Whitney Snowden - Women's Gymnastics Coach - Michigan State University Athletics

Whitney Snowden

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
snowdenw@ath.msu.edu
Phone:
432-3189

Whitney Snowden enters her third season with the Spartan gymnastics program in 2021-22.

Snowden was an important member of a 2022 Spartan coaching staff that garnered WCGA National Assistant Coaches of the Year honors, as well as WCGA Region 4 Assistant Coaches of the Year and CollegeGymNews Coaches of the Year nods. She completed her third season as an assistant coach of the Green & White, working primarily with gymnasts on the leg events, vault and floor.

Whitney and her fellow coaches led MSU to a standout year in 2022. A record six gymnasts were named All-Big Ten, with another program-high of 11 student-athletes earning Academic-All Big Ten honors. The Spartans held one of the highest floor scores in the nation, concluding the season ranked ninth in the country on floor, 10th on beam, 15^th on bars and 19^th on vault. New program bests were set on vault, bars (49.500), beam (49.500) and floor (49.675), with a new all-time high team score of 197.650 to cap it off.

Michigan State qualified for the postseason as a team for the first time since 2016 and competed in the West Regionals in Seattle, Washington. The MSU coaching staff led the Spartans to a first-place finish at the Big Five meet on Feb. 19 and second-place finishes at the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Regionals Second Round to advance to the Finals, placing third. Snowden helped the Spartans reach new heights on floor, with senior Ashley Hofelich tying for the second-highest floor score in MSU history on March 5 with a 9.975.

The 2021 season was canceled after just two meets due to health and safety concerns stemming from COVID-19 within the program. Michigan State won its season-opening tri-meet against Nebraska and Ohio State, with Baleigh Garcia winning all-around and garnering Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors in the process. The Spartans competed in another tri-meet, this time with OSU and Illinois and placing third, before shutting down for the remainder of the season.

During her first season as assistant coach of the Spartans, the 2020 season was shortened due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, canceling one regular-season meet, plus the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Regionals and Championships. Despite the shortened season, MSU gymnasts earned two All-Big Ten accolades as Lea Mitchell earned First Team All-Big Ten honors, while senior Gabriella Douglas collected Second Team All-Big Ten recognition. In the classroom, the Spartans tied a program record with 12 Scholastic All-America Award winners, as well as collecting seven Big Ten Distinguished Scholar accolades and 10 Academic All-Big Ten honors.

Snowden came to East Lansing having had most recently been an educational clinician and consultant for the past year. She was a hired by the Pan-American Gymnastics Union to establish and promote the sport of gymnastics in St. Vincent and Grenadines, for a 90-day contract. In addition, she was hired by USA Gymnastics as a vault clinician to educate coaches and athletes on current vaulting techniques.

Snowden was contracted to work with 28 gyms across the United States and was also a master clinician at several collegiate training camps, including Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas and Illinois.

For eight years, Snowden served as a head level 8-10 coach at Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy, while also serving as an elite coach and the women's technical director. As a head level 8-10 coach, she produced 50-plus individual event and all-around champions at Region 5 Regionals, Eastern Nationals and J.O. National Championships. Snowden also coached athletes to 24 Division I scholarships, including universities in the SEC, ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten, MAC and Ivy League conferences.

As the women's technical director for two years, Snowden supervised and educated support staff at Cincinnati Gymnastics on new techniques to help better the program from recreational to elite gymnastics.