Robert Ladanyi (pronounced la-duh-nee) is entering his fourth season as an assistant coach at Utah State. He is the primary coach on bars, while also spotting.
During the 2025 season, Ladanyi helped Utah State to its first-ever Mountain West Championship with a 196.100 to defeat regular season champion Boise State, along with San Jose State and Air Force. It was the program’s seventh conference title all-time and first since 2022. Graduate Brianna Brooks was named the Championship MVP after tying for first on bars with a season-high-tying 9.900.
Utah State also advanced to NCAA Regionals in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a team for the first time since 2022 and for the 28th time in program history, while five individuals qualified for the second round, including three on bars in Brooks, junior Avery Bibbey and freshman Lundyn VanderToolen. Brooks shined on bars as she tied for second with a season-high-tying 9.900, which is tied for the third-best bars score at an NCAA Regional meet in school history.
Utah State scored a 196.000 or better four times during the year, including a season-high 196.475 versus No. 7 California and Texas Woman’s at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, which is the ninth-highest away score in program history. USU also scored a 196.300 against Boise State, which is tied for the ninth-highest home score in program history, as the Aggies defeated the Broncos for the first time since 2022.
Ladanyi coached three Aggies to All-Mountain West honors on bars as Brooks and Bibbey were named to the first team, while VanderToolen was named second team.
Brooks finished her career with 24 event titles, including nine on bars, which are the seventh most in school history. During the 2025 campaign, Brooks won 12 event titles, which is tied for the sixth most by a senior in school history, as she has placed first on bars five times, which is tied for the eighth most in program history.
Overall, VanderToolen averaged 9.805 on bars during the 2025 season to rank eighth all-time in school history, while Brooks averaged 9.800 on bars to rank ninth all-time. VanderToolen scored a career-high 9.925 on bars against Boise State, which is tied for the 11th-best score in school history.
As a team, Utah State averaged a 48.982 on bars during the 2025 season, which ranks second all-time in school history. USU posted a season-best 49.375 on bars at Boise State, which is tied for the second-best score on the event in program history.
Following the 2024 season, Ladanyi was named the North Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year, along with his colleagues Rachel Slocum and Daniel Barclay.
During the 2024 campaign, Ladanyi helped Utah State to a second-place finish at the inaugural Mountain West Championships with a season-high 196.500, which is tied for the fifth-highest home score in school history. It was also the second-highest score in a conference championship meet in school history. Highlighting USU's performance at the conference championship was Brooks winning the bars title with a season-high-tying 9.900 and placing second in the all-around with a 39.300.
Brooks concluded the season for USU by competing at the NCAA Regional Championships in Berkeley, California, where she tied for first on bars with a season-high-tying 9.900, which is tied for the third-best score at an NCAA Regional meet in school history. Brooks, who was named the North Central Region Gymnast of the Year for the second-straight season, also earned second-team All-Mountain West honors in the all-around and on bars.
As a team, Utah State averaged a 48.929 on bars during the 2024 season, which ranks fourth all-time in school history. Brooks led USU on the event with an average score of 9.852, which ranks fourth all-time in school history for a single season.
During his first season at the helm, Ladanyi coached Brooks, who was named the North Central Region Gymnast of the Year, as she garnered first-team All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference accolades in the all-around and second-team honors on bars.
Brooks competed on bars and tied for third in Session I of the NCAA Regional Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a career-best 9.925, which is tied for 11th all-time in school history and ranks second all-time for a regional meet.
Brooks averaged 9.855 on bars, which ranks third all-time in school history. Ladanyi also coached Grace Rojas, who averaged 9.786 on bars, which is tied for 15th all-time, in her final season of the Aggies.
Ladanyi arrived in Logan after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Nebraska, working primarily with the vault and floor specialists.
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 Skinner and MaKenna Merrell-Giles.
Ladanyi spent two seasons as an assistant at Denver in 2016 and 2017. 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.
