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SALT LAKE CITY — Robert Ladanyi has accepted a position as assistant coach for Utah gymnastics, the team announced Monday.
“We are thrilled to announce Robert Ladanyi as our new assistant coach,” Utah co-head coach Tom Farden said in a statement.
Ladanyi spent the past two seasons with Denver, overseeing vault and floor. He guided the team to its best finish ever at the 2017 NCAA Championships, placing ninth.
The Red Rocks’ head coaching duo, consisting of Farden and Megan Marsden, said they were impressed with Ladanyi’s accomplishments throughout the years, believing he has a lot to offer to the program.
Prior to his stint in Denver, Ladanyi was the assistant coach at Florida from 2006-2015. It was there he coached vault and tumbling on floor, later serving as the uneven bars and co-conditioning coach for the program.
The 12-year veteran of NCAA women’s gymnastics coaching and former coach of the Romanian Junior National Team has coached three NCAA individual champions — Florida’s Alaina Johnson (2013) and Bridget Sloan (2014) on bars and Denver’s Nina McGee (2016) on floor. Johnson and Sloan were the first two NCAA uneven bars champions in Florida history, while McGee was the first NCAA titlist on any event for Denver.
“He is an outstanding coach with a championship pedigree and will be a wonderful addition to our staff. He helped Florida win three NCAA team titles and Denver had its best season in school history this past year,” said Farden.
As for the new coach, he can’t wait until practices are underway.
“I’m very excited to join the University of Utah staff and looking forward to starting as soon as possible,” Ladanyi said in a statement. “I can’t wait to be part of the Utah gymnastics program and look forward to the challenge of competing for the national championship.”
Ladanyi trained with the Romanian National Team before retiring from competition due to injury. He graduated from the Romanian National School of Coaching with a degree in International High Level Gymnastics.
