University of Georgia Athletics
Led By Two Coaches, A New GymDogs Era Begins
September 10, 2024 | Gymnastics, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Back in April, when Georgia announced that its next gymnastics head coach was actually two coaches, Cécile Canqueteau-Landi and Ryan Roberts, only one of them, Roberts, who had been on former coach Courtney Kupets Carter's staff, would be on the job right away.
For the time being, Canqueteau-Landi had responsibilities elsewhere — namely prepping for and coaching at the Paris Olympics as the U.S. women's national team head coach and, with her husband Laurent, the personal coach of superstars Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles.
Now, with the Summer Olympics over and Team USA having secured the gold medal (Biles won two individual golds and a silver), Canqueteau-Landi is now prepping for her first season as a collegiate coach.
"It's been fun. A lot of meetings, lots of meetings, a lot of meeting people, a little bit of coaching right now, but I'm excited for next week when we get started with the 20 hours (a week with the gymnasts). But it's been good, really exciting," Canqueteau-Landi said of getting started at UGA, during a news conference with Roberts on Monday.
The two coaches have known one another for a long time, and when Roberts was an assistant at Alabama prior to coming to Georgia, he tried to get Canqueteau-Landi to join him on the staff in Tuscaloosa. The timing wasn't right then, but it is now.
"We're a good pair; we balance each other really well. We're different people with the same goal," said Canqueteau-Landi, who competed for her native France at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
While having co-head coaches on a college team isn't the norm, it's not unheard of. Right now, California's women's gymnastics program is headed by Justin Howell and Elisabeth Crandall-Howell. And in the club or elite gymnastics world, Roberts said, having multiple coaches "is the typical" situation.
"We've both worked in that, her more recently that I have, obviously, but we feel like it's the best model for this team, for a variety of reasons," said Roberts, who was an assistant coach with the GymDogs the past two seasons. "The trust and respect that we have for each other, the communication, I think is going to make this a great coaching staff overall.
As Canqueteau-Landi is learning now, there is a lot more to being a college coach, regardless of the sport, than just coaching your student-athletes. There are lots of meetings, there are lots of NCAA rules to learn, and there is the pivotal (and never-ending) recruiting of top talent that must go on throughout the year. Roberts has been there to help her navigate as much of that as he can.
"He's been in the NCAA for a couple of years, so he's (helping me with) what I need to know right now," she said.
One thing Canqueteau-Landi certainly does know is gymnastics. She and her husband helped Biles win six career Olympic medals (so far), including three golds in Paris, and three world championships all-around titles. While Biles won't be training with the Bulldogs, she's the biggest name in the sport, maybe the history of the sport, and she's already posted about her coach and the GymDogs on social media.
"She's supporting us online already. That's already big, I feel like," Canqueteau-Landi said.
When asked if the GymDogs have peppered her with questions about Biles, Chiles and the other big-name Olympians, Canqueteau-Landi said there hasn't been much of that. However, "They think it's really cool that I know them," she said.
The history of Georgia gymnastics, with its 10 NCAA team titles and heaps of individual championships between 1987 and 2009 when coach Suzanne Yoculan Leebern was leading the program, is still the gold standard for athletic success at UGA. The GymDogs won five straight titles in Leebern's final five seasons, and Canqueteau-Landi even trained some of those gymnasts before they became GymDogs. The banners inside Stegeman Coliseum tell the story: Georgia has won a lot of SEC and NCAA titles in gymnastics, but none since Leebern retired.
Canqueteau-Landi and Roberts know well where this program has been, and where they want it to go. She said the program's rich history is "a great legacy and a lot of responsibility. We're excited for it. It will take some time, but we want to get back out there and have our own banner, for sure."
Staff Writer
Back in April, when Georgia announced that its next gymnastics head coach was actually two coaches, Cécile Canqueteau-Landi and Ryan Roberts, only one of them, Roberts, who had been on former coach Courtney Kupets Carter's staff, would be on the job right away.
For the time being, Canqueteau-Landi had responsibilities elsewhere — namely prepping for and coaching at the Paris Olympics as the U.S. women's national team head coach and, with her husband Laurent, the personal coach of superstars Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles.
Now, with the Summer Olympics over and Team USA having secured the gold medal (Biles won two individual golds and a silver), Canqueteau-Landi is now prepping for her first season as a collegiate coach.
"It's been fun. A lot of meetings, lots of meetings, a lot of meeting people, a little bit of coaching right now, but I'm excited for next week when we get started with the 20 hours (a week with the gymnasts). But it's been good, really exciting," Canqueteau-Landi said of getting started at UGA, during a news conference with Roberts on Monday.
The two coaches have known one another for a long time, and when Roberts was an assistant at Alabama prior to coming to Georgia, he tried to get Canqueteau-Landi to join him on the staff in Tuscaloosa. The timing wasn't right then, but it is now.
"We're a good pair; we balance each other really well. We're different people with the same goal," said Canqueteau-Landi, who competed for her native France at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
While having co-head coaches on a college team isn't the norm, it's not unheard of. Right now, California's women's gymnastics program is headed by Justin Howell and Elisabeth Crandall-Howell. And in the club or elite gymnastics world, Roberts said, having multiple coaches "is the typical" situation.
"We've both worked in that, her more recently that I have, obviously, but we feel like it's the best model for this team, for a variety of reasons," said Roberts, who was an assistant coach with the GymDogs the past two seasons. "The trust and respect that we have for each other, the communication, I think is going to make this a great coaching staff overall.
As Canqueteau-Landi is learning now, there is a lot more to being a college coach, regardless of the sport, than just coaching your student-athletes. There are lots of meetings, there are lots of NCAA rules to learn, and there is the pivotal (and never-ending) recruiting of top talent that must go on throughout the year. Roberts has been there to help her navigate as much of that as he can.
"He's been in the NCAA for a couple of years, so he's (helping me with) what I need to know right now," she said.
One thing Canqueteau-Landi certainly does know is gymnastics. She and her husband helped Biles win six career Olympic medals (so far), including three golds in Paris, and three world championships all-around titles. While Biles won't be training with the Bulldogs, she's the biggest name in the sport, maybe the history of the sport, and she's already posted about her coach and the GymDogs on social media.
"She's supporting us online already. That's already big, I feel like," Canqueteau-Landi said.
When asked if the GymDogs have peppered her with questions about Biles, Chiles and the other big-name Olympians, Canqueteau-Landi said there hasn't been much of that. However, "They think it's really cool that I know them," she said.
The history of Georgia gymnastics, with its 10 NCAA team titles and heaps of individual championships between 1987 and 2009 when coach Suzanne Yoculan Leebern was leading the program, is still the gold standard for athletic success at UGA. The GymDogs won five straight titles in Leebern's final five seasons, and Canqueteau-Landi even trained some of those gymnasts before they became GymDogs. The banners inside Stegeman Coliseum tell the story: Georgia has won a lot of SEC and NCAA titles in gymnastics, but none since Leebern retired.
Canqueteau-Landi and Roberts know well where this program has been, and where they want it to go. She said the program's rich history is "a great legacy and a lot of responsibility. We're excited for it. It will take some time, but we want to get back out there and have our own banner, for sure."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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