STANFORD, Calif. - Following a season in which Stanford finished the year ranked No. 1 in the nation, head coach Thom Glielmi and his coaching staff have been honored as the CGA National Coaching Staff of the Year.
As of 1973, the National Head Coach and Assistant Coaches of the Year are selected annually to the coaches of the team that wins the NCAA Championships. Due to the early cancellation of the 2020 competitive season, the CGA held a vote amongst its members for the National Coaching Staff of the Year in both the NCAA and GymACT divisions for the 2020 season.
Glielmi, who recently completed his 18th year at the helm of the program, had previously earned 2020 West Region Head Coach of the Year while assistant coaches Syque Caesar and Mark Freeman garnered West Region Assistant Coaches of the Year, it was announced on April 25.
The National Coach of the Year selection is the fourth of Glielmi's career after guiding the Cardinal to titles in 2009, 2011 and 2019, while he has also nabbed four Regional Coach of the Year honors. Caesar has now been named Regional and National Assistant Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons, while the honors for Freeman are the first after serving his inaugural year with the Cardinal in 2019-20.
Joining Glielmi as Regional Coaches of the Year are Kip Simons (East, Navy) and Kurt Golder (Central, Michigan). Assistants Craig Holt and Colin Payne (East, Navy) join Xiao Yuan and Jordan Gaarenstroom (Central, Michigan) as Assistant Coach honorees. On the national level, Arizona State's coaching staff garnered the GymACT Staff of the Year selection.
Though it did not have the opportunity to defend its national title in 2020, Stanford finished the season ranked first in the nation on parallel bars (69.333), still rings (69.017) and vault (73.117), second on floor (70.067) and high bar (67.167), and fourth on pommel horse (66.417). Stanford's average team score of 414.783 was more than four points better than Oklahoma's second-place average of 410.133 over the course of the year.
Eight different Stanford gymnasts combined for a program-record 16 All-America honors this year. The 16 selections eclipsed the previous Stanford record of 15 from 2008 and 2019, and were also the most in the nation this year, with Michigan taking second with eight.