Auburn has parted ways with head coach Jeff Graba. Now what?
Here’s a look at what’s next for Auburn gymnastics after the administration’s decision to part with Jeff Graba, and which directions the program could go in.
Pat Dye changed Auburn football, famously, by resetting the playing field.
In a literal sense, he changed the playing surface of the Iron Bowl by bringing it to Jordan-Hare Stadium — when playing at Legion Field was less of a “neutral site” and more a home game for Alabama. He also reset the playing field in a figurative sense, coming in on the heels of Paul Bryant’s reign and snapping a nine-game losing streak in the rivalry went Bo went over the top in 1982. Since that game, the rivarly is an even 20-20. Since that game, and through the efforts of his tenure, Alabama no longer holds all the cards, and the playing field has been reset.
Jeff Graba did the same for Auburn gymnastics. Powerhouse Alabama boasted “The Streak,” a 117-meet winning streak over Auburn in gymnastics before Graba’s Tigers beat Alabama for the first time in 36 years in 2016. Then they did it again — and again and again. Auburn won three straight rivalry meets at home in 2020, 2022 and 2024, and in 2025 Auburn won at Coleman Coliseum for the first time ever. There were more to those wins than some stuck landings: Graba had to change a perception in the gymnastics world, even in the minds of the judges. The Auburn job was not for the faint of heart when he took it over in 2010, stuck between a rock and a hard place between 10-time national champion Georgia and four-time national champion Alabama. It’s a subjective sport: The skills when they were being done by someone with a script A or a G on the chest were how it was “supposed” to look, and how it looks with an AU was not.
It was an impressive uphill climb to make it to the NCAA Championship meet three times, including a trip to the Final Four in 2022. Derrian Gobourne won a share of a national title on vault and Suni Lee won a national title on beam and went on to win Olympic gold a second time, thanks in no small part to Graba’s coaching between cycles. Just last year, Auburn won in Coleman and was a tenth away from the national championship meet.
Auburn’s administration has decided to move forward without Graba, and in doing so has put Auburn in a precarious position. Here’s what hangs in the air now on the heels of the decision: