By Shawn Moran, Sun Devil Athletics Feature Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State gymnastics associate head coach Jessica Santos enters her third season leading the Gym Devils program alongside her husband, Jay, when the schedule picks up in January.
The former West Virginia University gymnast serves as a Swiss Army knife for the Gym Devils by not only coaching her athletes, but also being in charge of designing the team's leotards and assisting the team with her knowledge as a Certified Level 10 judge. With that certification, Santos is qualified to judge at the NCAA-level and therefore can tweak any small technique issue one of her gymnasts might have.
"Me being a judge is nice because I hear what other judges are really looking for," Santos said. "Judging is interesting. It's very subjective. Jay and I judge a lot of things and we'll give a score and we're together on about 75 percent of the things and the things we differentiate on is my judging brain versus his coaching brain."
Jay added, "It's great to have that different perspective and have that different insight of what a judge might see us doing."
Prior to Arizona State, Jessica Santos coached at five different universities around the nation since her graduation from WVU in 2005. After serving as a volunteer coach for the Mountaineers in the year following her college graduation, Santos moved out of her comfort zone and followed an assistant coaching opportunity to Pitt.
"I did pretty much anything I needed to do to stay in this career," Santos said. "I coached babies, I did a full day of preschool classes, I coached cheerleaders, I started judging and I actually worked at a dance studio. All those things just make me a better coach. Working at a dance studio helps my choreography, judging helps me coach because I do it all the time with these guys."
Her husband agrees.
"As coaches you wear a lot of different hats," he said. "Having someone that is multi-faceted in that way is a big value to our program."
While working extra hours and picking up some new skills at Pitt, Santos was preparing herself for her next career move. After being named the 2007 NCAA Northeast Regional Co-Assistant Coach of the Year and sending several of her gymnasts to All-East Atlantic Gymnastics League (All-EAGL) recognition in her few seasons there, Santos would move on to Iowa State in 2009.
The Cyclones had appeared in 12 straight NCAA Tournaments and were a perennial powerhouse in the Big 12 conference when Santos arrived. While in Ames, Iowa, Santos not only improved on her already impressive career resume, it is also where she got to work with her future husband for the first time. Jay was working as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Cyclones while Jessica was coaching at Pitt when the two first met. After dating for a few years, the two coaches got married while both were coaching at the University of Illinois-Champaign.
"It is pretty amazing to coach next to my wife," Jay Santos said. "It's nice to have that kind of trust with a coworker."
Although working alongside your spouse in a competitive environment could present challenges, the Santos' stick to their area of expertise and the relationship runs smoothly.
"Mainly I coach beam and I develop the workouts for floor," Jessica Santos said. "Most of the time coaches have their own events that they work on. Stephen is in charge of vault, Jay runs bars and then helps me with floor, but floor is a collaborative effort."
In the floor exercise, the gymnast performs a dance routine with the ultimate goal of earning a perfect score of 10.0.
"Part of my responsibility is to organize their choreography… One of the things that I do with our floor team that a lot of college coaches don't do is I cut our music that we use. There's a lot of people out there that use companies to have their floor music developed. I, personally, cut them myself so that way they're unique."
With no formal dancing background, Santos relies on her training she had when she was a gymnast growing up. Being the last gymnast in West Virginia Mountaineers history to score a perfect 10.0, the Gym Devils trust her coaching skills and know that their coach achieved a rare feat during her NCAA career.
"She is the best beam coach I have ever had in my entire life," said junior all-around gymnast Ashley Szafranski. "She's very straightforward, she tells us how it is and she's always very encouraging. Whenever she gives corrections, it's not what you necessarily did wrong, it's how you're going to correct it and be better next time. She's always focused on the process."
In addition to coaching the beam and floor exercise, Santos uses her creativity and help from her gymnasts to decide on the new leotard designs each offseason.
"We usually have about two designs every year," Santos said. "We're going to do a Salute to Service leotard this year. It is going to be very unique for gymnastics."
"I'm really excited for the one's she is going to do this year because they're gonna be good," Szafranski said.
Right now, Santos is concentrating less on judging and her other side skills and more on the task at hand.
With the reigning national champions residing in the Pac-12, the Gym Devils hope to take another step in the right direction this upcoming season. Fortunately for the student-athletes, they're led by an associate head coach with a unique outlook on the sport and a hunger for success.
"I've never taken a break," Santos said. "I've always been in the gym.
