Gym Dogs get two head coaches

The University of Georgia gymnastics team will have co-head coaches: UGA athletic director Josh Brooks has named Cecile Canqueteau-Landi and Ryan Roberts as replacements for Courtney Kupets Carter, the Gym Dogs coach who was fired last week.

From Karra Gentry, UGA Sports Communications…

Hall of Fame USA Gymnastics coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi and Ryan Roberts – who has spent the past six seasons as an assistant coach at Alabama and Georgia –have been named co-head coaches of the University of Georgia gymnastics program, J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks announced Thursday.

“Cecile and Ryan are two of the most accomplished gymnastics coaches in the sport. The combination of their leadership and experiences will give us one the most dynamic coaching staffs in the country,” Brooks said. “Both coaches have developed and mentored the very best gymnasts in the world, and I know our current and future student-athletes will be excited to learn from two of the best coaches in the country.”

“I want to congratulate Cecile and Ryan on being named co-head coaches of the University of Georgia’s storied gymnastics program,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “I look forward to all they will accomplish together as they serve our exceptional student-athletes and help the University of Georgia succeed as one of the best gymnastics programs in the nation.”

Canqueteau-Landi has trained and mentored 13 USA Women’s Senior National Team members, including Olympic and World team and individual champions Simone Biles and Madison Kocian and World team champions Alyssa Baumann, Jordan Chiles and Joscelyn Roberson. She and her husband, Laurent, are personal coaches to Biles.

A native of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France, Canqueteau-Landi competed for France at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and currently coaches at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. Canqueteau-Landi will be alongside Biles at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

“Throughout my life, gymnastics has provided me some extraordinary opportunities, from traveling the world and competing for my country at the Olympics to coaching amazing athletes at the highest level, Canqueteau-Landi said. “Those experiences have helped me become the coach that I am while putting athlete’s well-being first and helping them reach their full potential. I am thrilled for the opportunity to be the new co-head coach of the GymDogs with Ryan. I am looking forward to work with team in the near future! I would like to thank Josh Brooks, Stephanie Ransom the entire UGAA staff for this opportunity.”

Roberts has served as an assistant coach at Georgia for two seasons, and prior to that spent four years at Alabama, where he helped lead the Crimson Tide to the 2021 SEC Championship and a No. 5 national ranking. During his six seasons as an assistant coach, his teams have signed top-5 recruiting classes three times, including Georgia’s No. 1 signing class in 2023.

With the GymDogs, he coached SEC Freshman of the Year Lily Smith to a sixth-place overall finish on bars at the 2024 National Championship, where she earned All-America honors on bars, beam, floor and all-around. At Alabama, Luisa Blanco was named the SEC Gymnast of the Year and was a finalist for the Honda Award in 2021. Blanco, Lexi Graber, Makarri Doggette and Shallon Olsen also earned All-America honors.

Roberts went to Alabama following five years with the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Frisco, Texas, where he worked with Canqueteau-Landi. A much sought after coach at gymnastics clinics and camps across the nation, Roberts spent six years coaching in Fredrikstad, Norway prior to joining the WOGA staff.

A former communications officer and platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps, Roberts was deployed to Iraq in 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Roberts competed for two years at the University of New Mexico before finishing his career as a two-time NCAA qualifier at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2003. He also earned a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2010.

“I’m beyond grateful for this opportunity,” Roberts said. “Thank you to President Morehead and Josh Brooks for trusting in me to help guide this team. Thank you to the amazing GymDogs who put the work in every day. We have put our heart and soul into each other the past couple years and are on the cusp of some great things. I have known Cecile for years, and she is the exact person to help propel this team to greatness. She is a phenomenal person and coach. Articulating how phenomenal she is isn’t possible and I am very much looking forward to leading this team with her. I give my word to the team, Cecile, the parents, the commits, and the administration that every decision made will be for the betterment of every student athlete on this team. We will represent the G with pride! Go Dawgs!”

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