Hello everyone, and welcome to Gymnastics Insider!
The unfortunate news of the week is that Iowa State University will end its women’s gymnastics program. According to Athletic Director Jamie Pollard, current student-athletes will be allowed to finish their degrees fully funded. As for gymnastics, they either have to transfer — as many are choosing to do — or retire.
It’s unclear what led to this decision, as Pollard’s statement is just riddled with vague terms like “irreconcilable differences,” “conflicts,” and “in-depth conversations.”
But it’s not necessarily surprising following the cancellation of the 2025-26 season on Feb. 8. We saw gymnasts scrambling to find new schools, leaving the program’s future in question.
Oklahoma head coach and former ISU coach KJ Kindler didn’t seem surprised either — the way she put it in a statement, this was a long time coming.
“This outcome follows a troubling pattern of chronic underinvestment, unsafe and inadequate facilities, and a failure to provide the consistent oversight and care that student-athletes deserve,” she told the Des Moines Register.c
Coaching conflicts
Others were quick to point fingers at one person in particular: head coach Ashley Miles Greig. A retired elite and a successful Alabama gymnast, Miles Greig was brought on in 2023. When the school announced the hire, they mentioned her competitive record, but no coaching experience.
This is where things went south, according to former Iowa State associate head coach Ryan Snider, who left the program in April 2025. Snider wrote in an Instagram story, “All you had to do was take accountability for hiring the wrong person. How many athletes, coaches, & parents went to administration & told you about Ashley?”
“You hired a used car salesman to lead a storied division I program,” he added. “In what other sport or [profession] does hiring someone with zero experience make sense?”
An anonymous ISU gymnast also laid blame on Miles Greig. In a letter shared with Gymnastics Now, the gymnast said the program was “chaos,” that athletes made formal complaints about “physical and emotional safety concerns,” and that Miles Greig’s “interactions with our team and assistant coaches was often incredibly hostile and unprofessional.” She also writes that she and her teammates felt unprepared to safely compete in the weeks following their first meet of the season.
ISU would not comment beyond Pollard’s statement.
At least eight ISU gymnasts are now in the transfer portal (check out this handy spreadsheet for updates) and Haylee Hardin visited Michigan this week. This must be super tough for them, but hopefully, the members of the team will get this year of eligibility back, and we’ll see them killing it at their new programs.
Other gym news
- Kaylee Sath is now training at WOGA, according to her USAG profile (h/t Reddit sleuths).
- Millie Bobby Brown will play Kerri Strug in an upcoming biopic called “Perfect.” I do hope it will be well done and not necessarily feel-good. Strug’s story should not get the Disney treatment.
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NCAA standings and schedule
After week 9 (NQS):
Oklahoma 197.943
LSU 197.836
Alabama 197.586
Florida 197.517
UCLA 197.382
LSU killed it over the weekend, earning a 197.9750 to beat Alabama on Friday and then winning over Alabama, Arizona and North Carolina with a 198.200 just two days later. Stanford had an incredible win against OSU with a 198.1500, the third-highest score of the season, and Anna Roberts took the program’s first 10 of the year on vault.
Speaking of 10s, Kailin Chio earned her third in a row, and Skye Blakely nabbed one on beam.
Yesterday featured Missouri at Georgia, Clemson at Michigan, Kentucky at Alabama, and Oklahoma at Arkansas. Tonight we’ll see UCLA at Stanford, and BYU and West Virginia at Utah. Tomorrow is Texas Woman’s at Oklahoma, Alabama at Illinois, and LSU at Florida.
Full standings and schedule at Road to Nationals, and CollegeGymNews has a recap.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Elite competitions
American Cup
(International roster, U.S. roster)
March 7 6 p.m. PT
Streaming live on Peacock (U.S.) and USAG’s YouTube (rest of world)
The American Cup kicks off tonight with an all-new format, which I find deeply confusing. Here’s USAG’s (un)helpful infographic.
Basically, this is a team competition, not an individual one (it seems I was the last to know? Follow for more breaking news). Each country’s team will rotate across three events each for men and women (women will only compete on bars, beam, and floor), and there will be an elimination round every two rotations.
We knew they were going to try to incorporate the mixed team competition here, but honestly, I thought it would be an afterthought, like how clubs are technically competing as teams at nationals. The fact that there will be no all-around scores is a bummer.
TL;DR as per usual, I’m not happy.
Baku Apparatus World Cup
March 5-8
(Live scores)
Kaylia Nemour, Chusovitina, Kalmykova, and Laila Vasileva are on the roster for the second Apparatus World Cup of the season.
Tonight we’ll see vault and bars finals, and tomorrow is beam and floor.
Team USA’s men will no longer participate in Cairo or Antalya due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East. It’s unclear if other nations will follow suit.
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Five at the IX: Syniya Thomas
NC State Sophomore Syniya Thomas chatted with ACC Digital Network about her standout sophomore season.
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