{"id":356379,"date":"2026-06-30T22:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/356379\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T22:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:15:14","slug":"penn-states-sarah-brown-hired-as-first-head-coach-of-texas-state-gymnastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/356379\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State\u2019s Sarah Brown hired as first head coach of Texas State gymnastics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long-time Penn State head coach Sarah Brown will be moving south after being hired as the first head coach<\/a> of the Texas State gymnastics program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am incredibly honored to be trusted with building the first ever Division I gymnastics program in the state of Texas,\u201d Brown said<\/a>. \u201cThis is truly a historic moment and I want to extend my sincerest thanks to President Kelly Damphousse and Athletics Director Don Coryell for their unwavering support and commitment to expanding opportunities for women in sports, through gymnastics. The energy at Texas State is palpable \u2014 from my very first visit, I could feel a campus-wide culture of support that assures me this program will reach the highest of highs. I look forward to meeting the Bobcat family and can\u2019t wait to get started!\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The complex history of college gymnastics in Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

Brown has been the head coach of the Nittany Lions since 2017, leading the team for nine seasons from 2018-2026. Prior to that, she had a brief stint as the head coach at Eastern Michigan, as well as roles at Michigan, SEMO, and Missouri.<\/p>\n

Brown, then Sarah Shire, competed at Utah and Missouri as an athlete. She was a four-time All-American with the Tigers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSarah Brown is exactly the kind of leader we envisioned when we committed to building the first NCAA Division I women\u2019s gymnastics program in Texas,\u201d said Damphousse. \u201cThis is an exciting day for TXST and for gymnastics in our state. Sarah has excelled as both an athlete and a coach. During the interview process, I enjoyed hearing her plans to shape a program that reflects the excellence, ambition, and spirit of our university.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bobcats are eyeing the 2028 season for their debut, which means Brown is now tasked with building a coaching staff and roster in less than two years.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: We Are\u2026 kidney donors: Penn State gymnastics head coach donates kidney to father days after season ends<\/a><\/p>\n

Penn State, the No. 19 team in the country this past season, will also have to rebuild \u2013\u00a0and at a very late hour.<\/p>\n

The 2026 coaching carousel has slowed down significantly, but the Nittany Lions will need to find a suitable replacement soon with the fall semester and preseason looming.<\/p>\n

Associate Head Coach Ralph Rosso and Assistant Coach Lynnzee Brown are the two remaining members of the Nittany Lions\u2019 coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Rosso could be a candidate to fill Sarah Brown\u2019s shoes, with 18 years of coaching experience and five seasons under his belt at Penn State.<\/p>\n

Lynnzee Brown has considerably less coaching experience than Rosso, but she is entering her fourth season with the Nittany Lions and had a successful NCAA career at Denver before becoming the first Haitian gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 2024. (Sarah Brown was her elite coach.)<\/p>\n

Penn State could also opt to clean house and start anew. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long-time Penn State head coach Sarah Brown will be moving south after being hired as the first head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[771,126720,27,29,28,9327],"class_list":["post-356379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-sarah-shire-brown","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-state-bobcats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}