DENVER – The University of Denver gymnastics coaching staff were named the 2019 National Coaches of the Year, the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association announced on Wednesday.
 
Head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart was named the National Coach of the Year while associate head coach Linas Gaveika and assistant coach Jay Hogue were named National Assistant Coaches of the Year.
 
Denver is coming off arguably the most successful season in program history. The Pioneers concluded their 2019 campaign with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA National Championships, the highest the team has ever placed. It secured DU's final national ranking of No. 4, a program record for highest-ever ranking, regular- or postseason.
 
Together, Kutcher-Rinehart, Gaveika and Hogue were instrumental in several program firsts in 2019. Denver advanced to the final championship round at the NCAA National Championships for the first time ever – and doing so with the narrowed field of just four teams. The Pioneers collected the program's first-ever victories over Alabama and Florida, and just its second over Georgia. DU achieved its first-ever top five national ranking and was never ranked outside of the top eight nationally during the season. Additionally, seven of the top nine scores in school history were set in 2019.
 
As the team's lead coach on beam, Kutcher-Rinehart helped Denver to seven of the school's top 10 beam scores including a new program record of 49.600, achieved on the road. Three Pioneers combined for 10 scores of 9.950 on beam this season, which ties the fifth-highest score in program history. Those same three DU gymnasts – freshman Alexis Vasquez (Arcadia, Calif.), senior Kaitlyn Schou (Orlando, Fla.) and junior Maddie Karr (Stillwater, Minn.) – finished the season ranked inside the top 12 in the nation on the event. Vasquez's tie for No. 4 on beam at the NCAA National Championships is a new program record. Sophomore Lynnzee Brown (Kansas City, Mo.) joined Vasquez and Schou as a WCGA All-American on beam at the national championships.
 
Kutcher-Rinehart adds National Coach of the Year to her collection of awards in 2019 that includes Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year and Region 2 Coach of the Year.
 
Gaveika, the team's lead bars coach, led DU to seven of the top nine scores on the event in school history including a new program record of 49.525. Brown and Karr each scored a near-perfect 9.975 on bars, DU's first since 2012. At the NCAA National Championships, Karr finished tied for sixth overall with a 9.9125, both new DU nationals records. Karr and Brown both earned regular- and postseason All-Americans nods on bars in 2019 as well. Denver's final bars ranking (tied for No. 5) is a new program record, as is its final NQS (49.430).
 
Hogue, the team's lead coach on vault and floor, contributed to Denver's record-setting final ranking on floor (No. 6) and record-tying final ranking on vault (No. 7). He helped coach Brown to an NCAA national title on floor – just the second in Denver history – as well as a perfect 10.0 on the event earlier in the season. Brown added three more near-perfect 9.975s on floor in 2019. On vault, Karr scored three near-perfect 9.975s of her own while tying the DU record for highest final ranking on vault (No. 4).
 
Gaveika and Hogue also shared Region 2 Assistant Coach of the Year honors this season.
 
National coaching awards are determined by a coaches' vote.

Kutcher-Rinehart becomes the ninth DU head coach to earn either National Coach of the Year or National Coaching Staff of the Year honors, joining Murray Armstrong (hockey, 1960), Jim Bain (swimming, 1978, 1985), George Gwozdecky (hockey, 2005), Andy LeRoy (alpine skiing, 2014), Bill Tierney (men's lacrosse, 2015), Dave Stewart (nordic skiing, 2016), Jamie Franks (men's soccer, 2016) and Jim Montgomery (hockey, 2017).
 
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