BATON ROUGE –D-D Breaux and assistant coaches Jay Clark and Bob Moore were named the 2017 National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC) National Coach and Assistant Coaches of the Year, the association announced Monday.
The awards are voted on by Division I coaches across the country. It marked the second time that the trio has swept the national awards. Breaux, Moore and Clark also earned the honors in 2014.
LSU finished as the NCAA National Runner-Up for a second-straight season to match the best finish in school history. The Tigers posted nine scores which rank in the top-25 in school history, including the 198.275 in Semifinal II for the second-best score at an NCAA Championship ever.
Overall, LSU was one of the most consistent teams in the country with a score of 197 or better in every single meet for a new school record. The Tigers are currently on a streak of 23-straight meets with a 197 or better, which bested the previous record of 15.
LSU ended the season with a record of 34-2 for the most wins in a season in school history. The team completed the season with a 21-0 record against teams in the SEC. The unblemished record marked the first time in school history LSU has not lost to a league team.
Moore and Clark each coached an individual national champion with freshman Kennedi Edney winning vault and sophomore Sarah Finnegan winning bars. The duo has coached 15 NCAA individual champions in more than 50 seasons combined.
The two have coached the most individual champions in their respective events in NCAA history with Moore leading seven champions on vault and Clark tutoring eight champions on bars.
In 2017, Moore put together one of the most successful vault teams in school history. The lineup finished the season ranked No. 1 and put up scores of 49.625, 49.600 and 49.575, which are the top three in the nation over the last two seasons.
Under Moore’s guidance, senior Ashleigh Gnat won the SEC vault championship and earned three perfect 10.0 scores. The Tigers also earned six All-America honors and two All-SEC honors during the 2017 season.
Clark led the Tigers’ bar lineup to the No. 3 national ranking. Clark worked with sophomore Lexie Priessman to the program’s first SEC Championship on bars since 1994 and Finnegan to the program’s first NCAA individual championship. Both Priessman and Finnegan also earned All-America honors under Clark.
LSU is expected to return 12 gymnasts from the 2017 squad and 16 of 24 routines competed at the NCAA Championship. The deadline for season ticket holders is quickly approaching. Visit LSUtix.net to log in to your account and renew by the April 30 deadline.
2017 NACGC/W National Awards
Head Coach of the Year: D-D Breaux, LSU
Co-Assistant Coach of the Year: Jay Clark & Bob Moore, LSU