Arizona gymnastics coach John Court signs contract extension through 2026

Arizona gymnastics head coach John Court spent 19 years as an assistant coach for the GymCats under two different head coaches. He officially got the head coaching role in March of 2018 after spending a season as the interim head coach. He will be doing it for at least three more years after signing a contract extension through 2026.

“John continues to be an integral part of the success of Arizona gymnastics as head coach following two decades as an assistant,” Vice President and Director of Athletics Dave Heeke said in the department’s press release. “He is an integral part of our department’s successful group of head coaches. John has coached and mentored outstanding young women who embody the Wildcat Way and develop into academic, athletic, and life champions.”

Court has led the Wildcats to the postseason as a team each year since the interim tag was removed with the exception of the 2019-20 season. The postseason was canceled that year due to the pandemic. Last year, the GymCats finished at No. 21 in national qualifying scores, their best finish since 2016.

In the past three years, two different gymnasts advanced to nationals under Court. Malia Hargrove almost made it three Arizona appearances in a row after tying for the regional title on vault. She missed her second appearance at nationals in three years due to tiebreaking rules.

Since taking over as head coach, Court’s teams have produced two All-Americans. Chrissy Berg was honored on bars in 2019 and Sirena Linton got the honor on beam in 2022. The program produced six more All-Americans during his time as an assistant coach under Bill Ryden including Ring of Honor inductee and 2001 AAI American Award recipient Heidi Hornbeek, all-time program leading scorer Monica Bisordi, and 2008 Pac-10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year Kristen Klarenbac.

“Coaching at the University of Arizona is a tremendous honor and privilege,” Court said. “I would like to thank Dave Heeke and our sport administrator Krystal Swindlehurst for supporting and believing in me as a person and coach to guide the program. Our program has made great strides the last few seasons and the quality of people on our staff and in our program will push us to new heights and make the future exciting.”