Completed Event: Gymnastics versus NCAA Championship Final on April 19, 2025 , , 4th of 4 (197.2375)
Final Score
Gymnastics
4th of 4 (197.2375)
vs NCAA Championship Final
Gymnastics
Farden, Tom
Tom Farden
- Title:
- Gymnastics Head Coach
- Phone:
- 801-581-6221
Tom Farden
Head Coach
Coaching Synopsis
Year at Utah: 9th/14th overall
Record at Utah: 182-48-1 (8 years)
Career Record: 253-96-1 (14 years)
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Coaching Timeline
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Education
Southeast Missouri State, 2004
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Coaching Highlights
NCAA Region Coach of the Year: 2008, ’20, ‘22
Conference Coach of the Year: 2006, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘20
NCAA Champions: 8
All-America awards: 127
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Tom Farden heads into his ninth season as the head coach of Utah Gymnastics in 2023-24. In the four years of sole reign over the program, Farden has led the Red Rocks to four consecutive Pac-12 Regular Season Championships, three-straight Pac-12 Championships, three NCAA Regional titles and a third-place finish at the last three NCAA Championships.
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Continuing to pull in championships and break records, Farden’s group is coming off a 2023 season that saw their third consecutive Pac-12 Championship. The conference title marks the first time in the Pac-12 era that any program has won three in a row. The Red Rocks hold a conference-best six postseason championships and four regular season titles following the 2023 season. Utah advanced to a NCAA-record 47th consecutive national championship last year to remain the only team in the nation to have appeared at every national championship.
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Farden saw the streak of Red Rock national champions continue as Maile O’Keefe rattled off the NCAA all-around and beam titles. O’Keefe became the first Red Rock since 1999 to win the national all-around title, while she posted consecutive 10.0s on beam to win the title and become one of two Utes in history to score a Perfect 10 at the NCAA Championships.
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Farden’s 2023 team posted the highest postseason score in Utah history in the NCAA Semifinal, scoring a 198.225. Earlier in the year, the Utes recorded a 198.550 against California, which is the third-best score in program history. At the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, Utah recorded consecutive 198s for the first time in program history as well.
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Farden’s team posted a 198 or higher four times in 2022, which included a 198.575 that was the second-best in school history and fourth-best in NCAA history. The Red Rocks one-upped the mark in 2023 after recording a new program-record of five scores at a 198 or better.
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Farden earned his third Region Coach of the Year honor in 2022 and coached his uneven bars squad to a school-record 49.8 against Minnesota. Maile O’Keefe and Sage Thompson recorded their first Perfect 10s on bars of their careers to highlight the rotation, marking the first time in school history consecutive 10s on bars have been recorded. The bars team finished the season ranked sixth in the nation, while Farden also helped coach the floor team to a fourth in the country standing. Farden led a program-record 10 Utes to All-Pac-12 honors and had seven Red Rocks earn NCAA All-American honors.
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In 2021, the Utes rattled off their second-consecutive season going undefeated against Pac-12 opponents with a 7-0 record in the regular season and first place finish at the conference championships. Farden pushed O’Keefe in a breakout season to earn the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year – the program’s first since 2015. Along with O’Keefe, he guided Alexia Burch to Utah’s second-consecutive Pac-12 Specialist of the Year honor, while O’Keefe turned around in 2022 and 2023 to win the Pac-12 Specialist of the Year honor.
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Farden’s 2021 team earned Utah’s first ever appearance in the NCAA finals since the new format was adopted in 2019. The third place in the finals became Utah gymnastics’ best finish since 2015 and just the second top-3 finish since 2010 before going on to repeat the third-place finish in 2022 and 2023. He coached O’Keefe to two NCAA titles (UB, FX) in her sophomore season, along with seven regular season All-American honors and six NCAA All-American awards.Â
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In his first season as sole head coach, Farden led the Red Rocks on a historic run before the 2020 season was canceled in the final week of the regular season due to COVID-19. Utah rolled to an 11-0 season for the first undefeated season since 1993 and second all-time. The undefeated slate against the Pac-12 earned the program the conference’s first-ever Pac-12 Regular Season Championship. Farden went on to win the Pac-12 Coach of the Year and Region 2 Coach of the Year. It marked his first region and conference coach of the year selections since serving as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State.
