Ryan Roberts - Gymnastics Coach - University of Georgia Athletics

Ryan Roberts

Title:
Co-Head Coach
Email:
rroberts@sports.uga.edu
Phone:
706-542-2185

Ryan Roberts was named co-head coach of the Georgia GymDogs in April 2024.  He served as an assistant coach at Georgia for two seasons, and prior to that spent four years at Alabama, where he helped lead the Crimson Tide to the 2021 SEC Championship and a No. 5 national ranking. During his six seasons as an assistant coach, his teams have signed top-5 recruiting classes three times, including Georgia’s No. 1 signing class in 2023. He earned WCGA Region 1 Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2020 and 2021.

The Georgia GymDogs made tremendous improvements in his first season as co-head coach. The GymDogs recorded six consecutive meet totals of 197.000 or higher, achieving the sixth highest regular season meet score in program history against Oklahoma (197.975)- the highest since the regular season of 2009.  For the first time since 2019, the GymDogs secured a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, ranking tenth heading into regionals.Lily Smith and Ady Wahl individually qualified for nationals on floor and vault, respectively, and garnered First Team All-American accolades.  Lily Smith finished fifth overall on floor.  Smith also earned WCGA regular season All-American status. Additionally, Lily Smith received All-SEC honors, while Nyla Aquino was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. The team averaged 9,193 attendees at home meets in 2025, the highest average since 2020, with a total attendance of 45,965 across five competitions in Stegeman.

In 2024, Roberts assisted the GymDogs to a No.18 overall ranking with an National Qualifying Score of 197.425. The GymDogs notched the 12^th highest regional score around the country, moving up seven spots from the year prior. He coached SEC Freshman of the Year Lily Smith to four All-American honors. His bars squad compiled an NQS of 49.243, consistent top-20 ranking, and received the highest score at the SEC Championship- a 49.450. The team’s score of 49.500 on bars against Florida was the highest mark in the event since the 2019 NCAA Athens Regional. Three GymDogs received All-SEC recognition.

In his first year with the GymDogs, Roberts coached the bars group which improved 10 spots in the rankings from the previous season.  The GymDogs hit a season high 49.475 at Missouri and again against Arkansas, tallying an NQS of 49.350.  The Georgia gymnastics program Improved 10 spots overall in the rankings at the end of the 2023 season from the prior year and the team’s 2023 NQS score was the highest in the last four seasons. Roberts helped coach Georgia GymDogs to individual awards on a conference and national level in 2023. Five GymDogs received All-SEC honors, which is the most since 2016 and the highest number in one season since 2003. Georgia was also awarded its first WCGA All-American since 2020.

In 2022, the Crimson Tide finished seventh nationally and second at the SEC Championship.  The team posted a trio of 198 team scores during the season, including a 197.175 at the NCAA Seattle Regional Championship, the highest postseason score in program history and second best overall.

In 2021, Roberts’ third season with the Crimson Tide, Alabama won its 10th Southeastern Conference title and posted its 33rd top-six NCAA finish, taking fifth at the national championships. Luisa Blanco was named the SEC Gymnast of the Year and was a finalist for the Honda Award. Blanco, and Lexi Graber each won an individual national title, Blanco on the balance beam and Graber on the floor exercise. Blanco, Graber, Makarri Doggette and Shallon Olsen also earned All-America honors.

Roberts also earned a Master of Business Administration from Alabama in 2021.

In his first season with the Crimson Tide, Roberts helped propel Alabama to a league-best six All-SEC honors as well as its 37th-consectuive top-12 national finish, making UA one of two schools to never finish outside the NCAA top-12. The 2020 season also saw the Tide post its 37th top-10 finish, finishing eighth nationally, while Doggette became the 75th UA gymnast to earn All-America honors.

Roberts has been a member of the USA Gymnastics National Staff since 2018.

Roberts went to Alabama following five years with the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Frisco, Texas. At WOGA, he coached members of the United States, Russian and Ecuadorian national teams. He also coached a trio of USA international Elite gymnasts, three Junior Olympic national champions and numerous gymnasts who earned college scholarships. While at WOGA, he also served as the personal coach to three USA National Team members, one of which earned a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships, as well as a Russian National Team member who won a silver medal at the World Championships and gold at the European Championships.

A former U.S. Junior Olympic National All-Around Champion, a U.S. National Championships all-around bronze medalist and a three-year member of the U.S. Junior National Team.

During his time in Norway, Roberts served as the Norwegian National Team head coach for numerous international competitions including European Championships, World Cups, Northern European Championships and Nordic Championships. In fall 2013, he was head coach of the Norwegian Senior and Junior National Team camps, and of developmental camps for Norway’s future national team and international competitors.

A former communications officer and platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps, Roberts was deployed to Iraq in 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Roberts competed for two years at the University of New Mexico before finishing his career as a two-time NCAA qualifier at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2003. He also earned a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2010.

Roberts and his wife Hanne have three children, Leo Olav, Aurora Amber and Pax Luca Ryan.