Alumni Support Future of Women’s Gymnastics

STANFORD, Calif. -- After an exciting 2025 season for Stanford women’s gymnastics, capped by celebrating the university’s first conference team title in any sport as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the team is now celebrating a generous gift from a pair of former standout Stanford athletes. 

Former Stanford gymnast Nicole Pechanec, ’12, and her husband, Andrew Luck, ’12, MA ’23, have endowed an assistant coaching position to boost the program’s ability to retain and recruit top coaching talent. Vince Smurro will be the inaugural Chris Swircek Associate Head Women’s Gymnastics Coach, a position named for the team’s former associate head coach.

“I am deeply grateful and humbled by the generosity of Nicole and Andrew,” said Chris Swircek, who helped coach the team from 2004 to 2019. “It has been a true blessing to be part of the Stanford family and to work alongside the incredible athletes of Stanford Women’s Gymnastics. They inspired me and helped me grow into a better person.”

During Swircek’s tenure overseeing the vault and uneven bars, the Cardinal produced conference titles in 2004, 2006, and 2008, as well as two NCAA individual event champions on bars (Carly Janiga, 2010; Elizabeth Price, 2018) and one NCAA vault winner (Elizabeth Price, 2015). Swircek continued to serve as a volunteer coach for the Cardinal until 2021.

“We are very grateful for Nicole and Andrew’s incredible generosity and steadfast support of Stanford Athletics,” said Alden Mitchell, the Interim Director of Athletics and Chief Operating Officer. “As former student-athletes, they have experienced firsthand the difference an excellent coach makes, and I am thrilled that someone who has a deep appreciation for the program’s past is helping to build for the future.”

 

Pechanec is a two-time NCAA All-American who competed at two NCAA Championship finals and served as team captain while at Stanford; a twisting release move she invented on the uneven bars is officially named after her. She also competed in three World Championships for the Czech Republic prior to and during her time at Stanford, becoming the first Stanford gymnast to compete at a World Championship during her collegiate career.

Luck played quarterback for the Cardinal, notching a 31–7 record over three seasons and reversing the fortunes of a program fresh off seven consecutive losing seasons. Luck was the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, and he played for the Indianapolis Colts until retiring in 2019. After his successful professional football career, Luck returned to Stanford, completing a master’s degree in education in 2023, and accepting a new role as General Manager for Stanford Football in the fall of 2024. 

“Gymnastics has and always will be an integral part of my life, and this is another way to give back to the opportunities that allowed my hard work and passion to flourish. As a first-generation US citizen, competing for Stanford was the American dream, and by supporting Stanford sports, Andrew and I hope to make more of those dreams, both in and out of the gym, a reality for student-athletes,” said Pechanec.

In honoring her former coach, Pechanec said, “Chris was the epitome of a great coach for me, and my time at Stanford was all the more meaningful because of him. His commitment to women’s sports was evident throughout his long coaching career at Stanford. The hour-plus commute to and from practice and his reliably cheerful and positive attitude contributed to the stable environment I cherished at Stanford. When I think of a coach that I would want my daughters to have in their lives, a coach like Chris ‘Swiz’ Swircek comes to mind.” 

“Nicole and Andrew’s gift to our program is a powerful display of their passion, commitment, and love for Stanford,” said Tabitha Yim, the Rodgers Family Director of Women’s Gymnastics. “As former student-athlete leaders, they’ve continued to guide and uplift Stanford Athletics through their engagement and vision, especially with the evolving NCAA landscape. We are incredibly grateful not only for their generous contribution but for the intentional and heartfelt way they chose to honor our program’s legacy by naming the position after Chris Swircek. Family is at the core of Stanford Women’s Gymnastics, and we are so lucky to have Andrew, Nicole, and Chris in ours. Their impact will be felt for generations to come.”