| Valorie Kondos-Field |
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No coach in college gymnastics made greater strides in the 1990's than Valorie Kondos-Field. 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.
UCLA's surge to the upper echelon of gymnastics started in 1993 when it won the Pac-10 and West Regional Championships and finished fourth at the NCAA Championships. That year, Kondos and co-head coach Scott 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 individual school records.
In 1995, Kondos began her solo run as head coach when Bull departed. Finally coaching her own self-recruited team, 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 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 close second-place finish at the NCAA Championships, she 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 the Pac-10 and West Regional Championships and to its first-ever NCAA title. In winning the National Championship, Kondos' Bruins became the only team outside of "The Big Three" - Utah, Georgia and Alabama - to accomplish that feat.
In 1998, Kondos coached Umeh to three of the five individual titles at the conference championships. Bruin Lena Degteva also won the vault championship. In addition to her event titles, Umeh was also named the Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year, marking the third time in the last four years a Kondos-coached athlete was given that honor.
Kondos in 1998 also fronted a successful NCAA Championships at UCLA, coaching two Bruins to NCAA individual titles and six to 15 All-America honors. Umeh ended her collegiate career with a second NCAA floor title after receiving her first perfect 10.0 score on floor the previous evening, and Heidi Moneymaker became UCLA's first-ever NCAA bars champion. In addition to her coaching duties, Kondos orchestrated and developed the opening ceremonies show for the Championships.
In 1999, Kondos' Bruins overcame an injury-riddled first half of the season and set a school record score of 197.775 en route to their eighth Pac-10 team title. Kiralee Hayashi became Kondos' third consecutive Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year. The Bruins performed even more impressively at Regionals, going 24 for 24 to win the meet with a score of 197.025. Moneymaker won the all-around at Regionals and was named the Region I Gymnast of the Year. Hayashi (beam) and Moneymaker (vault) capped off the season by winning individual events at the NCAA Championships. Kondos coached her team to a school-record 17 All-America honors at the Championships.
With a winning percentage of .816 as head coach and the only NCAA team title in school history, Kondos is UCLA's most successful gymnastics coach ever. In her 17 years of coaching (head and assistant), Kondos has guided five athletes to 11 NCAA individual titles, 26 athletes to 106 All-America honors and 13 gymnasts to 34 Pac-10 event titles.
At the regional level, Kondos' teams have finished no lower than fourth and have won the championship six of the last seven seasons. UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Championships eight consecutive years with seven 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.
Kondos is recognized as one of the top beam and floor exercise choreographers in the sport. Under her guidance, UCLA has formed a reputation of having the most unique and artistic floor exercise routines in the nation. Kondos has choreographed eight NCAA championship routines on beam and floor, including Hayashi's 1999 beam championship, Umeh's two NCAA floor championships (1995, 1998) and Kim Hamilton's unprecedented three consecutive NCAA floor titles (1987-1989).
Kondos has also come to be recognized for her recruiting ability. Since becoming head coach, Kondos has attracted to UCLA three Olympians (Umeh, Luisa Portocarrero and Kerri Strug), eight World Championships competitors (Mohini Bhardwaj, Sarah Deegan, Doni Thompson, Degteva, Portocarrero, Umeh, Homma and Strug) and five U.S. National Team members. Kondos' last two recruiting classes were not only No. 1 in the nation but also possibly the greatest group of recruits ever assembled in the history of NCAA Gymnastics.
Considering Kondos' great success in gymnastics, it is surprising to note that she has never competed in gymnastics. Instead, Kondos' background is in dance. She is a former professional ballet dancer who danced with the Sacramento Ballet, Capital City Ballet and Washington, D.C. Ballet. Kondos got her start in gymnastics at Agilites in Carmichael, Calif. by playing the piano for floor exercise music at a time when floor music could only be from one instrument. From there, she became a dance coach, and under the guidance of current University of Minnesota co-head coach Jim Stephenson, learned the fundamentals of the sport. She then moved on to UCLA as an assistant coach and choreographer in 1983.
Kondos, a 1987 UCLA graduate in history, 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. In the summer of 1991, she choreographed a summer acrobatic festival held in Lennestadt, Germany.
Kondos was married a year ago to UCLA Football Defensive Coordinator Bobby Field. Their combined coaching years at UCLA are approaching half a century, and they are the most successful coaching couple at UCLA.
Kondos' Year by Year Results
Year Record Pac-10 Reg'l NCAA
1991 19-5 2nd 4th -
1992 14-5 3rd 2nd 9th
1993 19-3 1st 1st 4th
1994 25-3 2nd 1st 5th
1995 26-5 1st 1st 4th
1996 15-6 4th 1st 2nd
1997 23-2 1st 1st 1st
1998 16-6 4th 2nd 5th
1999 20-5 1st 1st 5th
Total: 177-40 (.816)
