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SALT LAKE CITY — From the moment she won a national championship as a gymnast for Utah, Meredith Paulicivic (formerly King) knew she wanted to earn a ring as a Utah gymnastics coach.
In fact, she joked after graduation that Utah hadn’t seen the last of her.
“When we moved here, my husband was unpacking and found an article from when I was a senior captain on the team that said, ‘You haven’t seen the last of King. She says she’s coming back to replace Greg Marsden one day,’” said Paulicivic. “I laughed at it because while I’m not replacing Greg, it’s always been in my head that I wanted to reign as an athlete and come back here and win a ring as a coach.”
Paulicivic is in her second year as the Red Rocks’ assistant coach. The three-time vault All-American is the team’s primary vault coach. She also serves as Utah’s floor exercise choreographer and the director of the program’s summer gymnastic camps.
Prior to her days at Utah, Paulicivic spent her days with her family in Hawaii. Her father was a Marine, her mother a former UCLA dancer. Of course, her mother hoped her daughter would follow her steps as a dancer, but while Paulicivic gave dance a try she found it was “too boring” for her. Paulicivic was a hyperactive child. She often climbed up the chain of her swing set, hanging by her knees at the top. It was then her mother decided it was best to let her daughter burn off energy and learn to safely fall. Gymnastics seemed like the perfect extracurricular activity.
Throughout the years, Paulicivic stuck with both dance and gymnastics. When she was in Level 9 gymnastics — Level 10 is a step before elite — she was entering pointe in ballet. She was forced to decide which sport to continue as both demanded commitment and hours of practice. To her mother’s dismay, Paulicivic chose gymnastics.
“Dance has always been in my blood,” said Paulicivic. “I’ve always taken dance classes when I could and kept up with it. I joined a small hip-hop group in Salt Lake after college and did shows at SeaWorld for a few years after graduation.”
Paulicivic soon found that gymnastics, especially floor exercise, let her enjoy both tumbling and dance. Even at a young age, Paulicivic’s love for choreography showed. She constantly changed her floor routines when competing, adding her own flair. Her creativity got her in trouble as her coaches tried to get her to do the assigned choreography.
“Choreography is the most creative part of the sport. Staying up to date with it is the most fun part for me,” she said.
Paulicivic, who competed for the only Utah gymnastics team to go undefeated in the regular season (1993), helped choreograph floor routines while she was a member of the Red Rocks. She even created two of her own four routines during her tenure.
After graduation, Paulicivic knew she wanted to stay in the sport. She spent 20 years in club gymnastics, chasing the elusive dream of coaching an Olympian. But in the back of her mind, she always knew she wanted to return to the program that she loved so much.
“I wanted to spend half my time in the elite world and half my time in the collegiate world, hoping I would be able to come back to Utah someday,” said Paulicivic.
Her goal of having her name tied with the Utah gymnastics coaching staff was one she wasn’t willing to give up on. She knew Marsden wouldn’t be able to coach the team forever, but she also kept in mind that the future is unpredictable. She didn’t know what would happen, let alone who was going to eventually take over for the legendary coach and if that person would know her.
Paulicivic decided to take things into her own hands. She tirelessly worked to make sure the athletes she coached at the Southern California Elite Gymnastics Academy (SCEGA) were getting recruited to Utah.
“I figured that was the first step. If I was a good enough coach and my kids were getting recruited, then I figured I had the possibility they might look at me at some point,” Paulicivic said of the Red Rocks.
At SCEGA, she coached six U.S. National Team members and many elite-level gymnasts, including former Utah All-American Rachel Tidd. Another of Paulicivic’s 31 SCEGA gymnasts to earn an NCAA scholarship was Brittani McCullough, who was the 2010 NCAA floor champion of UCLA.
“Since I had an athlete on the team and several that were recruited, I began sucking up to former assistant Jeff Graba. Then I met Tom.”
