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They Built It, And Then They Came
8/9/2022 11:00 AM | General, Gymnastics
Utah gymnastics experienced early success after launching in 1976, eventually growing into the nation’s highest-drawing women’s program
Fifth In A Series
By Dirk Facer
It’s become the hottest ticket in town, make that the nation. Utah women’s gymnastics has led the sport in average home attendance 36 times and topped all of NCAA women’s sports on 10 occasions since 2010.
In 2020, the Red Rocks averaged a record 15,273 fans to their meets in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Five years earlier, they drew a standing-room-only crowd of 16,019 to the arena for a meet with Michigan. Season-ticket sales were 9,376 in 2020 before COVID-19 began impacting crowds..
However, as satisfying as all that is, it’s not what the longtime stewards of the program, Greg Marsden and Megan McCunniff Marsden, value the most.
“Greg and I have always felt the most important thing is about the young women and who they become on the backside of what they did at the University of Utah,” said Megan. “That is everything to us because, to us, that is the ultimate success.”
Winning and performing in front of packed arenas was wonderful, she added, but there were always things to learn along the way.
Greg was the program’s founder and head coach for 40 years, while Megan was a 12-time first-team All-American before coaching in the program for 35 years. He retired in 2015 and she followed in 2019.
“We tried our best to kind of epitomize what sports could do for a young person,” Megan continued. “We were fortunate enough to get to do that and have an impact beyond even what a professor or teacher gets to do for them in their early years.”
Greg Marsden launched the gymnastics program in 1976 and was joined by his wife, Megan McCunniff Marsden, on the coaching staff in 1985. Greg had a 1048-208-8 record in 40 years as head coach.
The Marsdens keep in touch with almost all of the gymnasts they coached. Alumni regularly stop by the Marsden’s house, where they sit and catch up on things in the backyard or in the living room.
“We take just as much pride, if not more, in what they accomplish when they’re done with gymnastics and college,” said Greg, who emphasized the equal importance of professional and family life.
Experiences gained while being part of a team provide a solid foundation.
“The skills that are developed for both young men and young women play a significant role in their lives — for the rest of their lives, not just during their college years,” Greg said.
With Title IX opening the door for women’s scholarship athletics in 1972, women were finally afforded an opportunity that only men could benefit from before then. It was a piece of legislation that changed the lives of so many women far beyond the gyms and arenas.
Megan noted the life lessons they tried to pass on included things the gymnasts could use in competition and carry on beyond.
“There was a lot of teaching going on,” Megan said. “But our teaching was more to do with life than their sport. We taught them life lessons in hopes of helping them be prepared as they moved on after gymnastics.”
Things, obviously, worked out in competition as well. In just the program’s sixth year, Utah won the first of its 10 national titles at the 1981 AIAW Championships. The Utes moved under the NCAA umbrella with most of the other top programs the following year, winning nine more national titles since then.
The Utes also lay claim to 387 All-Americans, 46 straight NCAA championship appearances, 33 regional crowns, 30 individual NCAA titles and 22 trips to the Super Six/Final Four.
We tried our best to kind of epitomize what sports could do for a young person. We were fortunate enough to get to do that and have an impact beyond even what a professor or teacher gets to do for them in their early years.Megan Marsden
The lengthy list of accomplishments followed some humble beginnings for the program. Established in 1976 — four years after Title IX went into effect — it took a lot of hard work and plenty of perseverance for Utah gymnastics to achieve national prominence.
As was the case with most women’s sports, funding was an issue back in the day. It took some unusual means to expedite the process.
Greg recalled the first total budget for the gymnastics program in 1976 was $4,500. Five in-state tuition waivers for scholarships were available. His salary was just $1,500.
“We really didn’t have equipment that was very good and really what we needed,” recalled Greg, who took an unorthodox approach to solving the problem. He went to the vice president of the university, explained the situation, and asked for funding.
In return, Greg would pay it back by running winter clinics. He then worked with an equipment company and secured what was needed.
“I remember many Christmas Eves, early on, I was in the back of a semi unloading equipment,” said Greg, who oversaw the annual clinics between winter holidays. “I think it took us three years to finally get it paid off.”
He joked that he would be fired immediately if he took such a path around an athletic director these days.
However, things were different back then. Although there was always someone at the U to listen, Greg and women’s athletics director Fern Gardner understood the need for creative measures. Title IX was very much a work in progress.
Utah, though, built a strong foundation thanks to folks like those two.
Megan McCunniff Marsden was a three-time national champion and earned 12 first-team All-America awards as a Ute gymnast.
“They were a really good combination,” said former Utah senior associate athletics director Liz Abel. “Fern was a mediator and negotiator, quiet and got things done behind the scenes. Greg was the hammer, who was like ‘this is not right.’”
