Auburn hires Georgia’s Ryan Roberts as new gymnastics head coach
In a surprise move, Auburn has pulled Georgia co-head coach Ryan Roberts from the Bulldogs, naming him the sixth head coach in Auburn gymnastics history.
Auburn has hired Ryan Roberts as its next gymnastics coach, the school announced Tuesday morning.
The hiring developed fast after the conclusion of the NCAA’s national championship meet Saturday — and comes as a surprise.
Roberts just completed his second season as co-head coach at Georgia and his fourth in Athens. Roberts, formerly an assistant at Georgia, was elevated to co-head coach in April 2024 when the program brought in accomplished elite coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi as its other co-head coach. The elevator pitch then was to bring in Canqueteau-Landi, who coached superstars like Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles in the elite world, and pair her with Roberts who has SEC and college experience.
Roberts’ contract at Georgia paid him a salary of $265,000.
Before his jump to Georgia, Roberts spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Alabama.
Roberts competed collegiately in men’s gymnastics at New Mexico before transferring to UMass-Amherts where he qualified twice for the NCAAs as an individual. After college, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq in 2005.
He coached international athletes at the elite level and entered collegiate coaching at Alabama in 2018 after five years coaching at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Texas.
Roberts at Georgia had one of the top salaries in NCAA gymnastics as Georgia, having won 10 national championships all time but not one since 2009, has made a major investment in returning the program to prominence.
Highest base salaries among NCAA gymnastics head coaches:
Jay Clark, LSU: $400,000
Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, co-Georgia: $340,000
KJ Kindler, Oklahoma: $280,000
Ryan Roberts, co-Georgia: $265,000
Jenny Rowland, Florida: $251,116
Georgia made the NCAA national championship meet this season, falling in the semifinals in the Elite Eight round of the postseason. Georgia entered the postseason with the nation’s No. 6 NQS and sixth-best scoring average.
Well, that came out of the blue! Have they announced a time for the press conference to announce the hire?
A better than expected hire -- still not thrilled with them getting rid of Graba. The challenge for him now will be make up for the recruits we lost and build a competitive team. It's good he's an SEC cosch from a successful program.