"For me, it's my whole life."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State gymnastics associate head coach Jessica Santos enters her third season leading the Gym Devils program alongside her husband, Jay, when the schedule picks up in January.
The former West Virginia University gymnast serves as a Swiss Army knife for the Gym Devils by not only coaching her athletes, but also being in charge of designing the team's leotards and assisting the team with her knowledge as a Certified Level 10 judge. With that certification, Santos is qualified to judge at the NCAA-level and therefore can tweak any small technique issue one of her gymnasts might have.
"Me being a judge is nice because I hear what other judges are really looking for," Santos said. "Judging is interesting. It's very subjective. Jay and I judge a lot of things and we'll give a score and we're together on about 75 percent of the things and the things we differentiate on is my judging brain versus his coaching brain."
Jay added, "It's great to have that different perspective and have that different insight of what a judge might see us doing."
Prior to Arizona State, Jessica Santos coached at five different universities around the nation since her graduation from WVU in 2005. After serving as a volunteer coach for the Mountaineers in the year following her college graduation, Santos moved out of her comfort zone and followed an assistant coaching opportunity to Pitt.
"I did pretty much anything I needed to do to stay in this career," Santos said. "I coached babies, I did a full day of preschool classes, I coached cheerleaders, I started judging and I actually worked at a dance studio. All those things just make me a better coach. Working at a dance studio helps my choreography, judging helps me coach because I do it all the time with these guys."
Her husband agrees.
"As coaches you wear a lot of different hats," he said. "Having someone that is multi-faceted in that way is a big value to our program."
While working extra hours and picking up some new skills at Pitt, Santos was preparing herself for her next career move. After being named the 2007 NCAA Northeast Regional Co-Assistant Coach of the Year and sending several of her gymnasts to All-East Atlantic Gymnastics League (All-EAGL) recognition in her few seasons there, Santos would move on to Iowa State in 2009.
The Cyclones had appeared in 12 straight NCAA Tournaments and were a perennial powerhouse in the Big 12 conference when Santos arrived. While in Ames, Iowa, Santos not only improved on her already impressive career resume, it is also where she got to work with her future husband for the first time. Jay was working as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Cyclones while Jessica was coaching at Pitt when the two first met. After dating for a few years, the two coaches got married while both were coaching at the University of Illinois-Champaign.
"It is pretty amazing to coach next to my wife," Jay Santos said. "It's nice to have that kind of trust with a coworker."
Although working alongside your spouse in a competitive environment could present challenges, the Santos' stick to their area of expertise and the relationship runs smoothly.
"Mainly I coach beam and I develop the workouts for floor," Jessica Santos said. "Most of the time coaches have their own events that they work on. Stephen is in charge of vault, Jay runs bars and then helps me with floor, but floor is a collaborative effort."
In the floor exercise, the gymnast performs a dance routine with the ultimate goal of earning a perfect score of 10.0.
"Part of my responsibility is to organize their choreography… One of the things that I do with our floor team that a lot of college coaches don't do is I cut our music that we use. There's a lot of people out there that use companies to have their floor music developed. I, personally, cut them myself so that way they're unique."
With no formal dancing background, Santos relies on her training she had when she was a gymnast growing up. Being the last gymnast in West Virginia Mountaineers history to score a perfect 10.0, the Gym Devils trust her coaching skills and know that their coach achieved a rare feat during her NCAA career.
"She is the best beam coach I have ever had in my entire life," said junior all-around gymnast Ashley Szafranski. "She's very straightforward, she tells us how it is and she's always very encouraging. Whenever she gives corrections, it's not what you necessarily did wrong, it's how you're going to correct it and be better next time. She's always focused on the process."
In addition to coaching the beam and floor exercise, Santos uses her creativity and help from her gymnasts to decide on the new leotard designs each offseason.
"We usually have about two designs every year," Santos said. "We're going to do a Salute to Service leotard this year. It is going to be very unique for gymnastics."
"I'm really excited for the one's she is going to do this year because they're gonna be good," Szafranski said.
Right now, Santos is concentrating less on judging and her other side skills and more on the task at hand.
With the reigning national champions residing in the Pac-12, the Gym Devils hope to take another step in the right direction this upcoming season. Fortunately for the student-athletes, they're led by an associate head coach with a unique outlook on the sport and a hunger for success.
"I've never taken a break," Santos said. "I've always been in the gym.
"For me, it's my whole life."