Abel give a significant amount of credit to Fern and Greg for the rise of women’s athletics at Utah. Both were there to get the programs off the ground in the early days and stayed in the department a number of years to continue building them. Gardner didn’t retire from her senior associate A.D. role in 1996.
Greg acknowledges pushing a lot of his male counterparts out of their comfort zone in meetings while arguing on behalf of equality.
That said, Greg downplays his contributions. He said people like Gardner and others had the hard job.
“I always feel reluctant to put myself in that same category because I was a man. I was treated somewhat differently,” he said, explaining that women in meetings pushing for things didn’t always get the same response he did.
Despite the challenges, Greg does feel like there was consistent progress over time.
“We have come a long way. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “But we’ve still got work to do. There’s still work that needs to be done.”
Positive changes have been made over time. When the gymnastics program launched, its home was across the way from the Jon M. Huntsman Center on the East side of the HPER complex in gym 101. The space was so tiny that Gardner still remembers how tough it was to get in and watch a meet because of the space taken by equipment, competitors, judges and fans.
Megan remembers the early days well as she competed in both facilities, beginning in 1982 as a freshman.
“We’ve changed, kind of, the demeanor of gymnastics meets. When I first started, it was more like a dance recital where you sat quietly and watched the routines and that kind of thing. We wanted to change that and get fans involved, cheer, make it loud and have a fun experience.Greg Marsden
“I have watched it go from fans sitting on folding chairs in that tiny gym all the way through to what it is today, which is quite unbelievable,” said Megan.
She added that the progress was incremental for those who rode the ride all the way. Simply put, things didn’t happen overnight.
Getting the word out in the early days, though, was a challenge. Greg was constantly contacting the media about coverage. One of the rejections provided additional motivation.
A local broadcaster told him that it wasn’t his job to promote the program. Rather, he would report on it when 4,000-5,000 people attended meets. That promise eventually materialized.
“I was really upset with him in the beginning. Then the more I thought about it I took it as a challenge,” Greg said. “That’s what really focused me on beginning to build ticket sales.”
The first step, he explained, was to create a product that was exciting, enjoyable and something where fans could be part of the atmosphere.
“We’ve changed, kind of, the demeanor of gymnastics meets,” Greg said. “When I first started, it was more like a dance recital where you sat quietly and watched the routines and that kind of thing. We wanted to change that and get fans involved, cheer, make it loud and have a fun experience."
Utah drew 16,019 fans to its meet against Michigan in 2015, setting the NCAA all-time single meet attendance mark.
The marketing plan was simple. Get people in the building and exposed to the sport, and then they’ll come back. When the meets moved to the Huntsman Center, slick videoboard presentations, pyrotechnics and lights-out intros all became part of the show. All of that, along with marketing efforts to connect the team with the community and the opportunity to watch one of the nation’s best teams year in and year out, brought it all together.
Now, instead of offering several free passes to meets, season tickets are sold all the way into the upper bowl. Fans who started coming to meets back in the early years still come today and bring the next generation of fans with them.
Mission accomplished.
“It’s been fun for me to watch in the last few years more recognition of the value in women’s sports,” Greg said. “For so many years, I felt like nobody fully appreciated the potential.”
Title IX has been pivotal, but some of the opportunities provided therein were long overdue. Greg pointed out that women are finally getting into positions to make decisions and that has helped move things along at a quicker pace.
Megan, who was a two-time NCAA all-around champion, went on to a lengthy career as a coach at Utah.
“She would never have had the opportunity she did if it wasn’t for Title IX and the scholarships that were available,” Greg said. “She took advantage of that and then later the job opportunity.”
Megan Marsden, who took part in all 10 of Utah’s national titles as a gymnast and coach, was elevated to co-head coach in 2009. She retired following the 2019 season.
Megan admits she has more appreciation for Title IX after years of reflection. It has become more of her thought process in recent years.
“We felt lucky in gymnastics that we weren’t compared directly to another sport that men were doing,” she said. “So my heart goes out to the women that have been fighting in basketball and volleyball and some of the sports where there’s a direct comparison. I think it’s been a hard path.”
Megan acknowledged that she and Greg often had to fight for the program they oversaw.
“But we were fortunate with some of the administrators that we had like Dr. Chris Hill,” she said. “And also fortunate that we were able to kind of pave our own path with this unique sport.”
Despite his huge involvement in the process, Greg insists it’s all about the women involved and that they are the ones who deserve the credit.
“The battle wasn’t easy for me,” he said. “But I think it was tougher for them.”
The coaches, Megan continued, got more than enough attention. Their focal point was the student-athletes.
“What I feel good about is we let our athletes be the ones front and center and they deserved that,” said Megan. “No one knows more than the two of us, because of what they went through every day, every training, every situation in order to be at their best out there on the competitive floor.”
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