Current co-head coach Tom Farden, who replaced Graba, and Paulicivic became friends. When he was Utah’s assistant coach, he invited the former Ute to coach Red Rocks summer camps, keeping her feet dabbled into the program. The opportunity was a great chance for Paulicivic to show Farden how she worked with athletes in the gym. They got to know each other better and the two constantly stayed in touch.
One day Paulicivic’s husband, George, got laid off his job in California. Farden called her telling her she “had to get out of club gymnastics. No one will treat you like a university.” And with no ties to California now, Farden told Paulicivic she was a perfect candidate for the assistant coach job opening at Arizona.
“Why don’t you call Arizona?” Farden told her.
“He kept pushing me and pushing me and I thought, ‘Jeez, Tom. I’ll look.”
Paulicivic ended up taking the job at Arizona.
It was during the 2015 season with the Wildcats that Paulicivic says Marsden “showed signs of retirement.” She started getting texts from Farden after every meet.
“Hey, nice job Coach.”
“Great beam set.”
Paulicivic knew Farden was watching her beam team in Arizona. Her dream was inching near her.
“I think he knew I wanted to be at Utah,” said Paulicivic. “He knew I was an alumna, so he didn’t have to teach me how to sell Utah in the recruiting process.”
Paulicivic believes Farden watched her coaching at Arizona to see her transition to the NCAA. Then she got the call she’d been waiting for years.
Farden called her, swearing her to secrecy, telling her that Marsden would retire at season’s end and he and Megan Marsden would take the reins of the program. Both wanted her to become the assistant coach.
Now in her second season as a Utah coach, Paulicivic is living the dream. Her thumbprint on the team is being left on the same event she creatively got in trouble for so many years ago. Her floor exercise choreography has been the biggest difference to the team. Having someone in the gym to choreograph every day has helped the program create dynamic, unique routines catered to each gymnast.
“We made a ton of changes just from the Red Rocks Preview to the start of the season,” said Paulicivic. “We make more changes after every meet.”
Paulicivic said co-head coach Megan Marsden is a great second set of eyes, which helps keep the choreography looking clean.
“She’ll say if she’s not certain about something,” said Paulicivic.
To get her creative juices flowing, Paulicivic meets with the team and finds what kind of pieces they’d like to compete. She admits some gymnasts are more vocal and passionate about something they want to do while others enjoy her taking the wheel.
“Occasionally, you must be honest with them and tell them you don’t see their vision working for them,” Paulicivic said. “But the longer you know an athlete, the more you understand their life story, movement pattern and what will look best on them. That’s the trick.”
Paulicivic pointed out that Sabrina Schwab’s routine features more artistic elements because of the way she moves. Then there’s Baely Rowe who has “incredible rhythm” and jams out in her tribute to Prince in her floor exercise.
But choreography is only half the battle. Paulicivic admits finding the right music for a routine can take months.
“It took us three months to find the perfect music for Maddy Stover,” she said. “Now that we have it and were patient, we’re both really happy with how it turned out.”
Once the music is set, Paulicivic sets a goal to create 12 very different routines. It’s important to her because she understands not every athlete has the same artistry or qualities.
“I want their routine to be something they love so much that they can get behind the character or the story and want to fight for the floor spot. If they love their routine, they want to compete. And when they want to compete, they’ll work hard, and that makes the team better.”
While every routine has its own flavor, there are similar qualities in each. All the gymnasts have a “U” in their routine, whether it’s Tiffani Lewis flashing it while jumping or MyKayla Skinner holding it towards the end of her performance.
Paulicivic enjoys the challenge of seeing how many ways she can incorporate the school’s hand sign in her choreography.
“My goal, even when I was coaching club and coming up with 45 routines, has always been for people not to know I did a routine because it has a certain move in it,” said Paulicivic.
But perhaps now people know that when a gymnast holds their hands in a “U,” Paulicivic is behind it because now she’s working her dream job.
“It’s an indescribable feeling that I hope to experience for a really long time.”
