PROVO, Utah – BYU gymnastics head coach Guard Young has been appointed to the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Committee beginning Sept.1, 2020.
The NCAA Gymnastics Committee is responsible for governing the policies and procedures of the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championship. Young’s term of service will continue through Aug. 31, 2024.
“I am really looking forward to the opportunity to serve on the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics committee,” Young said. “I was on a men’s gymnastics roll committee at the NCAA level during my time at Oklahoma, so I have gotten to experience a little bit of what it is like. I’m really excited to be at the ground level where decisions are made. Hopefully I can share insights from my years as a gymnast and coach, and have unique opportunities to learn from this appointment.”
Young competed on the BYU men’s gymnastics team from 1996-2000 where he won six All-America awards and two NCAA Individual National Championships on the vault in 1999 and 2000. Following his career as a gymnast at BYU, he competed on the USA Senior National Gymnastics team from 2000-04, winning a team silver medal at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, and a team silver medal the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
“This is a great opportunity for a coach with Guard’s background as a former collegiate gymnast and Olympian to serve in this leadership role with the NCAA,” said BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe. “We are excited to have him represent BYU on this important committee.”
Before coming to BYU, Young was an assistant coach for the men’s gymnastics team at University of Oklahoma from 2000-05 and 2011-15. In nine seasons with the Sooners, he was part of four NCAA championship teams (2002, 2003, 2005, 2015) and five NCAA runner-up teams (2001, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2014).
In 2010, Young was inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame, joining his father Wayne, who was a BYU gymnast from 1970-75 and captained the 1976 USA Olympic team. Young was named the head coach of the BYU women’s gymnastics team in May 2015. In 2019, he was named Mountain Rim Gymnastics Coach of the Year after leading the Cougars to a No. 21 ranking and a meet score of 197.00 for the first time in 15 years. In 2020, Young led BYU to a No. 16 ranking and the first MRGC Championship since joining the conference in 2016.
Young earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from BYU in 2001. He his wife, Alisha, have three children.