Courtney McCool Griffeth Season 2025
2024 Region One Assistant Coach of the Year
Courtney McCool Griffeth, a 2004 Olympian and NCAA Champion, enters her fourth season as an assistant coach for the LSU Gymnastics program under head coach Jay Clark in 2025.
McCool Griffeth primarily leads the floor squad, who was the best in the nation in 2024. Under her supervision, the Tigers secured a program record NQS of 49.725. LSU earned the top spot in the country on floor on eight separate occasions in 2024 and placed in the top five nationally throughout all 12 weeks of regular season competition.
She led the Tigers to their highest ever NQS in not only program history, but in NCAA history in 2024.
The Tigers had a season high of 49.775 on floor this year, which they recorded three times against No. 7 Arkansas, No. 5 Florida and No. 9 Alabama. The score matches the highest in LSU history.
Haleigh Bryant, Kiya Johnson and Aleah Finnegan have combined for six perfect scores on floor in 2024. Finnegan had three, Bryant had two and Johnson had one.
Finnegan continues to be one of the top floor performers in the country under the leadership of McCool Griffeth. The junior claimed her first individual national title of her career and fourth program title on floor. She recorded a 9.625 in the NCAA semifinals to finish as the top performer on the event and join an elite group of floor national champions in Nicki Arnstad (2002), Ashleigh Clare-Kearney (2009) and Ashleigh Gnat (2017).
She was also crowned the regional champion at the Fayetteville Regional after recording a 10.0 on floor to finish as the top performer on the event. Her perfect score on floor was only the third time an LSU gymnast achieved perfection at a regional.
McCool Griffeth coached four All-Americans on floor in 2024 and two All-SEC floor members as Bryant, Finnegan, Kiya Johnson and KJ Johnson all finished the regular season amongst the top floor performers in the nation.
In 2023, the Tigers finished tied at third on the event in the regular season with an NQS of 49.595. After joining the coaching squad in 2022, McCool-Griffeth already led the floor squad to a higher NQS in 2023 compared to 2022’s 49.475.
Under her tutelage, the Tigers had three perfect 10s on floor in 2023. Aleah Finnegan recored a perfect 10 vs. Florida and Alabama, while Haleigh Bryant recorded a perfect 10 in the contest vs. West Virginia.
An accomplished coach and choreographer, McCool Griffeth competed for Team USA at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, which won the silver medal. She then competed under Clark as the University of Georgia from 2007-10, helping the GymDogs win three-straight national championships.
For more than a decade, McCool Griffeth has choreographed routines around the country with stops at Georgia Elite Gymnastics, Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy, Texas Dreams Gymnastics, Texas Woman’s, Arkansas and most recently at Utah.
As an assistant coach for two seasons at the University of Utah, the Utes went 21-1 during the regular season, won the 2021 Pac-12 Championship and finished third nationally after advancing to the NCAA Championship Final.
Utah Gymnast Mailie O’Keefe won the NCAA floor championship and was named the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year under McCool Griffeth. O’Keefe and Sydney Soloski were also named All-Americans on floor in 2021. For her work, she was named the WGCA Region 2 Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020.
Prior to her time in Salt Lake City, McCool Griffeth served the volunteer coach and choreographer for two seasons at Arkansas. In the first season at Arkansas, the Razorbacks advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time in five seasons.. McCool Griffeth coached and choreographed Sophia Carter to regular season All-America honors on floor and Carter qualified as an individual competitor into the 2019 NCAA Championships. The Razorbacks set several school records from 2018-19 and achieved a program first with consecutive fifth-place SEC finishes.
At Texas Woman’s, she was named the 2014 Coaches Association Division II Assistant Coach of the Year and the 2017 Midwest Independent Conference Assistant Coach of the Year. McCool Griffeth coached two USAG national floor champions. The Pioneers won the 2017 USAG National Championship.
The Kansas City, Missouri., native earned a bachelor’s degree in child and family development in 2011 and a master’s in sports management and policy in 2012 from Georgia.
She is married to LSU gymnastics assistant coach Garrett Griffeth. They have two daughters, Rae and Blakely.