Coaching Honors
- 2021 WCGA Regional Co-Assistant Coach of the Year
- 2016 WCGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year
- 2007 NCAA Northwest Regional Co-Assistant Coach of the Year
In June 2021, Jess Santos was promoted to co-head coach alongside her husband Jay.
Since joining the team, Jess has helped bring Arizona State to new heights. Her fifth season was historic as she helped Arizona State to its most successful season in 15 years in 2021, wrapping up the year ranked No. 9 on Road to Nationals, the best finish since 2006. She was named the WCGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year. The team ended the season with an NQS of 197.088 and finished in fourth in the Pac-12 regular season standings as well as in the Pac-12 Championship, making the night session for the first time. The best team score was 197.600, which Arizona State scored in the NCAA Regional Finals for the ninth best score in program history and the best postseason score the Sun Devils have ever earned. She helped Hannah Scharf and Cairo Leonard-Baker advance to the NCAA Championships. Scharf earned Second Team All-America honors on bars at nationals, in addition to her WCGA Second Team Regular Season All-America nod in the all-around.
In her fourth season with the program, Santos helped a young team, with seven making their collegiate debuts, reach new heights. They finished with a winning record (7-6-1) for the second-straight season, including a win over No. 10 Cal. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the season was cut short the week before the Pac-12 Championship, meaning NCAA regionals did not happen as well. However, the team went out on a high note, finishing ranked No. 21 on Road to Nationals, the highest ranking of the year. The four meets before the cancellations were all 196.000s or better, with a total of five team scores surpassing that number in 2020. In the last seven meets, the Gym Devils scored a 49.000+ on vault, finishing the season ranked No. 17 in the nation in that event. They also finished No. 17 on bars with six individual scores of 9.900 or better earned that season, five coming from Cairo Leonard-Baker.
In 2019, the team earned the first winning record (11-10) in the regular season since 2014. The team was ranked in the top-25 on Road to Nationals all year and earned four wins over top-25 teams throughout the season. They scored a 196.000 or better six times and had a team RQS (Regional Qualifying Score) of 196.320 at the end of the year. The Sun Devils took fifth at the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships, the best team finish since 2006. At NCAA Regionals, the team finished in seventh, but Leonard-Baker won the regional bar title with a 9.925, automatically qualifying her for nationals as an individual. At the NCAA Championships, she scored a 9.900, earning Second Team All-America honors in that event.
She and her husband Jay quickly elevated the program in their first season in 2017. They had the best season since 2014, capping it off by scoring the best Pac-12 team total since 2004. In 2018, the team improved 18 spots from their 2017 national finish of 41, finishing the season at No. 23 nationally (highest finish since 2007). Ranking in the top-20 of the national standings for 12 consecutive weeks, Arizona State made its first team NCAA regional appearance since 2014 while sending individual all-around qualifier and regular season All-American Cairo Leonard-Baker to nationals.
Santos was named associate head coach for Sun Devil Gymnastics on May 27, 2016. Santos joins husband Jay Santos, who was named head coach of the Sun Devil Gymnastics program, also on May 27, 2016.
Santos helped coach Eastern Michigan to the 2016 Mid-American Conference Championship, the program’s first-ever NCAA Regional appearance, and finished the season ranked 17th in the nation – the highest national ranking in the history of the program. For her efforts, she was named the WCGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year. In 2016, Eastern Michigan broke eight school records, including three on beam. Individually, Santos helped coach gymnast Rachel Slocum, who scored a career-high 9.900 to win the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional title on floor, to become only the second athlete in school history to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Prior to her time at Eastern Michigan, Santos served as a volunteer assistant at the University of Illinois-Champaign for three seasons. There, Santos helped the Fighting Illini to their first back-to-back NCAA Championships appearances in program history. She helped coach Sarah Fielder, who took the beam title at the NCAA regional meet with a score of 9.9. On floor, Giana O’Connor and Erin Buchanan earned All-Big Ten Second Team accolades under her guidance.
Santos was also an assistant at Iowa State from 2009-11, where they Cyclones’ beam squad was ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation during her first season. That year also saw the team’s highest national ranking since 2007 at No. 13.
At Pittsburgh, where Santos coached as an assistant from 2006-09, she was named the 2007 NCAA Northeast Regional Co-Assistant Coach of the year, overseeing Dani Bryan, who won the league vault title that year. Santos had four other gymnasts earn all-league recognition on vault during her tenure at Pittsburgh. She also served as the co-recruiting coordinator for the Panthers.
Jessica earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Athletic Coaching Education at West Virginia University in 2005 and 2007, respectively. She competed for the Mountaineers from 2001-05 and was the last gymnast at WVU to score a perfect 10.0 in competition. Jessica then served as the Mountaineers’ volunteer assistant coach during the 2006 season. A member of the National Association of Women’s Gymnastics Judges, Jessica has been a Certified Level 10 judge since 2007.
Jess and Jay Santos have two sons, Mason and Cooper.
Feature Stories:
Santos Serves as Swiss Army Knife for Sun Devil Gymnastics