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Following the retirement of legendary coach Megan Marsden, Farden was tasked with replacing an entire coaching staff to continue the legacy of Utah gymnastics. The transition was seamless after Farden handled staff hires and oversight of the program the previous four years, as well as leading the charge in training plans, recruiting and the day-to-day office work. Farden primarily coached the uneven bars, while overseeing all lineup decisions before also taking on a coaching role on floor.
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Prior to joining Utah as an assistant coach, Farden spent six years as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State, where he was the 2008 NCAA Region Coach of the Year. He is now in his 12th year at Utah, having served as an assistant coach his first five years.
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Since becoming co-head coach in 2016 and sole head coach in 2020, Utah has qualified into the NCAA Championships every year, reached the Super Six team final twice and competed at the last three Final Four’s. The Utes also won six regional titles, along with four Pac-12 Championships and all four Pac-12 Regular Season Championships. MyKayla Skinner and Maile O’Keefe, both Farden recruits off the USA National Team, have combined for six NCAA individual championships, along with 11 Pac-12 titles during that time. Jaedyn Rucker became the newest NCAA champion for the Red Rocks after winning vault in 2022.
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As a Utah assistant from 2011-15, Farden played a key role in five NCAA Championship appearances, including a second-place national finish in 2015, and Pac-12 Championships in 2014 and 2015. Farden’s first NCAA champion came in his final season as an assistant when Georgia Dabritz won the 2015 NCAA bar title and became the only gymnast in history to score a 10.0 on bars in both the NCAA semifinals and the Super Six.
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Along with NCAA individual champions Rucker, O’Keefe, Skinner and Dabritz, Farden’s gymnasts have won 20 NCAA regional titles and 127 All-America honors (NCAA and regular season). He has also coached six NCAA runner-up performances, with Dabritz placing second on bars at the 2013 NCAA Championship, Skinner finishing as the nation’s all-around runner-up in 2017 and 2018, O’Keefe and Grace McCallum placing second on bars in 2023, along with Cristal Isa’s runner-up finish on beam in 2023.
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Pac-12 award winners under Farden include O’Keefe, the 2021 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year, and 2022 and 2023 Specialist of the Year, along with 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Sabrina Schwab, and Pac-12 Specialists of the Year Kassandra Lopez (2016), Kim Tessen (2020) and Alexia Burch (2021). Skinner owns conference records for career Gymnast of the Week awards (16), single-season Gymnast of the Week awards (7, tie) and Freshman of the Week awards (6), while ranking second all-time in career all-conference awards (16).
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The program has also excelled in the classroom, ranking second among the country’s gymnastics teams in GPA in 2016 and eighth in 2019. Utah was a recipient of the NCAA Public Recognition Award in 2017-18 and 2019-20 for placing in the top 10 percent of all gymnastics teams in the Academic Progress Rate report. Farden has coached four CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans (Breanna Hughes, Kailah Delaney, Abby Paulson, Maile O’Keefe) and Shannon McNatt won an NCAA Elite 90 award in 2019 for accumulating the highest GPA of a team member participating at the site of the NCAA final.
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In 2020, Farden pushed various marketing objectives and promotional ideas to continue the storied success of the Red Rocks’ home attendance. Utah gymnastics averaged 15,273 fans per meet to top the previous school record and NCAA record, winning the program’s 36th gymnastics attendance title and 10th all-women’s sports attendance title. In the four home meets, Utah saw a sellout crowd of 15,558 in three of those events.  Â
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Farden’s NCAA coaching experience prior to coming to Utah included 10 seasons at Southeast Missouri State from 2000-09—the last six as head coach—and one season as an assistant coach at Arkansas in 2010. He compiled a 71-48 record as SEMO’s head coach and was the 2008 NCAA South Central Regional Coach of the Year and a four-time conference coach of the year. In his year as an Arkansas assistant, the Razorbacks qualified into the 2010 NCAA Championships.
