JEN LLEWELLYN | HEAD COACH
Jen Llewellyn was named the fifth head coach in program history on June 6, 2024.
Llewellyn comes to the Hawkeyes after three years as head coach at the University of Washington. At Washington, Llewellyn led the Huskies to three-straight NCAA second round regional appearances, including a sweet 16 appearance in 2023. In 2024, the GymDawgs recorded two team scores above a 197, the second time the squad has notched two 197+ scores in Llewellyn’s tenure at Washington. Llewellyn had student-athletes named NCAA Regional floor co-champions at the Cal Regional. She had one student-athlete qualify for NCAA National Championships in the all-around where she was a two-time All-American on bars and the all-around.
Prior to Washington, Llewelyn was at Lindenwood University since the start of the program in 2012. She served as the interim head coach for the inaugural season and was named the head coach in 2013. Llewellyn led the Lions to six straight conference championships and three USAG National Championships. She was named Midwest Independent Conference (MIC) Head Coach of the Year in 2015, 2016, and 2018. Llewellyn was named the USA Gymnastics Head Coach of the Year in 2015 and 2016. She helped the Lions earn three different Gymnast of the Year awards from the MIC including the 2015 Gymnast of the Year, the 2015 Newcomer of the Year, and the 2018 Senior Athlete of the Year.
Llewellyn coached the Lions to their first-ever NCAA Regionals appearance after Lindenwood finished 2019 by winning the MIC championship and was selected to the Baton Rouge Regional as the third-ever Division II program to qualify for NCAA Regionals. The Lions had eight different individuals qualify for Regionals in Llewellyn’s time as head coach, including three in 2021
The Lions posted six-straight MIC championships under Llewellyn’s leadership. Over her nine seasons, Lindenwood earned 78 all-conference honors, including 18 in 2021. The Lions also earned four WCGA All-American honors in 2021, giving the Lions 64 All-Americans during Llewellyn’s tenure. Llewellyn was named Division II Regional Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021.
In the classroom, the Lions achieved the highest GPA in program history in 2021, posting a 3.84 to top the previous record of 3.82 from 2020. Her student-athletes earned numerous MIC Scholar-Athlete and USA Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete honors, and in 2017 two members of the program became the first Academic All-Americans in team history
A native of Kenmore, Washington, Llewellyn was a three-time all-American and a national runner-up on bars at Oregon State. She would also win a Pac-12 championship in 2009 on bars and an NCAA Regionals championship in 2008 on bars.
Llewellyn earned her bachelor’s degree in merchandise management in 2012 from Oregon State and her master’s in communication from Lindenwood in 2014. She and her husband, Cody, have two children, William Grayson and Blakely.
What they’re saying about Jen Llewellyn:
Jen Cohen, USC Athletic Director, former Washington Athletics Director
“Jen Llewellyn is an exceptional coach, leader and person. She brings to Iowa Gymnastics a wealth of experience, a championship mindset and will build a culture where the young women in her program will thrive both in and out of competition. This is a great hire by Iowa.”
Jay Clark, Head Coach, Louisiana State University
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jen since she was an athlete that I recruited. She was a tenacious competitor then, and I’ve watched from afar as she has grown into the complete coach she is today. She understands the importance of standards, values and todays need for a true culture of buy in from every role being played on her team. I’m excited to see her take this next challenge and move the needle the way she has everywhere she has been. Iowa is fortunate to have such a coach full of integrity and ambition to succeed.”
K.J. Kindler, Head Coach, University of Oklahoma
“In Jen’s young career she has accomplished what many thought might be unreachable including growing the Lindenwood program from inception to a birth in the NCAA post season and nurturing the Washington Huskies to compete in the final sixteen. Her professional endeavors are always preceded by her devotion to personal relationships with her student- athletes. She will undoubtedly provide the leadership and vision to propel the Hawkeyes into the next phase.”
