re: Remove

LSU has been in the heavy mix with Konnor for a while. She has been to LSU multiple times. She’s actually a big LSU football follower

Jay is the lead recruiter on her.

Hopefully by the end of the summer we start adding more for the 2022 class. Selena Harris is obviously on the top of the list but also keep an eye on a rising level 10 gymnast Miranda Smith (current WVU commit). Lilly is our lone commitment at this time before the recruiting rules came into place.

There are other Texas Dream kids and kids from Georgia Elite I am pretty sure LSU is watching as well.

Kiya named SEC Freshman of the year

Miranda Smith used Courville’s floor music in 2018...it’s a sign! ;)

I didn’t know Michigan received a new facility?

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Getting caught up on some podcasts....

Konnor McClain said on the All Things Gymnastics podcast (on Spotify and Apple podcast) that she enjoys watching UCLA, LSU, Florida, and Michigan. I think with the new Michigan training facility, they are starting to get some huge recruits.

Ok, yeah I heard the story of when it was built and it is a nice facility. I didn’t know about the upgrades so thanks for the info. I know Nebraska just finalized their new facility so we will see what happens there next going forward.

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My question is, what do you all think the LSU coaches (good or bad) will take from this season? What do they hope to build on? What mistakes were made that need to be corrected in order for LSU to get over the hump?

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I know, TLDR but I'm bored during quarantine

Here is our event ranks for the. 2020 season



I've been screaming about routine construction for a while now. If LSU wants to get over the hump for a national title, they have to be smarter about what they put out there. Throwing out difficulty does you no good if its very sloppy or inconsistent. If the athlete cannot execute it well most of the time, it shouldn't be in a routine. We also need to get in better shape across the board, a lot of routines look very labored and this goes hand and hand with all the injuries piling up.

I thought vault was the best rotation for us before all the injuries, they honestly looked better than the previous year but we had no depth. No Ferrer, no Ryan, Edwards goes down with injury, Edney missed many meets on this event. I thought Bob did a great job in the offseason, all the returning vaulters looked cleaner more sure of themselves on vault. I think next year they will be really really good if we can get Kai healthy and upgrade Elena's vault.A trio with Haleigh Bryant/Edwards and Kiya will be as good or better than anyone else in the country.

Bars, we missed Finnegan and Priessman bringing home the big scores. I think being heavily youthful was one reason for some struggles last year but we still were top 5 on this event. Missing Edney on this event compounded the issues even more this season. Personally we have the athletes to be really good next year on bars. A rotation that has. Durante, Alyona, Kai, Kiya, Arenas, Bryant, Dunne, and Dean is a very strong group. I don't know what happened with Kai but her bars were extremely labored last season compared to JO's where she has won many national titles. I don't know if it was from all the injuries but everything about her bars were off last season. I hope a full offseason getting healthy gets her on track. Now, the elephant in the room is Alyona's routine. There are zero excuses not to construct a good routine for her because of what she can do on this event. They need to tone back the difficulty. Personally I wish she did Lexie's old routine, let it be short and simple (yet packed with difficulty). The double layout has to go, not only is it inconsistent but the form is awful. They need to go to the drawing board. If they are going to keep the difficult combination, there is no need to do a double layout, she already has enough difficulty. Let her do a double pike off the bars(she use to compete this). Her layout looks closer to a pike anways than an actual layout.


Beam, the leap series has to be addressed, I cannot imagine counting up all the built in deductions from each routine. We need to focus more on our toe point and leap positions. I hate to sound mean but they were awful last year and its very noticeable. Too many routines weren't close to. the 180 mark. I will personally lose my shite if DD keeps the switch leap combo in Olivia Dunne's routine. That is a routine that could be a game changer if they actually put in good leaps for her.

Floor, this event simply had no depth either last year, it was almost a nightmare. We were ranked #13 nationally on floor, which is very unheard of for LSU. On top of the leap series (again), the choreography and creativity has to improve here. Hopefully ACK makes changes this offseason but I was heavily disappointed in what they put out there last season. It was apparent they got lazy with some kids because they recycled multiple old routines instead of working on a new one. I think the lack of depth on this event killed us this year. Gunter was competing a double Arabian she clearly wasn't ready to do. We had a lot of kids struggling with double backs to dismount which goes back to fitness and stamina. They need to improve the choreography but I think with much better depth and health, we will be back up there again with our floor rotation.



I think the majority of our issues this past year stemmed from lack of depth and the injuries kept piling up. I think LSU is very different team when healthy. But to win a national title and to keep up with OU, DD and Jay have to play the game they are playing. They will need to correct routines in places needed. If there is a positive moving forward, its the depth we built this last year from Dean and all the freshmen. They now have experience and something to build on. Most of our issues are fixable, we won't be lacking talent by any means. Work on the overall health of the team and make adjustment to routines as needed. The future is very bright.

This doesn’t surprise me. I’m actually upset that it took so long. My heart goes out to anyone who has been affected by this. I played three sports while growing up (volleyball, basketball, and softball). I also did cheerleading a few years. I never had a coach treat me bad. I was never screamed at or belittled like most of these gymnasts are. I can’t imagine what these girls have been through. My heart breaks just thinking about it.

Based on this interview, I expect Haleigh to compete AA, especially towards the end of the season. Interesting when Jay said they decided against Edwards having surgery. I think the writing was on the wall, and it was very unlikely they could win a title this year. I just hope Edwards and Kai’s ankles completely heal with this long break.

As far as Jay’s comment regarding conditioning, I think that’s a good focus for now. And that’s about all they can do at the moment with gyms being closed. Clearly the gymnasts were out of shape when the season began. I think Kiya and Ruby were the only two that looked in tip top shape in January. It was most telling in the floor routines. I know the 12-13 deep is highly unlikely, but I at least want to see them have at least 9-10 athletes available on each event. That way the gymnasts won’t get burned out.

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where is the interview with Jay?

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It was an interview over a videoconference with selected media members. He was talking about this season and next season outlook.

Talked about how lack of depth and injuries piling up was a big reason for a lot of struggles. They were suppose to be counting on the freshmen much more but Kai was doing all she could with her injury and Alyona was rushed coming off the achilles injury. All became much worse when Edwards went. down and Edney sustained injuries that kept her out of thin events for LSU.

Briefly talked about Sarah Edwards who is doing really well right now. They considered doing a surgical procedure to help heal her faster but opted not to do anything invasive because the chances of them getting her back was still extremely questionable with that surgery. Ended up being the correct decision, season was eventually canceled.

Right now Jay is on Zoom hours every day talking with coaches at clubs and athletes to continue to maintain and build relationships. Is working with current team to continue to stay and shape and maintain conditioning. With gyms closed, athletes do not have the necessary equipment to train so they are working on keeping everyone in physical condition so things can transition when the gyms open back up.

He talked about next years freshmen class and believes they can be a far more significant impact than this last freshmen class due to talent and overall health as of now. Haleigh Bryant is expected to compete in the AA with Elena and Olivia contributing on many events. Jay also discussed where the big scores would come from, Says a lot of seniors are 'role players' in two or three events. A lot of the splash likely will come from Kiya Johnson, Kai, Alyona and incoming freshmen. Believes the sophomore class can be a much more significant factor when they all are healthy.

Says the depth will be dramatically different next season and on paper that is correct. Should have 9-10 kids running on each event at least. Not everyone will be. able to bring 9.9 types scores but depth will help prevent wear and tear on routine. starters which was missed this season. Will allow for LSU to give kids a rest when. needed.

He is hoping the gyms open back up in the future sometimes soon.