Vince Smurro enters his third season as an assistant coach with Stanford in 2023-24.
Smurro continued his success at Stanford throughout his second season, leading both the vault and bars teams to new levels of success. On bars, he led the Cardinal to a season-high team score of 49.525, the highest single event score of the season for Stanford and tied for the 11th-best score on bars in program history. The Cardinal saw 14 9.90-or-better efforts throughout the 2023 campaign and five gymnasts earned or matched their career-best efforts on the event. The team finished 13th in the nation on the event, up 19 spots from its 2022 ranking.
The Cardinal's vault program saw similar achievements on vault, finishing the season ranked 30th in the nation on the event. Smurro's vault squad recorded a season-best score of 49.450 on vault at the 2023 NCAA Regionals in Los Angeles, Calif., tied for the tenth-best score ever recorded by the Cardinal on the event. Stanford saw seven scores of 9.90-or-better throughout the campaign and six Cardinal gymnasts set or matched their career-best scores on the event.
In his first year with the Cardinal, Smurro helped lead Stanford to its best team overall finish since the 2016 season and aided the Cardinal in a top-35 bars ranking, up more than 20 spots from the previous season. The team recorded its season-high bars team score of 49.450 at the NCAA Regional Semifinals on March 31, which was the final rotation of Stanford's successful upset-bid over No. 13 Oregon State and No. 19 Illinois for a spot in the NCAA Regional Finals. The team also marked a season-best score on bars against UCLA on Feb. 12, leading the Cardinal to its first win over UCLA since the 2016 season. With Smurro at the helm of the Cardinal's bars efforts, the team's season-high scores were the best since the 2016 season. Stanford saw eight 9.90-or-better efforts bars throughout the season while seven Cardinal recorded or matched career-best scores on the event.
Smurro joined the Cardinal staff after serving as the assistant coach at Iowa since 2017, helping guide the Hawkeyes to four NCAA Regional appearances while being primarily responsible for the uneven bars. During his five-year tenure at Iowa, Smurro coached four All-Americans and 10 All-Big Ten honorees, including four first-team selections.
The Hawkeyes are coming off an impressive 2021 campaign, capturing their first Big Ten regular-season championship and second-highest NCAA Regional score in school history on the way to a No. 17 national finish.
From 2015-17, Smurro spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Central Michigan, guiding the Chippewas to a 19th-place finish in the final 2015 NCAA rankings, assisting and spotting athletes on vault, bars and floor, along with MAC regular-season and tournament titles. Smurro also served as the Chippewas' recruiting organizer and social media manager.
Prior to his stop at Central Michigan, Smurro served as the USAG Women's Coach at Devlin Gymnastics in his hometown of Manasquan, New Jersey.
Smurro boasts an impressive collegiate resume, as he was named a USAG All-American on the high bar in 2010 and the parallel bars in 2011 while at William & Mary. Smurro transferred to Illinois in 2011, helping the Illini to NCAA and Big Ten team titles in 2012. As a senior in 2013, Smurro finished 10th at the NCAA Championships on floor, recording the third-highest score in school history. Smurro also helped Illinois to a sixth-place finish in the team competition.
A two-time College Gymnastics Association First Team Academic All-American, Smurro earned his bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary health at Illinois in 2013. He received his master's degree in sports administration from Central Michigan in May 2016.