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SALT LAKE CITY — Carly Dockendorf had plans to run a three-day, 100-kilometer race in Argentina the first week of December.
The longtime Utah gymnastics assistant coach had trained for the race for months, and it was the last big competition before the 2024 gymnastics season got into full swing.
But after a tumultuous couple of months for the program — an external investigation into the practices of head coach Tom Farden that returned no corroborating evidence of misconduct, Kara Eaker retiring from the sport while citing abuse, and Farden's eventual decision to step down — Dockendorf stayed home.
More than just being named the interim head coach responsible now for the gymnasts she's helped coach since 2018, Dockendorf wanted to help bring some stability to the athletes and the program.
"I didn't go because the priority is here," Dockendorf said Friday afternoon in her first meeting with local media. "I really wanted to make sure I was communicating the message that this is what the priority is and running will always be there."
On Thursday, Dockendorf was officially named the program's head coach, becoming the "first sole woman" to lead the storied program with 10 national championships. Though it came in a less than conventional manner, none of that is lost on Dockendorf that she's now tasked with leading a gymnastics program that is the only one in the NCAA to make it to nationals every season of its existence.
"I think that just talks about women in sports. It feels very empowering that there's more female head coaches out there running programs such as Utah gymnastics," Dockendorf said. "That really means a lot to me.
Though Utah is Dockendorf's first stop as a head coach, she remains "extremely competitive" as she makes the transition from assistant to head coach.
"I mean, the Red Rocks are a legacy program, and to have this opportunity is just an absolute dream," Dockendorf said. "I feel like I've been working my entire life for this moment. ... Working at Division II to being with and spending seven years here with Megan (Marsden) and Tom. This is just what I've aspired to be. I'm extremely competitive; I hate to lose. I'm just really looking forward to the challenges ahead."
That transition remains a difficult challenge, though, especially being thrown into the head spot just a month before formal competition begins. And though Dockendorf continues with a staff already in place — Jimmy Pratt will move over to coach uneven bars while having a hand on vault with Dockendorf — she's relying on the veteran leaders of the team to set the tone.
With five seniors on the roster, including three "super seniors" — Maile O'Keefe, Abby Paulson and Jaedyn Rucker — Dockendorf believes their "courage" will help her and the team "take the step forward" it needs this upcoming season.
"In a normal preseason, it's just challenging enough on its own just to get your gymnastics ready for season," Dockendorf said. "And yet, this team had so many other distractions and noise, and for them to be able to get their routines ready and still come together every single day as a unified team, I think it just really shows their strength and how resilient they are, and what they're going to bring this season."
How it all comes together remains to be seen, but Dockendorf hopes that what she preached to her beam team about confidence will carry over to the team she's now been hired to lead. There will be mistakes and areas of growth, but it's having confidence, she said, that will give everyone in the program hope for the upcoming season.
"That's just been an area that I've really emphasized is building confidence in who they are, not necessarily just as gymnasts," Dockendorf said. "I'm looking forward to kind of sprinkling that kind of throughout the whole team on the other events, as well.
"I've had opportunities to go to other places and the women that are on this team is probably one of the No. 1 reasons I've stayed here. Of course, they're amazing at gymnastics, but it's really who they are as women and what they bring to the sport and to the community. I'm just so passionate about that. I love this university."
