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SALT LAKE CITY — Ahead of the 2024 season, Utah gymnastics now has a full-time head coach.
Carly Dockendorf, who has served as the team's interim head coach since former head coach Tom Farden left the program, becomes the Red Rocks' latest head coach through at least the 2027 season.
"Carly is a tremendous leader who cares deeply about the student-athletes in our gymnastics program and is the perfect person to be the program's next head coach," Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said in a statement. "She has played an instrumental role in the successes of our program in recent years and has guided student-athletes to multiple All-America honors."
Harlan said Dockendorf is "highly respected" inside the gymnastics community and shows "a deep commitment" to helping the athletes as they "reach their potential and pursue greatness."
"She embodies all the characteristics necessary to lead one of the sport's most storied programs, and I have no doubt that she will continue to elevate the program to new heights, producing results in competition, in the classroom and in our community that our fans and alumni can be proud of. I am excited to see Carly take the reins of this program," Harlan added.
Dockendorf served as a volunteer assistant coach with the program before being named the team's assistant coach in 2020 and then again promoted to the associate head coach in 2022. She played a key role in Utah winning four consecutive Pac-12 regular season championships and three consecutive Pac-12 championships.
Most notably, Dockendorf helped lead Utah's beam team to top honors, including a nation-leading 49.670 National Qualifying Score on beam last season, with veteran gymnast Maile O'Keefe recording several perfect 10.0 scores on beam to break a school record.
"It is a dream come true to be named the new head coach of the Utah gymnastics family and lead this spectacular program into the future," Dockendorf said in a statement. "I am so grateful to president Taylor Randall, our athletics leadership of Mark Harlan and Charmelle Green, and the Utah administrative team for trusting me to lead the Red Rocks.
"The legacy that has been built will continue to hold our program at the most elite level of expectation and standard every day. We will continue building upon the foundation of excellence, and developing not only world-class gymnasts but women who will leave this program believing in themselves and ready to impact the world around them."
Dockendorf spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Seattle Pacific University, where she also served as an assistant coach for the university's track and field program. She graduated from Washington, where she won the 2003 Pac-12 uneven bar title and was named a second-team All-American.
