LOGAN, Utah – First-year Utah State head gymnastics coach Kristin White announced Wednesday the addition of Robert Ladanyi (pronounced lad-an-knee) to her staff as an assistant coach.

Ladanyi will be the primary coach on bars, while also spotting.

"I am excited to finalize my coaching staff with Robert," White said. "He has worked at some of the best programs around the country over the last 16 years, one of which being Florida, where he won three NCAA national championships. His experience and knowledge with the sport is something that is going to make an immediate impact on our team.

"It was clear through the interview process that his goals for Utah State Gymnastics aligned with my vision for the program. I am looking forward to working together to help build a culture of excellence for our student-athletes."

Ladanyi arrives in Logan after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Nebraska, working primarily with the vault and floor specialists.

"I am really looking forward to the opportunity to return to the beautiful state of Utah and coach the Aggie gymnasts," said Ladanyi, who has 20-plus years of gymnastics coaching experience. "I can't wait to get to Logan and to start working alongside Kristin White, Rachel Slocum and all who support the dreams and ambitions of the Utah State gymnasts. I'm excited to be in a position where I can work with the Aggies to help them reach their full potential and move toward conference and national team goals."

The COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign highlighted Ladanyi's time in Lincoln, Nebraska, as the Huskers ranked eighth on vault and 12th on floor. He played a major role in Taylor Houchin earning All-America honors on vault, while she was the WCGA Region 4 Gymnast of the Year and a finalist for the AAI Award.

Prior to Nebraska, Ladanyi was an assistant coach for two seasons at Utah, where he coached one individual NCAA champion (vault) and four Pac-12 champs (two on vault, two on floor).

The Utes placed fifth at the 2018 NCAA National Championships as MyKayla Skinner became Utah's first individual national champion on vault since 1992. Skinner became Ladanyi's fourth NCAA individual champ overall.

In 2019, the Red Rocks ranked second in the nation on vault (49.465) and produced two first-team vault All-Americans in MyKayla Skinner and MaKenna Merrell-Giles.

Before making his way to the Beehive State, Ladanyi spent two seasons as an assistant at Denver, where he primarily coached vault and floor, helping the Pioneers to their first team qualification for the NCAA National Championships in 2017 and coached the first NCAA individual national champion on floor in Denver's history (Nine McGee, 2016).

Ladanyi spent a decade as an assistant at Florida coaching vault, bars and floor for the Gators. While at Florida, he helped the Gators reach the NCAA National Championships all 10 years he was on the staff, winning three national titles and coaching two individual national champions on bars. Throughout his tenure in Gainesville, Ladanyi coached 43 All-Americans on vault, bars and floor.

Before coming to the United States, Ladanyi was the head coach of the Romanian Junior National Team and the Romanian club team CSM. He also competed with the Romanian National Team for six years before retiring from competition at the age of 19 due to injury.

Ladanyi graduated from the Romanian National School of Coaching with a degree in International High Level Gymnastics. He has two daughters, Gabby and Laila.

For more information on the Utah State gymnastics program, follow the Aggies on Twitter at @USUGymnastics, on Facebook at UtahStateGymnastics and on Instagram at USUGymnastics.
 
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