Tanya Chaplin, Head Coach, Oregon State
“Jen is an exceptional coach, mentor, and teacher, dedicated to developing and empowering her athletes at every stage of their journey. Her enthusiasm and passion for the sport are contagious. It has been exciting to watch her succeed at every step of her journey, from a student-athlete to a championship coach. I am excited to watch her thrive at Iowa.”
CRAIG BALLARD | ASSISTANT COACH
Craig Ballard was named an assistant coach for the University of Iowa gymnastics team on July 11, 2024.
Ballard brings 17 years of coaching experience to Iowa. He joins the Hawkeyes after 13 seasons at Kent State where he served as an assistant coach for 12 seasons before being named associate head coach in 2024. Prior to Kent State, Ballard served as an assistant coach at Bowling Green and Rhode Island.
In his time with the Golden Flashes he helped lead them to six regular season Mid-American Conference championships and nine NCAA postseason appearances. During his tenure, he coached six MAC Gymnast of the Year, three MAC Senior Gymnast of the Year, three MAC Specialist of the Year, and two MAC Freshmen of the Year. Ballard was instrumental in having eight individual MAC champions and two WCGA All-Americans. In the classroom the Golden Flashes had 153 student-athletes recognized as WCGA Academic All-Americans.
Prior to his arrival at Kent State, Ballard spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Bowling Green. There, Ballard helped spearhead a turnaround that saw the Falcons go from last place in the MAC to fourth and improve seven positions in the final national rankings. He guided six gymnasts to NCAA Central Regional berths in three years.
Ballard spent the 2008 season as the assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Rhode Island, earning Eastern College Athletic Conference Assistant Coach of the Year honors as the Rams took second place at the conference championships.
Ballard got his start in collegiate coaching as a team manager/student coach at West Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies in 2006.
A native of Morgantown, W.V., Ballard and his wife, Allyson, have two sons, Reed and Carter Thomas.
KYLE GRABLE | ASSISTANT COACH
Kyle Grable was named an assistant coach on July 26, 2024.
Grable joins the Hawkeyes after three seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA. Prior to UCLA Grable had a successful 15-year club coaching career at Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center (JPAC) in Indianapolis and Gym-Nation in Mason, Ohio.
In 2023, he was selected by the WCGA as Co-Assistant Coach of the Year in the West Region, and the UCLA coaching staff was selected College Gym News’ Coaching Staff of the Year. Grable served as the Bruins’ vault and floor coach where he coached 2024 Olympian, Jordan Chiles, to a NCAA and Pac-12 floor exercise title. He also guided six Bruins to All-America honors, two on vault and four on floor. UCLA’s floor exercise squad ranked first in the nation in 2023 and set a school postseason record on floor with a 49.7125 at the NCAA semifinals.
In 2024, he coached the Bruin vault squad to a 49.312 season average, a two-tenths improvement from 2023.
Prior to UCLA, Grable coached at JPAC, a highly respected club gym, where he served as co-head coach for elite development for five years. Under his guidance, JPAC was awarded J.O. Club of the Year honors nationally in 2019 and in Region 5 in 2021. He led the uneven bars instruction for Levels 6-10, coached a Level 10 national all-around champion in 2019, three Level 10 uneven bars national champions, a 2021 Level 10 National beam champion, two Level 10 national all-around runners-up and qualified athletes to the Nastia Liukin Cup in four straight years.
From 2007-17, Grable coached at Gym-Nation assisting in the rebuilding of the gymnastics team program. As the primary vault and uneven bars coach, he helped qualify athletes to Level 9 Easterns and Level 10 Nationals.
The Dayton, Ohio, native earned degree in athletic training form Urbana University in 2008. He comes to Iowa City with his wife Autumn.
BRENNA BROOKS | ASSISTANT COACH
Brenna Brooks was named an assistant coach for the University of Iowa gymnastics team on July 16, 2024.