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In 2004 with Farden as SEMO’s head coach, the Redhawks had their first winning season in a decade. In 2008, they climbed as high as No. 22 in the national polls and took fifth place at the NCAA Regionals. In his final season at SEMO in 2009, the Redhawks won the Midwest Independent Conference championship and finished with a 14-3 record.    Â
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His SEMO teams won national academic championships in his last three seasons and his gymnasts earned 70 total scholastic All-America citations. He also spearheaded the fundraising for two major gymnastics renovation projects (the locker room and practice facility) before leaving for Arkansas.
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Farden began his coaching career at age 18 when he opened the Spectrum Training Center in his home state of Minnesota immediately upon graduating from high school. He would coach club gymnastics for seven years before moving into an assistant position at Southeast Missouri State.
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Farden has contributed to his sport on an administrative level, serving on the Ethics Committee of the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association and on the Board of Director’s for the WCGA. He was on the Minnesota USA Gymnastics State Board from 1995-99.
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A native of Dayton, Minn., Farden earned his bachelor’s degree from SEMO in 2004. Farden and his wife, the former Christina Faulkner, have a son Ki (pronounced key). In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, hiking, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, kayaking and camping.
Tom Farden’s Head Coaching Mark
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*The final week of the regular season and all postseason events were canceled due to COVID-19.
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Head Coach
Coaching Synopsis
Year at Utah: 9th/14th overall
Record at Utah: 182-48-1 (8 years)
Career Record: 253-96-1 (14 years)
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Coaching Timeline
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| 2011-present | Utah |
| 2020-present | Head Coach |
| 2016-2019Â | Co-Head Coach |
| 2011-2015 | Assistant Coach |
2010Â Â |
Arkansas |
| Assistant Coach | |
2000-2009 |
Southeast Missouri State |
| 2004-2009Â | Head Coach |
| 2000-2003 | Assistant Coach |
1996-1999Â Â Â Â Â |
TAGS |
| Team Coach | |
1992-1996Â |
Spectrum Training Center |
| Owner/Coach |
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Education
Southeast Missouri State, 2004
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Coaching Highlights
NCAA Region Coach of the Year: 2008, ’20, ‘22
Conference Coach of the Year: 2006, ’07, ’08, ’09, ‘20
NCAA Champions: 8
All-America awards: 127
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Tom Farden heads into his ninth season as the head coach of Utah Gymnastics in 2023-24. In the four years of sole reign over the program, Farden has led the Red Rocks to four consecutive Pac-12 Regular Season Championships, three-straight Pac-12 Championships, three NCAA Regional titles and a third-place finish at the last three NCAA Championships.
          Â
Continuing to pull in championships and break records, Farden’s group is coming off a 2023 season that saw their third consecutive Pac-12 Championship. The conference title marks the first time in the Pac-12 era that any program has won three in a row. The Red Rocks hold a conference-best six postseason championships and four regular season titles following the 2023 season. Utah advanced to a NCAA-record 47th consecutive national championship last year to remain the only team in the nation to have appeared at every national championship.
          Â
Farden saw the streak of Red Rock national champions continue as Maile O’Keefe rattled off the NCAA all-around and beam titles. O’Keefe became the first Red Rock since 1999 to win the national all-around title, while she posted consecutive 10.0s on beam to win the title and become one of two Utes in history to score a Perfect 10 at the NCAA Championships.
          Â
Farden’s 2023 team posted the highest postseason score in Utah history in the NCAA Semifinal, scoring a 198.225. Earlier in the year, the Utes recorded a 198.550 against California, which is the third-best score in program history. At the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, Utah recorded consecutive 198s for the first time in program history as well.
          Â
Farden’s team posted a 198 or higher four times in 2022, which included a 198.575 that was the second-best in school history and fourth-best in NCAA history. The Red Rocks one-upped the mark in 2023 after recording a new program-record of five scores at a 198 or better.
          Â
Farden earned his third Region Coach of the Year honor in 2022 and coached his uneven bars squad to a school-record 49.8 against Minnesota. Maile O’Keefe and Sage Thompson recorded their first Perfect 10s on bars of their careers to highlight the rotation, marking the first time in school history consecutive 10s on bars have been recorded. The bars team finished the season ranked sixth in the nation, while Farden also helped coach the floor team to a fourth in the country standing. Farden led a program-record 10 Utes to All-Pac-12 honors and had seven Red Rocks earn NCAA All-American honors.
