TOM FARDEN

Head Coach

Tom Farden heads into his seventh season as the head coach of Utah gymnastics in 2021-22. In the two years of sole reign over the program, Farden has led the Red Rocks to back-to-back Pac-12 Regular Season Championships, the 2021 Pac-12 Championship, a NCAA Regional title and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

The Utes rattled off their second-consecutive season going undefeated against Pac-12 opponents with a 7-0 record in the regular season and first place finish at the conference championships. Farden pushed Maile O'Keefe in a breakout season to earn the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year - the program's first since 2015. Along with O'Keefe, he guided Alexia Burch to Utah's second-consecutive Pac-12 Specialist of the Year honor.

The momentum continued through the postseason after Utah collected a regional title to earn the program's record 45th consecutive trip to the national championships. Farden's squad earned Utah's first ever appearance in the NCAA finals since the new format was adopted in 2019. The third place in the finals became Utah gymnastics' best finish since 2015 and just the second top-3 finish since 2010. He coached O'Keefe to two NCAA titles (UB, FX), along with seven regular season All-American honors and six NCAA All-American awards.

In his first season as sole head coach, Farden led the Red Rocks on a historic run before the 2020 season was canceled in the final week of the regular season due to COVID-19. Utah rolled to an 11-0 season for the first undefeated season since 1993 and second all-time. The undefeated slate against the Pac-12 earned the program the conference's first-ever Pac-12 Regular Season Championship. Farden went on to win the Pac-12 Coach of the Year and Region 2 Coach of the Year. It marked his first region and conference coach of the year selections since serving as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State.

Following the retirement of legendary coach Megan Marsden, Farden was tasked with replacing an entire coaching staff to continue the legacy of Utah gymnastics. The transition was seamless after Farden handled staff hires and oversight of the program the previous four years, as well as leading the charge in training plans, recruiting and the day-to-day office work. Farden primarily coached the uneven bars, while overseeing all lineup decisions. For the 2022 season, Farden will coach the uneven bars and floor exercise.

Prior to joining Utah as an assistant coach, Farden spent six years as the head coach at Southeast Missouri State, where he was the 2008 NCAA Region Coach of the Year. He is now in his 12th year at Utah, having served as an assistant coach his first five years.

Since becoming co-head coach in 2016 and sole head coach in 2020, Utah qualified into the NCAA Championships all five years, reached the Super Six team final twice and made the program's first Final Four appearance. The Utes also won four regional titles, along with two Pac-12 Championships and the only two Pac-12 Regular Season Championships. MyKayla Skinner and Maile O'Keefe, both Farden recruits off the USA National Team, each have won two NCAA individual championships, along with 11 Pac-12 titles during that time.

As a Utah assistant from 2011-15, Farden played a key role in five NCAA Championship appearances, including a second-place national finish in 2015, and Pac-12 Championships in 2014 and 2015. Farden's first NCAA champion came in his final season as an assistant when Georgia Dabritz won the 2015 NCAA bar title and became the only gymnast in history to score a 10.0 on bars in both the NCAA semifinals and the Super Six.

Along with NCAA individual champions O'Keefe, Skinner and Dabritz, Farden's gymnasts have won 17 NCAA regional titles and 97 All-America honors (NCAA and regular season). He has also coached three NCAA runner-up performances, with Dabritz placing second on bars at the 2013 NCAA Championship and Skinner finishing as the nation's all-around runner-up in 2017 and 2018.

Pac-12 award winners under Farden include O'Keefe, the reigning Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year, along with 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Sabrina Schwab, and Pac-12 Specialists of the Year Kassandra Lopez (2016), Kim Tessen (2020) and Alexia Burch (2021). Skinner owns conference records for career Gymnast of the Week awards (16), single-season Gymnast of the Week awards (7, tie) and Freshman of the Week awards (6), while ranking second all-time in career all-conference awards (16).

The program has also excelled in the classroom, ranking second among the country's gymnastics teams in GPA in 2016 and eighth in 2019. Utah was a recipient of the NCAA Public Recognition Award in 2017-18 and 2019-20 for placing in the top 10 percent of all gymnastics teams in the Academic Progress Rate report. Farden has coached two CoSIDA Academic All-Americans (Breanna Hughes and Kailah Delaney) and Shannon McNatt won an NCAA Elite 90 award in 2019 for accumulating the highest GPA of a team member participating at the site of the NCAA final.

In 2020, Farden pushed various marketing objectives and promotional ideas to continue the storied success of the Red Rocks' home attendance. Utah gymnastics averaged 15,273 fans per meet to top the previous school record and NCAA record, winning the program's 36th gymnastics attendance title and 10th all-women's sports attendance title. In the four home meets, Utah saw a sellout crowd of 15,558 in three of those events.

Farden's NCAA coaching experience prior to coming to Utah included 10 seasons at Southeast Missouri State from 2000-09—the last six as head coach—and one season as an assistant coach at Arkansas in 2010. He compiled a 71-48 record as SEMO's head coach and was the 2008 NCAA South Central Regional Coach of the Year and a four-time conference coach of the year. In his year as an Arkansas assistant, the Razorbacks qualified into the 2010 NCAA Championships.

In 2004 with Farden as SEMO's head coach, the Redhawks had their first winning season in a decade. In 2008, they climbed as high as No. 22 in the national polls and took fifth place at the NCAA Regionals. In his final season at SEMO in 2009, the Redhawks won the Midwest Independent Conference championship and finished with a 14-3 record.

His SEMO teams won national academic championships in his last three seasons and his gymnasts earned 70 total scholastic All-America citations. He also spearheaded the fundraising for two major gymnastics renovation projects (the locker room and practice facility) before leaving for Arkansas.

Farden began his coaching career at age 18 when he opened the Spectrum Training Center in his home state of Minnesota immediately upon graduating from high school. He would coach club gymnastics for seven years before moving into an assistant position at Southeast Missouri State.

Farden has contributed to his sport on an administrative level, serving on the Ethics Committee of the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association and currently serving on the Board of Director's for the WCGA. He was on the Minnesota USA Gymnastics State Board from 1995-99.

A native of Dayton, Minn., Farden earned his bachelor's degree from SEMO in 2004. Farden and his wife, the former Christina Faulkner, have a son Ki (pronounced key). In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, hiking, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, kayaking and camping.