Head Coach -- 8th Year
UCLA '87
No coach in college gymnastics has made greater strides in the 1990's than Valorie Kondos. Since being named head coach at the end of the 1990 season after serving as assistant coach from 1983-1990, she has steadily improved UCLA from a ninth-place team in 1992 to national champions in 1997. Last season, Kondos did what no other coach in the nation was ever able to do - knock off Alabama, Georgia and Utah from the top of the podium at the NCAA Championships. Her 1997 Bruins made history by becoming the first team outside of the "Big Three" to win the NCAA title. Kondos' accomplishments earned her National Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive year.
UCLA's surge to the top of the gymnastics world started in 1993. After getting used to the adjustment of two new head coaches in Kondos and Scott Bull, UCLA won the Pac-10 and West Regional Championships and finished fourth at the NCAA Championships. Kondos and Bull were named West Regional Co-Coaches of the Year. Also in 1993, Kondos choreographed the first 10.0 routine in UCLA history - Amy Thorne's performance on the floor exercise. The following year, Kondos recruited Canadian national team member Leah Homma, who brought the Bruins invaluable international experience. Homma would turn out to be one of UCLA's greatest gymnasts of all-time, holding four of the five school individual records.
In 1995, Kondos began her solo run as head coach when Bull departed. With it finally being her own team (each of the athletes on the team were Kondos-recruited gymnasts), Kondos came into her own as a coach. She earned Pac-10 and West Regional Coach of the Year honors, led Homma to the first of two Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year honors, guided then-freshman Stella Umeh to the NCAA floor exercise title and led her team to a close fourth-place showing at the NCAAs.
Kondos in 1996 was finally recognized on a national level for her continued success at UCLA. After leading the Bruins to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships, Kondos was named Coach of the Year by the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC). Kondos repeated that honor in 1997 after guiding UCLA to its first-ever NCAA title.
In her 15 years of coaching, Kondos has guided 24 athletes to 74 All-American honors. At the 1997 NCAAs, five Bruins earned 10 All-American honors. Eleven gymnasts under Kondos have won 28 conference event titles, including Homma, who won the uneven bars with a 10.0 and the all-around in 1997, and Umeh, who captured four of the five titles at the 1995 championships. In 1995 and 1997, Kondos also guided Homma to Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year honors.
At the regional level, Kondos' teams have finished no lower than fourth and have won the championship for five consecutive seasons. UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Championships six consecutive years with five Top 5 placings. UCLA and Georgia are the only teams to have advanced to the Super Six Team Finals every year since its inception in 1993.
In addition to her coaching accolades, Kondos is recognized as one of the top beam and floor exercise choreographers in the sport. She has choreographed six NCAA championship routines, including Jill Andrews's winning beam routine at the 1989 NCAA Championships and Kim Hamilton's unprecedented three consecutive NCAA floor titles (1987-1989).
Kondos, a 1987 UCLA graduate in history and a former professional dancer, got her start in the gymnastics world by playing the piano for floor exercise music back when floor music could only be from one instrument. From there, she became a dance coach for her local gymnastics team, and under the guidance of current University of Minnesota head coach Jim Stephenson, she learned the fundamentals of the sport. Kondos is also a freelance choreographer with extensive experience in the entertainment and gymnastics fields. Her client list includes Disneyland and a summer figure skating and gymnastics show for Sea World.