Nearing No. 400: Reighard approaching milestone career win
A look of surprise on Jerry Reighard’s face is not something that many have seen in his more than 20 years as head gymnastics coach at Central Michigan.
But when the comment of nearing his 400th career victory as coach arose, Reighard was understandably astounded.
“I didn’t even know that, where am I?” Reighard said.
No. 393.
After 26 years and countless meets, Reighard sits only seven wins away from 400.
The idea of reaching a milestone few have in collegiate gymnastics is something many of his athletes attribute to his ability to get the most out of each gymnast.
Senior Cheryl Conlin said Reighard’s success stems from his ability to handle and motivate athletes as individuals.
“He knows how to push each person to their limit without pushing them past it,” Conlin said.
Track record of success
Upon taking over the program in 1984, Reighard got to work in making CMU a national name. By 1987, he had his first winning season and by 1990 he had won his first Mid-American Conference championship.
Winning his first 100 meets by 1994, Reighard would go on to win 293 more meets over the next 15 years. Averaging almost 15 wins per season, Reighard has cemented CMU’s legacy within the league and even nation.
With 120 more wins than the second highest coach in the MAC (Brice Biggin, Kent State, 273), Reighard has coached two less seasons than Biggin. He boasts a .660 winning percentage, the highest among any gymnastics coach in program history.
Reighard would attribute his success not only to his drive for perfection, but also for his ability to get the most out of his gymnasts.
“My aim has always been to allow my athletes to become the best that they can,” he said. “That’s always been my concern is that my athletes leave here never having to say ‘I wish I could have,’ or ‘I wish I would have.’ That gives me more satisfaction than any records.”
Within CMU coaching records, Reighard would move into second place for most wins out of all active coaches. Softball coach Margo Jonker holds a distant lead with 1,005 wins over her 31-year career.
Relatively, gymnastics participates in far fewer events than softball (average between 20 and 30 per year), while softball plays in around 40-50 games per season.
Reighard is also tied for first place among active coaches with 11 MAC championships (tied with Jonker).
Nationally, Reighard falls in behind some of the sports all-time great coaches such as Greg Marsden at Utah (941 wins), former University of Georgia coach Suzzane Yucolan (831 wins) and Bev Plocki at the University of Michigan (545 wins). Reighard moves ahead of coaches at national powerhouses like Alabama’s Sarah Patterson (384 wins), UCLA’s Valorie Kondos Field (372 wins) and Stanford’s Kristen Smyth (140 wins).
De la Garza said Reighard has instilled a winning tradition within the gymnasts in his program.
“He has instilled in us that we have a championship culture and we just really believe it,” de la Garza said. “We don’t just do gymnastics, we live it, and we’re passionate about the sport. I think that he builds that passion within us.”
The earliest Reighard can reach the record is when his team competes in a quad meet at home on Feb. 24. CMU will compete in three more meets after that before MAC championships begin March 19.
“That’s big in a coaches career, but it’s not something that I dwell on,” Reighard said. “That will be a terrific milestone when it happens and I’ll be very excited about that.”
What’s left?
Although Reighard has no plans to calls it quits anytime soon, one goal has followed him his entire career.
The perfect season.
“That would be the reality or the record that would tell me that we really did to get everything out of our athletes,” Reighard said.
The closest a Reighard team has come to perfection is in the 2004 season when they finished 21-3. CMU is currently 7-0 this season.
