re: #8 LSU at #23 Arkansas Gym Meet Thread/ LSU falls to Arkansas

I just used to really enjoy the team - I have been a season ticket holder for years and am a huge gymnastics fan in general (to the extent I follow elite and go to elite meets as well). But it is. Getting unbearable with the lack of consistency - and if our athletes have talent (which they do), then I think the answer has to be coaching.

As I’ve said every week the decline is real.

So ready for these covid years to be over with. Wtf was the ncaa thinking impacting FOUR years of athletics by such a dumb fricking unfair rule?! That’s almost half a decade.

I’m starting to feel such an intense frustration that I don’t recall feeling before. It’s a combination of shite and biased scoring that is getting worse with every passing year, and covid seniors making teams 10x better than the history of their programs. And we still have TWO more years of this bullshite. And I HATE that I’m constantly saying “next year”.. when LSU gets “XYZ” athlete, things will get better. I miss the old coaching staff.

H. Clark elevated the program, since his arrival.

He did the recruiting and coaching while that Breaux Cheerleader, bright outfits, pretended to be a grand dame of gymnastics. Breaux languished in mediocrity for 38+ years then Coach Clark did all the heavy lifting. LSU won NOTHING until he arrived! FACT!!!

“The Dale Brown of Gymnastics”had to have a Rick Huckabee and Tex Winter to prop her up. If I am not mistaken, like Brown she is still in the background.

Clark is an outstanding gymnastic coach. I think he deserves support and more…

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So when we lose the last 45 years it’s always the judges???? BS NONONE complained when after 40 YEARS DD won 3 SECs??? Come on…we lost to Bama UF and UGA for literally 40 years…its not the judges…come on…

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We were not a top program for 45 years. But in the past 10 years or so, thanks to DD, we have been. We may not have won a NC, but we have made it to the Super Six several times, finished 2nd in the nation twice that I can remember, and in the top 6 other times. We won the SEC regular season twice that I can remember, and the SEC Championship I believe 3 times in a row. I may have some of those statistics off, but I would hardly call that record “losing”. We became an elite program, consistently in the top 5 in rankings, expected to go far in post season (which we did), and have had several gymnasts win individual titles. Fans of all teams have always complained about judging here and there - mainly the inconsistency.

But what we’ve seen over the past couple of years is a marked decline. Two years ago we didn’t make it past Day 1 of championships, and last year we didn’t make it out of regionals. And we may not even make the evening session of SEC championships. NO ONE is blaming the general decline on judging.

Same song and dance different year! Like I have said JAY isn’t the man! Good coach but not elite. Too much talent to be losing like this! Unacceptable!

This is a great post. Like…what other 1.5s are hanging around.??

Tori’s, Kam (if/when she’s healthy). Maddie Rau had a 1.5 that looked much better during the 2021 preseason than it had all of the 2020 gymnastics season before she got injured. There’s also Bryce and KJ’s DTY

To answer some questions I've seen.. Olivia and Alexis were both practicing on beam during 101. Alexis did have some things you could take in her routine from meet the bruins preview from last year, but her lines are far superior from anything LSU has 1-4 in the lineup right now. There are more than likely consistency issues with both her and Olivia, but again that is what coaching is supposed to help over time.

I've seen a really good 1.5 vault from Tori, but again I guess the coaches want to take the gamble of the fulls being stuck. Which this is funny seeing how they push the difficulty so much on floor that it has impacted the team's score negatively more times than not.

I really like Jay a lot. I want nothing more than for him to succeed. I do think he has made it a little more difficult on himself than it should be. He is bringing in some massive talent in the next few years, so I’m very hopeful for the future. My main concern is I look at teams such as Denver, Kentucky, and Cal and I see great development in their talent year after year. I follow recruiting and JO somewhat, and it incredible to see the development of their athletes. I just don’t see that happening as much right now. It seems like under DD and Jay’s leadership, it was different. I could say with confidence that they developed and shaped Myia, Gnat, Ewing into the great NCAA gymnasts they were.