From maroon and gold leotard to coach's chair
CMU gymnastics alumna has been coaching the Chippewas for 32 years
Central Michigan University junior Gabrielle Johnson talks to the head coach Christine MacDonald after she performs her bar routine during a gymnastics meet against Illinois State University in McGuirk Arena on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (CM-Life | Claire Vachon)
As Women’s History Month honors the impact of women shaping their fields, Central Michigan gymnastics head coach Christine MacDonald stands as the leader of one of the most successful athletics programs in Central Michigan University’s history.
Once a CMU student-athlete, MacDonald has been coaching the Chippewas for 32 years, the last seven of which she spent as head coach.
“It feels like home,” MacDonald said. “I think for me, the personal connections, whether it was from the administrators, the professors, the community, you just felt like you were a part of something and you weren’t just a number.
“You don’t start somewhere and think, ‘Oh, I’m going to be there for that long.’ The answer to why I’ve been here (is that) I’ve been able to elevate and continue to grow each year.”
After trying out a few different jobs post-graduation in 1992, MacDonald said she did not quite have the same passion for the workforce as she had for gymnastics.
“It’s an amazing sport to be a part of,” MacDonald said. “I really just love that connection and competitiveness of it.”
MacDonald said she always had the aspiration to be a head coach and hoped that the opportunity at CMU would one day present itself. It did in May 2019.
“To be able to have that opportunity, and obviously to do it at a place that has been so heavily a part of my past, really meant a lot to me,” MacDonald said.
Under MacDonald, CMU gymnastics has thrived, winning back-to-back Mid-American Conference championship titles in 2022 and 2023, with another most recently in 2025. The Chippewas have accumulated a 72-32 overall record and a 41-14 conference record under her.
MacDonald has also guided several talented gymnasts to individual championships at the MAC and National Collegiate Athletic Association levels. During her tenure, CMU has produced 79 individual conference champions and 26 NCAA regional individual qualifiers.
Despite all of the success, numbers tell only part of the story.
“It’s not about me, it’s about them,” MacDonald said.
For graduate student Avah Bootz, MacDonald’s impact extends far beyond the mat.
“She pushes me to hold myself to a high standard, challenges me to step outside of my comfort zone and take ownership of my goals, which has shaped the way I approach (to) not just training, but life,” Bootz said.
Bootz said MacDonald has helped her handle adversity and to trust the process.
“She pays attention to the small details, whether it’s how we’re feeling on a tough day or something going on outside the gym,” Bootz said. “She invests in relationships, not just results.”
Senior Luciana Alvarado-Reid, one of MacDonald’s gymnasts who has competed at the NCAA Regional Championships, echoed the same sentiments.
“Christine has impacted me as a person because she has taught me how to be the best version of myself,” Alvarado-Reid said.
Alvarado-Reid also described MacDonald as the person she would call to help with anything.
“She will always be there for the ones she loves,” Alvarado-Reid said.
Bootz and Alvarado-Reid both named MacDonald as a role model. They pointed to the culture of CMU gymnastics as a defining feature of the program.
“The standards are high, but so is the support,” Bootz said. “It’s a program where everyone is genuinely invested in each other’s success, and that creates a competitive environment built on trust and shared purpose.”
MacDonald named discipline, commitment and being good people as the main values of her program.
“We’re very passionate about what we do, but I think when it comes to the value set that we have, it’s who we are as people because that’s what we’re going to take forward in life,” MacDonald said.
For MacDonald, growth is not just an opportunity for her student-athletes.
“The more we invest in them, the more they invest in you,” MacDonald said.
She has learned to continually have an open ear with her student-athletes and work with them to find two-way communication.
MacDonald also said she is not planning on being done with gymnastics any time soon, but she reflected on the legacy she wants to leave at CMU.
“I really hope they see that I was somebody who dedicated everything I had to the process, and was dedicated and committed, and worked tirelessly to make it better each year,” she said. “Hopefully that experience also for my student athletes, that they left here loving their experience, and they left here a little better version of themselves and know that they can always come back and call Mount Pleasant home and call me home if they want to.”