          Â
In 2021, the Utes rattled off their second-consecutive season going undefeated against Pac-12 opponents with a 7-0 record in the regular season and first place finish at the conference championships. Farden pushed O’Keefe in a breakout season to earn the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year – the program’s first since 2015. Along with O’Keefe, he guided Alexia Burch to Utah’s second-consecutive Pac-12 Specialist of the Year honor, while O’Keefe turned around in 2022 and 2023 to win the Pac-12 Specialist of the Year honor.
          Â
Farden’s 2021 team earned Utah’s first ever appearance in the NCAA finals since the new format was adopted in 2019. The third place in the finals became Utah gymnastics’ best finish since 2015 and just the second top-3 finish since 2010 before going on to repeat the third-place finish in 2022 and 2023. He coached O’Keefe to two NCAA titles (UB, FX) in her sophomore season, along with seven regular season All-American honors and six NCAA All-American awards.Â
          Â
In his first season as sole head coach, Farden led the Red Rocks on a historic run before the 2020 season was canceled in the final week of the regular season due to COVID-19. Utah rolled to an 11-0 season for the first undefeated season since 1993 and second all-time. The undefeated slate against the Pac-12 earned the program the conference’s first-ever Pac-12 Regular Season Championship. Farden went on to win the Pac-12 Coach of the Year and Region 2 Coach of the Year. It marked his first region and conference coach of the year selections since serving as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State.
             Â
Following the retirement of legendary coach Megan Marsden, Farden was tasked with replacing an entire coaching staff to continue the legacy of Utah gymnastics. The transition was seamless after Farden handled staff hires and oversight of the program the previous four years, as well as leading the charge in training plans, recruiting and the day-to-day office work. Farden primarily coached the uneven bars, while overseeing all lineup decisions before also taking on a coaching role on floor.
             Â
Prior to joining Utah as an assistant coach, Farden spent six years as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State, where he was the 2008 NCAA Region Coach of the Year. He is now in his 12th year at Utah, having served as an assistant coach his first five years.
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Since becoming co-head coach in 2016 and sole head coach in 2020, Utah has qualified into the NCAA Championships every year, reached the Super Six team final twice and competed at the last three Final Four’s. The Utes also won six regional titles, along with four Pac-12 Championships and all four Pac-12 Regular Season Championships. MyKayla Skinner and Maile O’Keefe, both Farden recruits off the USA National Team, have combined for six NCAA individual championships, along with 11 Pac-12 titles during that time. Jaedyn Rucker became the newest NCAA champion for the Red Rocks after winning vault in 2022.
             Â
As a Utah assistant from 2011-15, Farden played a key role in five NCAA Championship appearances, including a second-place national finish in 2015, and Pac-12 Championships in 2014 and 2015. Farden’s first NCAA champion came in his final season as an assistant when Georgia Dabritz won the 2015 NCAA bar title and became the only gymnast in history to score a 10.0 on bars in both the NCAA semifinals and the Super Six.
             Â
Along with NCAA individual champions Rucker, O’Keefe, Skinner and Dabritz, Farden’s gymnasts have won 20 NCAA regional titles and 127 All-America honors (NCAA and regular season). He has also coached six NCAA runner-up performances, with Dabritz placing second on bars at the 2013 NCAA Championship, Skinner finishing as the nation’s all-around runner-up in 2017 and 2018, O’Keefe and Grace McCallum placing second on bars in 2023, along with Cristal Isa’s runner-up finish on beam in 2023.
             Â
Pac-12 award winners under Farden include O’Keefe, the 2021 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year, and 2022 and 2023 Specialist of the Year, along with 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Sabrina Schwab, and Pac-12 Specialists of the Year Kassandra Lopez (2016), Kim Tessen (2020) and Alexia Burch (2021). Skinner owns conference records for career Gymnast of the Week awards (16), single-season Gymnast of the Week awards (7, tie) and Freshman of the Week awards (6), while ranking second all-time in career all-conference awards (16).
