Smith Named Gymnastics Coach At Utah State

Chapel Hill, N.C. - North Carolina associate gymnastics head coach Amy Smith was named head coach at Utah State Monday. Smith joins the Aggies after spending the past five seasons at North Carolina. She joined the program in 2013 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2014.

Smith replaces Nadalie Walsh, who is the new gymnastics coach at Illinois.

"We are extremely excited and proud of Amy," said UNC coach Derek Galvin. "She is most deserving of this opportunity. She has an incredible resume with success at every stop. During her five seasons with us in Chapel Hill, she showed a unique ability to get the most our of our athletes, and we became a better team with her leadership, enthusiasm and commitment to our program.

"On a personal level, I will miss her daily friendship as she helped me become a better coach and administrator. We will now begin the difficult process of finding someone to replace Amy, which will be difficult to replicate. Our entire team and department is thrilled for Amy and we wish her and the Aggies nothing but success in the future."

During her time at North Carolina, Smith played an instrumental role in developing some of the Tar Heels' top all-arounders in recent memory. Elizabeth Durkac was named the 2013 East Atlantic Gymnastics League co-Gymnast of the Year and Haley Watts was tabbed the 2015 EAGL Senior of the Year.

Smith capped her time at UNC by being tabbed the 2017 EAGL Assistant Coach of the Year, while Morgan Lane and Khazia Hislop were tabbed the conference's Gymnast of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively.

Prior to North Carolina, Smith spent the 2011-12 season on the coaching staff at UCLA, where she began her coaching career in 1998 as an undergraduate assistant coach under the guidance of head coach Valorie Kondos Field.

From 2003-06, Smith was a volunteer assistant coach at Florida, where she became an established choreographer, specializing in floor exercise. During her time with the Gators, Smith choreographed routines for six All-Americans.

Furthermore, Smith served as Kentucky's choreographer from 2003-05.

Smith was an assistant coach at Missouri from 2007-11 and helped guide the Tigers to their first-ever NCAA Championship appearance in 2010. As the team choreographer and balance beam coach, she helped Sarah Shire earn a runner-up finish on floor at the 2010 NCAA Championships and the 2009 Big 12 beam title. Additionally, Adrianne Perry won two consecutive Big 12 floor titles in 2008 and 2009 under Smith's tutelage.

Upon her return to UCLA, Smith helped coach the Bruins to a third consecutive top-three finish at the 2012 NCAA Championships.

A 2001 UCLA graduate, Smith was the team's co-captain in 1996 and 1997, leading the Bruins to a runner-up finish in 1996 and their first NCAA Championship in 1997. She earned first-team All-America honors on floor exercise in 1995 and 1997, and on vault in '97. She was also the 1997 Pac-10 floor exercise and West Region vault champion, and the 1996 West Region floor champion.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Khazia Hislop

Morgan Lane

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