SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 7, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The University of Utah has promoted Carly Dockendorf to head coach of its gymnastics program.
Dockendorf, an assistant coach at Utah since 2018, has been serving as interim head coach since Nov. 21 when the university parted ways with embattled coach Tom Farden.
“Carly is a tremendous leader who cares deeply about the student-athletes in our gymnastics program and is the perfect person to be the program’s next head coach,” Utah Director of Athletics Mark Harlan said. “She has played an instrumental role in the successes of our program in recent years and has guided student-athletes to multiple All-America honors.”
Dockendorf has agreed to serve as the Red Rocks’ head coach through 2027, university officials said. She started at Utah in 2018 as a volunteer assistant coach and was promoted to Director of Recruiting Development in 2019, became an assistant coach in 2020 and then associate head coach in 2022.
“Carly is highly respected in the gymnastics coaching community and her track record shows a deep commitment to helping student-athletes reach their potential and pursue greatness,” Harlan said. “She embodies all the characteristics necessary to lead one of the sport’s most storied programs, and I have no doubt that she will continue to elevate the program to new heights, producing results in competition, in the classroom and in our community that our fans and alumni can be proud of. I am excited to see Carly take the reins of this program.”
Dockendorf called her new role “a dream come true.”
“The legacy that has been built will continue to hold our program at the most elite level of expectation and standard every day,” she said. “We will continue building upon the foundation of excellence, and developing not only world-class gymnasts but women who will leave this program believing in themselves and ready to impact the world around them. This team is full of courage, tenacity and strength, and I am truly excited to have this opportunity to work alongside them and celebrate their brilliant talent with the No. 1 fans in the country.”
Dockendorf has helped lead Red Rocks gymnastics to four consecutive Pac-12 Conference regular-season championships, three straight Pac-12 championships, three NCAA Regional titles and three consecutive third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships. She was named a Region 2 Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2022.
Before joining the Red Rocks, Dockendorf spent nine years as an assistant coach with the Seattle Pacific University gymnastics program and as a track and field assistant coach for three seasons. During her time at SPU, Dockendorf led athletes to three individual USA Gymnastics national championships on floor and two on vault.
As an undergraduate at Washington, Dockendorf won the 2003 Pac-12 title in uneven bars, scoring a 10.0, and was a second-team All-American that season. She won 48 total event titles from 2002-2005, including a school-record 24 titles on floor, and was a three-time regional champion.
Dockendorf, a native of Port Moody, British Columbia, coached one year of gymnastics at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, and three years with the track and field and soccer programs at the Seattle Academy of the Arts and Science before accepting the post at SPU.
She is married to Henry Ruggiero and together they have two daughters, Crosby and Hayden.
Farden had been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 12 over “recent conduct and actions … not related to student-athlete welfare,” university officials said, noting the change was not related to a recent investigation into the gymnastics program.
The outside review concluded some Utah gymnasts experienced “an increased fear of failure” to retain their athletic scholarships under Farden, but his actions were not considered “severe, pervasive or egregious.”
Farden spent nine seasons as head coach at Utah. He had been with the program since 2011, when he was hired as an assistant coach. He served as co-head coach with Megan Marsden from 2016-19 and was promoted to head coach in 2020 following Marsden’s retirement.
