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COACHING SYNOPSIS
Year at Utah: 35th
Utah Record: 922-160-6
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
NCAA Event Champions: 24
All-Americans: 304
National Coach of the Year: 7
PERSONAL
Hometown: Clarksville, Ark.
Birth Date: Nov. 8, 1950
FAMILY
Married: Megan (McCunniff)
Children: Montana and Dakota
Utah coach Greg Marsden is the first and only 900-win coach in college gymnastics. It is one of many `firsts' and `onlys' for one of college athletics' most successful coaches. Others include: Taking his first team to the 1976 national championship, winning the first NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship (held in 1982, becoming the first coach to win 10 national titles (including nine NCAA Championships) and coaching the only program to qualify for all 28 NCAA Championships.
Marsden has compiled a 922-160-6 record in 34 years--all at Utah--and he is 458-66-2 in regular season meets. He earned his 900th win in the 2008 NCAA Super Six team finals, where his team finished second. His ledger includes an amazing 380-20 home record and the Utah gymnastics program set an NCAA record for all sports by going 23 years without a regular season home loss from 1979-2003.
Under Marsden, Utah has accumulated more top-five (27), top-three (22) and top-two (18) national gymnastics finishes than any other school.
Utah won its 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 current decade has been silver plated: Utah finished second in the nation in 2000, 2006, 2007 and 2008, while qualifying for the Super Six all nine years.
Marsden has always stressed a team approach, but he is also unrivaled on an individual front. Utah has collected the most All-America awards (304) 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 seven CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, among them first-team selections Theresa Kulikowski (2002 and 2003), Shannon Bowles (2002) and Kristina Baskett (2009). Kulikowski was the 2003 Academic All-American of the Year for all NCAA sports--beating out more than 360,000 other student-athletes. She remains 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).
Marsden has developed not only one of college athletics great dynasties, but a revenue-producer. A consummate marketer of his sport, Marsden has won over the Salt Lake community and the Utes have led the nation in gymnastics home attendance in 25 of the last 28 years (finishing second the other three times). In 2009, the Utes broke their own NCAA single-season attendance record by averaging 13,861 fans in the Huntsman Center. Since 1992, Utah has averaged over 11,000 fans a meet at home.
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." In eight years of conference participation (the Utes have operated as an independent for most of their history), he was coach of the year five times.
Marsden spent 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.
His international coaching portfolio includes serving as 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, and his assistant coach since 1985. They have two sons, Montana and Dakota. Montana is a sophomore at the University of Utah.
| 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 | 1st | 2nd |
| 2007 | 13-3 | 1st | 2nd |
| 2008 | 12-1 | 1st | 2nd |
| 2009 | 12-1 | 1st | 3rd |
Total 458-66-2 (922-160-6 with postseason)
