It was the best season for Arizona gymnastics under head coach John Court, and the awards for his team and coaching staff have followed. They added one more on Monday when College Gym News announced its end-of-year awards. The staff shared the 2025 Coaching Staff of the Year honor with the staff of Missouri.
Congrats to our incredible coaches on this well-deserved award! pic.twitter.com/uxBzqt5M8d
— Arizona Gymnastics (@ArizonaGymCats) April 28, 2025
“The Arizona coaching staff’s long-term vision came to life in 2025,” the outlet stated. “After years of smart recruiting and steady development, the Wildcats had a breakthrough season that included a regionals upset to make it to round two and a sweep of in-state rival Arizona State—not just once, but three times. Arizona also claimed its first Territorial Cup win since 2016. It was a season of milestones, and the staff’s steady leadership made it all possible.”
In addition to being one of the final 16 teams standing in the postseason, the GymCats had the second-best record in the Big 12 at 5-1. Their only loss came to conference champion Utah. They also finished second at the Big 12 Championships, once again finishing behind Utah.
It’s the third honor earned by the staff this season. Court earned Big 12 Coach of the Year in late March. The staff was named the Regional Assistant Coaches of the Year for the South Central Region by the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association three weeks ago.
Court just completed his seventh year leading the program, but he has been a part of Arizona gymnastics for far longer than that. He was named the interim head coach after Tabitha Yim left shortly before the 2017-18 school year. He earned the permanent title in March 2018. Prior to that, he had served on the staffs of Yim and longtime head coach Bill Ryden for 19 years.
Court has had associate head coach Taylor Spears by his side since his first full season as the permanent head coach. The former national champion on balance beam at Oklahoma has helped raise the profile of the program on beam. She helped coach Elena Deets to Big 12 co-Specialist of the Year honors this season with beam and bars being Deets’ specialties.
Kylie Kratchwell joined Spears in helping Deets earn her honor as the bars coach for the GymCats. She joined the staff in 2023 after her college career at New Hampshire, where she had a personal best of 9.925 on bars. Arizona has tied its program record and its third-best showing on bars over the past two seasons.
Shelby Martinez competed for Arizona under the name of Shelby Edwards from 2013-16. The alumna was brought on staff this year and primarily oversaw vault, which ended with a ranking of 26th in the country. Martinez was Pac-12 co-champion on the event in 2014 with a 9.950.