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Carey Fagan |
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E-mail Coach Fagan
Sixth season
The Ohio State women's gymnastics program continues to climb up the rankings under the leadership of Carey Fagan. In just her sixth season at the helm, Fagan has produced two All-Americans and led the Buckeyes to four-consecutive appearances at the NCAA regional championships.
With Fagan as an assistant coach in 2003-04, the Buckeyes finished with an average team score that ranked No. 42 in the nation. In 2004-05, her first season as head coach, that ranking rose to No. 38, then the Buckeyes upped their position to No. 27 and qualified for the NCAA regional championships in 2006. Fagan earned her first Big Ten Coach of the Year award in 2007 and led the Buckeyes into the Top 20 at No. 19 before tying for 18th in 2008.
The 2009 squad continued the growing trend, posting four team totals that ranked in the Top 10 all-time Ohio State scores, including the fourth-best mark. Rebecca Best became the sixth Buckeye All-American and Taylor Jones was named Big Ten Rookie of the Year, the second in OSU history.
With a 195.735 regional qualifying score, the Buckeyes finished ranked in the nation's Top 15 - a feat unmatched by an Ohio State squad in over a decade. For her team's success, Fagan was recognized as the 2009 Central Region Coach of the Year, her first career regional coaching laurel.
The 2009-10 season marks Fagan's eighth overall in Columbus - the first two as an assistant coach and now six as head coach.
"My coaching philosophy has always been to train the individual, not the team," Fagan said. "I believe each athlete has individual needs and my role as a coach is to figure out what each person needs to be successful and to implement workouts and training techniques to help each team member reach her full potential. In the sport of gymnastics, self confidence is critical for successful performance. I really focus on building confidence in my student-athletes so that when it comes time to perform, they know they are ready to compete."
At Ohio State Fagan has coached two student-athletes to back-back All-America honors. Last season, Best received the national laurel on floor as a sophomore after travelling to the NCAA championships as an alternate her first season. In 2008, Kaylan Clevinger (2006-08) earned All-America honors on the uneven bars, becoming the first Buckeye to earn the accolade since 1999. Clevinger made two national appearances on bars (2007 and 2008) and earned All-Big Ten honors in the same years.
A former gymnast at Penn State, Fagan has mentored six Buckeyes to All-Big Ten honors the last five years. Best returns this season as a two-time second-team All-Big Ten selection while Jones earned first-team honors as a freshman in 2009. Maalika Moore-Thomas ended her career as a three-time All-Big Ten honoree in 2008 and Karley Walek was named a second-team honoree in 2005. One of the eight three-time All-Big Ten picks, OSU's Elizabeth Meaney (2003-05), was tutored by Fagan all three of those season.
Academics have been one of the major focuses of Fagan's program. Last year, five Buckeyes were named Scholastic All-America award winners, three were selected as Academic All-Big Ten honorees and nine received OSU Scholar-Athlete recognition, including 2009 graduate Alyssa Meyer who held a perfect 4.0 grade point average throughout her college career. Meyer finished her Buckeyes career as a two-time CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District selection.
A 1994 graduate of Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio, Fagan graduated from Penn State in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in speech communication and a Bachelor of Arts in media studies and also was a full-scholarship gymnast at Penn State. The Nittany Lions won the NCAA Northeast Regional championship all four years of Fagan's career (1995-98) and also qualified each year to the NCAA national championships.
While at Penn State, Fagan was a three-year letterwinner, serving as captain her senior year in 1998. She was only able to compete for three seasons of her eligibility at Penn State because of a severe leg fracture at the end of her sophomore season. Fagan returned to competition during her senior year after undergoing three surgeries and was able to compete on the uneven bars, helping the team to a Top 10 finish at the NCAA national championships in 1998.
Fagan was the recipient of the "Penn State Pride" award in 1996 and 1998 for outstanding team leadership and also was a member of the "Spirit of the Lion" Academic/Athletic Honor Society in 1998 for excellence in the classroom and in the gym. Additionally, Fagan was honored by the University with the establishment of the "Carey Hoyt Perseverance Award," which is given to athletes who overcome injuries and obstacles to return to competition and contribute to the team's success.
Prior to attending Penn State, Fagan competed at the senior elite level at the Parkette National Training Center. She also was a member of the Junior Olympic National Team and a member of the Region 5 National Team in 1994.
Fagan, 33, came to Ohio State in 2001 to join the OSU coaching staff as an assistant coach under the direction of Larry Cox. When Cox stepped down following the 2003-04 season, it was Fagan who was handed the reigns of the Ohio State program. Fagan began her coaching career as an undergraduate assistant at Penn State. After graduation from Penn State in 1998, Fagan landed a corporate marketing job in Albuquerque, N.M., with a large commercial real estate firm. In addition to this position, Fagan also coached gymnastics part-time in the evenings.
Fagan resides in Dublin with her husband, Ryan, and 7 year-old son, Brady.