Brooks comes to Iowa from Seattle where she was an assistant coach at Washington for one season after being a five-year student-athlete. During 2024 she helped the Huskies to top-20 rankings for all but one week of the season.
As a Husky, Brooks was named to the Pac-12 Gymnastics Preseason Watch List in her fifth year. She competed on vault, bars and beam in every meet during her final season, where she earned a career-high 9.850 five times on vault. She also earned a season-high 9.850 on bars on two occasions, and a career-best 9.950 on beam at home against Stanford (Feb. 20, 2023).
Brooks is a three-time Pac-12 academic honor roll member, earning the award during the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Brooks is a native of Allen, Texas and earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood and family studies while at Washington.
Cody Llewellyn | Camp Director
Cody steps into the role of Director of Camps for the Iowa Gymnastics Program after serving as Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at the University of Washington for the past three seasons. Lllewellyn led the GymDawgs on bars, where the team finished the 2024 season ranked No. 28 nationally.
Llewellyn guided his first student-athlete at Washington to NCAA Nationals, as senior Skylar Killough-Wilhelm qualified as an individual all-arounder for the NCAA National Championships. Killough-Wilhelm, who earned a career-high 9.975 on bars in a home meet with Arizona in 2024, was one of three GymDawgs to earn a 9.9+ on bars this season (along with Lilly Tubbs’ 9.950 and Taylor Russon’s 9.900).
Killough-Wilhelm, who earned First Team All-Pac-12 All-Around, Regional Floor Co-Champion (9.950) and two-time Pac-12 Coaches Choice of the Week — received her first All-American honors in Fort Worth where she earned First Team All-American (Bars) and Second Team All-American (All-Around) honors.
Lllewellyn led the BarDawgs in 2023, helping them earn a season-high 49.475 at the P&G Classic.
In 2023, Llewellyn guided the GymDawgs to their first regional final appearance since the 2018 season. The team earned a 196.775, their second highest team score of the year, in the second round of the Los Angeles Regionals to advance to the Regional Final for the first time in five seasons. The squad’s 196.775 was good for a second place finish in the Huskies’ session of the Regional, upsetting then No. 12 Auburn and besting Southern Utah.
Llewellyn helped push the GymDawgs to their highest score ever at Regionals in the 2022 season where they faced No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Michigan State and BYU. Washington finished with a final team score of 197.175, the second time the Huskies broke the 197 mark that year.
Llewellyn joined the UW coaching staff in 2021 after three successful seasons as an assistant coach with the Lindenwood women’s gymnastics program.
With Llewellyn on staff, the Lions won three of their six straight MIC championships, a USAG National Title and an NCAA Regional qualifying berth in 2019.
In 2021, Llewellyn oversaw a bars lineup that earned a program record 48.9 NQS and a 39th ranking nationally. Llewellyn helped guide a young lineup comprised of four freshmen and two seniors to a conference and USAG best NQS this past season.
Lindenwood sent three gymnasts to NCAA regionals in 2021 and finished with a 6th MIC conference title. In three seasons serving as the primary bars coach, Llewellyn has helped lead Lindenwood to its three highest NQS finishes in the program’s nine-year history.
In 2019, Lindenwood had its most successful season in program history. The Lions established a conference record by winning their fifth consecutive MIC Championship. Lindenwood became just the third-ever NCAA Division II program to compete in an NCAA Regional. The Lions set a new program record in 2019 with a RQS of 195.400, the highest mark in program history.
Llewellyn has earned recognition as two-time NCAA Regional Division II Coaching Staff of the Year, USAG Assistant Coach of the Year (2019) and MIC Assistant Coach of the Year (2019) in his tenure at Lindenwood.
Llewellyn earned his bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University in 2011 with a master’s degree from Lindenwood University in 2013. Llewellyn is married to Jen Llewellyn, current head coach of the Washington gymnastics program, and they have a son and daughter, William Grayson and Blakely.