             Â
The program has also excelled in the classroom, ranking second among the country’s gymnastics teams in GPA in 2016 and eighth in 2019. Utah was a recipient of the NCAA Public Recognition Award in 2017-18 and 2019-20 for placing in the top 10 percent of all gymnastics teams in the Academic Progress Rate report. Farden has coached four CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans (Breanna Hughes, Kailah Delaney, Abby Paulson, Maile O’Keefe) and Shannon McNatt won an NCAA Elite 90 award in 2019 for accumulating the highest GPA of a team member participating at the site of the NCAA final.
             Â
In 2020, Farden pushed various marketing objectives and promotional ideas to continue the storied success of the Red Rocks’ home attendance. Utah gymnastics averaged 15,273 fans per meet to top the previous school record and NCAA record, winning the program’s 36th gymnastics attendance title and 10th all-women’s sports attendance title. In the four home meets, Utah saw a sellout crowd of 15,558 in three of those events.  Â
             Â
Farden’s NCAA coaching experience prior to coming to Utah included 10 seasons at Southeast Missouri State from 2000-09—the last six as head coach—and one season as an assistant coach at Arkansas in 2010. He compiled a 71-48 record as SEMO’s head coach and was the 2008 NCAA South Central Regional Coach of the Year and a four-time conference coach of the year. In his year as an Arkansas assistant, the Razorbacks qualified into the 2010 NCAA Championships.
             Â
In 2004 with Farden as SEMO’s head coach, the Redhawks had their first winning season in a decade. In 2008, they climbed as high as No. 22 in the national polls and took fifth place at the NCAA Regionals. In his final season at SEMO in 2009, the Redhawks won the Midwest Independent Conference championship and finished with a 14-3 record.    Â
             Â
His SEMO teams won national academic championships in his last three seasons and his gymnasts earned 70 total scholastic All-America citations. He also spearheaded the fundraising for two major gymnastics renovation projects (the locker room and practice facility) before leaving for Arkansas.
             Â
Farden began his coaching career at age 18 when he opened the Spectrum Training Center in his home state of Minnesota immediately upon graduating from high school. He would coach club gymnastics for seven years before moving into an assistant position at Southeast Missouri State.
             Â
Farden has contributed to his sport on an administrative level, serving on the Ethics Committee of the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association and on the Board of Director’s for the WCGA. He was on the Minnesota USA Gymnastics State Board from 1995-99.
             Â
A native of Dayton, Minn., Farden earned his bachelor’s degree from SEMO in 2004. Farden and his wife, the former Christina Faulkner, have a son Ki (pronounced key). In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, hiking, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, kayaking and camping.
Tom Farden’s Head Coaching Mark
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| Year    | School | Overall | Regular Season | Pac-12 Championship | NCAA Regional | NCAA Championship |
| 2004 | SE Missouri State | 15-7 | ||||
| 2005 | SE Missouri State | 6-11 | ||||
| 2006 | SE Missouri State | 10-11 | ||||
| 2007 | SE Missouri State | 17-9 | ||||
| 2008 | SE Missouri State | 9-7 | ||||
| 2009 | SE Missouri State | 14-3 | ||||
| 2016 | Utah | 19-7-1 | 9-1 | 2nd-T | 1st | 9th |
| 2017 | Utah | 26-8 | 10-2 | 1st | 1st | 5th |
| 2018 | Utah | 24-10 | 9-3 | 2nd | 1st | 5th |
| 2019 | Utah | 21-8 | 10-3 | 2nd | 2nd | 7th |
| 2020 | Utah | 11-0 | 11-0 (1st Pac-12) | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* |
| 2021 | Utah | 26-4 | 10-1 (1st Pac-12) | 1st | 1st | 3rd |
| 2022 | Utah | 26-6 | 10-3 (t-1st Pac-12) | 1st | 1st | 3rd |
| 2023 | Utah | 29-5 | 12-3 (t-1st Pac-12) | 1st | 1st | 3rd |
*The final week of the regular season and all postseason events were canceled due to COVID-19.
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| Â SE Missouri State | Â 71-48 | Â (6 years) |
| Â Utah | Â 182-48-1Â Â Â | Â (8Â years) |
| Â Career | Â 253-96-1Â Â Â | Â (14Â years) |
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