cycsk]

Ronayne was making $134k per year.

And his wife Mary was the program's operations director (or something like that).

 

[Cycsk]

It can happen. We had success with former gymnast turned coach in our own KJ Kindler.

She then wanted better facilities so she went to OU and has built a dynasty there winning 6 national titles.

KJ had the benefit of having Amy Pyle as a coaching mentor.

 

[Cycsk]

The program has been in a downward spiral for the last several years. This year, they missed the NCAA regional meet as a team, which is hard to miss, and have been last in the Big 12 the past two years.

The Cyclones finished the 2023 season 8-10 overall, last at the Big 12 Championship and missed an NCAA Regional bid for only the second time since the 1996-97 season (excluding the 2019-20 season impacted by COVID-19).

The downward spiral was not a free fall. My suspicion is that expectations and accountability had increased, particularly with the quick turnaround of the tennis program.

Ronayne's are great people and built a wonderful team community (in a sport that is wrought with scummy people and horrible team communities). Alas, college athletics these days places an increasing premium on winning. Sigh.

 

[Three4Cy]

The downward spiral was not a free fall. My suspicion is that expectations and accountability had increased, particularly with the quick turnaround of the tennis program.

Ronayne's are great people and built a wonderful team community (in a sport that is wrought with scummy people and horrible team communities). Alas, college athletics these days places an increasing premium on winning. Sigh.

I agree it was not a free fall; however, the last few years results and not making the NCAA regional meet this year were probably the final nail in the coffin.

Kindler left after the 2006 season when we were ranked # 4 and made the SuperSix, and Jay never got us out of regionals as a team. The 2007 team had a lot of talent, including Janet Anson. Throw in the fact that we were 9-14 against Iowa in his tenure, including 1-5 in the last six years.

 

[Cycsk]

I agree it was not a free fall; however, the last few years results and not making the NCAA regional meet this year were probably the final nail in the coffin.

Kindler left after the 2006 season when we were ranked # 4 and made the SuperSix, and Jay never got us out of regionals as a team. The 2007 team had a lot of talent, including Janet Anson. Throw in the fact that we were 9-14 against Iowa in his tenure, including 1-5 in the last six years.

I think it was the lack of getting out of regionals (and not making regionals this year) that was the biggest factor. Winning meets, even the CyHok meet, doesn't seem that important in gymnastics, except for the overall CyHok trophy. Not making regionals this year, at a time when the AD probably wants them to be spiraling upward, may have been too much.