The LSU gymnastics coaching staff will remain intact after Georgia targeted Jay Clark and his assistants to return to his former school after the Tigers’ first national championship, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Raises and new contracts are in store for Clark and assistants Garrett Griffeth, Courtney McCool Griffeth and Ashleigh Gnat, sources said. Details have not been announced. In September, Clark got a two-year contract extension through 2027 with his base salary remaining at $280,000.
According to a report from the Athens (Georgia) Banner-Herald, Clark was at the top of Georgia’s list to replace former Gym Dogs great Courtney Kupets Carter, who was fired Friday after seven seasons. The Griffeths were reportedly also on Georgia’s list of top candidates, either to come with Clark as assistant coaches or to become co-head coaches should Clark turn down the job.
Courtney McCool Griffeth also was a Georgia gymnastics great, helping the Gym Dogs win three NCAA titles as well as winning silver and bronzes medals for the United States in the 2004 Olympics.
Georgia’s athletic director is Josh Brooks, a 2002 LSU graduate and Hammond native. Sources said the school is eager to reclaim its former status as one of the nation’s top gymnastics programs after winning 10 national titles, still the most in women’s gymnastics history, but none since 2009. In recent years, Georgia has languished near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference standings, not reaching the NCAA final since 2016.
Clark, a Georgia graduate and native of Roswell, Georgia, succeeded legendary coach Suzanne Yoculan in 2010 after her 27-year run. Clark lasted only three seasons, criticized for being unable to sustain that level of success.
Then LSU coach D-D Breaux hired Clark after the 2012 season to be her top assistant. He was named co-head coach in 2020 and became LSU’s solo head coach in 2021 upon her retirement after 43 years, at the time the longest tenure of any SEC coach in any sport.
With Clark on board, the Tigers began knocking routinely on the door of an NCAA championship. Four times from 2014-19 LSU finished as the national runner-up.
After making it back to the NCAA championship meet in 2023, finishing fourth, Clark and his staff led the Tigers to their best season ever in 2024. LSU went 31-3, winning the SEC championship meet at the Smoothie King Center, the NCAA Fayetteville regional and on Saturday, a long-awaited NCAA championship. It was LSU’s first SEC title since 2019 and the program’s 10th trip to the NCAA finals — and the Tigers’ eighth since Clark’s arrival.
Clark hired the Griffeths away from Utah, which finished third in the NCAA final Saturday, before the 2022 season. Garrett Griffeth became a full-time assistant and McCool Griffeth became a volunteer coach. LSU hired her as a full-time assistant in July after the NCAA approved a third gymnastics assistant for each school.
Gnat was a 17-time All-American at LSU from 2014-17, winning the 2017 NCAA floor title and that year’s AAI Award, given to the nation’s top senior gymnast. She returned to LSU as an assistant coach before the 2021 season after two years at Penn State.
LSU is expected to have another highly regarded team in 2025 and is bringing in what is regarded as the nation’s top-rated recruiting class, led by U.S. Pan American Games team members Zoe Miller and Kaliya Lincoln.
Among those returning are NCAA floor champion Aleah Finnegan, SEC beam champion Konnor McClain, SEC co-floor champion KJ Johnson and SEC bars champion Ashley Cowan.
Several Tigers are eligible to return for a fifth or sixth season in 2025 but have not yet announced their intentions. That group is led by Haleigh Bryant, who won the NCAA all-around, and SEC all-around and vault titles and the AAI Award as the nation’s top senior gymnast. Also eligible to return are Kiya Johnson, Olivia Dunne, Sierra Ballard, Chase Brock and Alyona Shchennikova, who missed the entire 2024 season with an Achilles injury.
LSU will host a national championship celebration Wednesday. An on-campus parade starts at 6:30 p.m., with a ceremony at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
