Tim Garrison Voted Back-to-Back Regional Coach of the Year
FORT WORTH, Texas – On the eve of the 2019 Women’s National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships, Kentucky head coach Tim Garrison was named Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Region 1 Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
“I am once again humbled to receive this award,” Garrison said. “I am incredibly fortunate to have a great staff of coaches, a dedicated trainer, doctor, director of operations, sports information director, student manager and sport administrator. They put in many hours that are not visible to most but are invaluable to the team.”
Garrison acknowledges that the most credit, however, is owed to the ones who have elevated the program to new heights with their performances each week.
“All that being true, the group that has made this a dream job for me is my team,” said Garrison. “They have achieved at every turn. I am extremely proud and eternally grateful to them for their trust in us and commitment to UK gymnastics.”
Garrison and the Wildcats have continued to rewrite the school record books in his eighth season at the helm. Before he arrived at Kentucky, the program’s highest single-meet score was 196.375, a record that stood for a full decade before Garrison’s tenure. Since then, the total has been matched or surpassed 29 times.
Having never reached the 197-point benchmark prior to 2017, Kentucky accomplished the feat in five of its final six meets in the 2019 regular season, including upset wins over then-No. 5 LSU and No. 9 Alabama. In the 2019 NCAA Athens Regional Final, the Cats scored a program-best 197.600.
Kentucky concluded the season as one of just three Southeastern Conference teams with a top-10 final national standing, landing behind national championship competitors LSU and Georgia and ahead of SEC regular season champion Florida.
Formally known as the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women Central Region Coach of the Year award, Garrison was voted Kentucky’s first all-time recipient by head coaches around the country in 2018. He went on to win National Coach of the Year accolades the same season, an honor for which he will be eligible once again in 2019.
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