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Camp Coaches
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Jeff Graba
Head Coach
Head coach Jeff Graba has put the Auburn gymnastics program on the map throughout his 10+ years on the Plains. Now entering his 13th season at the helm in 2023, Graba is poised to lead the Tigers through another record-breaking year.
The Minnesota native was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015 and SEC co-Coach of the Year in 2012.
The 2022 season was one for the record books. The team broke or tied every single record possible – overall and home score (198.575), road score (197.8375), vault (t-49.500), bars (49.675), beam (49.725) and floor (49.800). Eleven of the program’s top 12 scores came in 2023.
In addition, the Tigers set or tied all individual records – vault: Drew Watson and Cassie Stevens (9.975); bars: Sunisa Lee (2x, 10.0); beam: Sunisa Lee (3x, 10.0); floor: Derrian Gobourne (10.0); all-around: Sunisa Lee (39.825).
Lee, the 2021 Olympic Gold Medalist in the all-around, finished with eight All-American honors, was NCAA champion on beam and SEC champion on bars. She was named the 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year and a finalist for the Honda Award.
Gobourne finished with three All-America honors and was named the SEC Co-Specialist of the Year for the second season in a row. Sophia Groth earned two All-America honors, while freshman Sara Hubbard and Watson finished as All-Americans on vault.
As a team, the Tigers secured the program’s best finish as the squad reached the Final Four and finished fourth overall. Auburn’s third-place finish at the SEC Championship was also the program’s best in the eight-team format.
Gobourne was the 2021 SEC Co-Specialist of the Year as she exceled on vault, bars, and floor. She was a first team All-American and All-SEC on floor as well.
The coaching staff guided a pair of Tigers to All-America honors in 2020. Watson picked up first team recognition for her performances on vault and finished with an NQS of 9.92 in the event to finish in a tie for seventh nationally. Her selection marked the first All-America honor for a Tiger in the category since 2016.
Gobourne was placed on the second team for her efforts on bars in 2020. Her All-America honor in the event is the first for any Tiger on bars at the conclusion of the regular season. Gobourne finished tied for 14th nationally with a 9.905.
Auburn’s performances in 2019 were big for the program as the squad reached the sport’s first-ever Sweet Sixteen and finished 16th in the final rankings. Auburn advanced to the second round of the NCAA Regional Championship with a 197.075 in Baton Rouge.
The program saw its first national champion in 2019 when Gobourne came in a tie for first at that 2019 National Championship on vault. The then-freshman scored a career-best 9.95, picking up All-America honors along the way. In addition, Gobourne earned All-SEC and Freshman All-SEC recognition.
In addition, Samantha Cerio secured the 2019 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for the sport.
Graba and the 2016 team added to the list of firsts for the program under his guidance. The Tigers snapped the 117-meet losing skid to Alabama in February of that season, defeating the Crimson Tide at home (197.275-197.250). Auburn also defeated Georgia in Athens for the first time in program history, setting a new program-high road score on the way (197.325).
In addition, the Tigers earned the program's first No. 1 NCAA regional seed and captured the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional title with a 196.525.
Auburn enjoyed a breakout season in 2015 as Graba led the Tigers to the NCAA Championship Super Six for the first time in 22 years.
Auburn's sixth place finish at the Super Six was the Tigers' third best in history and highest since 1993 with a score of 197.075. The Tigers finished the Super Six with a score of 195.625.
In 12 seasons, Graba has led his student-athletes to 31 All-America honors (both NACGC/W and NCAA) and 30 All-SEC recognitions. Leading the way was Caitlin Atkinson who amassed nine All-America nods and named SEC Gymnast of the Year in 2016.
With the help of continuous progress, Graba and the Tigers have enjoyed growth when it comes to home attendance each season. Each season, the team’s attendance average has climbed higher and higher and after averaging just 3,583 fans in his first season.
The 2022 Tigers increased attendance in Neville Arena and sold out all five home meets (9,121). The Tigers have enjoyed 15 sellouts.
Away from competition, Graba’s teams have also been outstanding in the classroom. In total, the Tigers have totaled 54 NACGC/W Scholastic All-America nods and 122 SEC Academic Honor Roll recognitions.
Graba was named Auburn head coach on August 16, 2010. He came to The Plains after spending five years as an assistant coach at Utah. While with the Utes, he earned the 2009 West Region Assistant Coach of the Year while coaching bars, collaborating on floor routines and serving as the recruiting coordinator.
During his first four years as an assistant, Utah finished as the NCAA runner-up three times and placed third once. Graba has also coached nine NCAA All-American gymnasts to 20 All-America performances.
As Utah's bars coach, he tutored Kristina Baskett to a 2006 NCAA uneven bars title as a freshman in his first trip to the NCAA Championships.
Prior to his stint at Utah, Graba spent two years as an assistant coach at Utah State. In 2005, he coached the Aggies to their first Western Gymnastics Conference championship and their first regional appearance in three years. In addition to his coaching duties, he served as the head of recruiting and assisted with the strength and conditioning program.
From 1995-2003, Graba was the co-owner and head coach of Midwest Gymnastics Club in Arden Hills, Minn. He had three gymnasts qualify Elite in his last three years with the club and had several level 8, 9 and 10 regional and national competitors.
Graba's collegiate coaching career began at Hamline University from 1992-98. While in St. Paul, Minn., his highlights included six-consecutive trips to the Division III National Championships and a runner-up finish in 1996. Eleven of his gymnasts combined to win 26 National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) All-America citations.
In addition to coaching at Hamline, Graba was also the head coach at Flips Gymnastics Center in Minneapolis from 1988-95. While there, he coached level 10 gymnast Sarah Reiling-Hildebrand, who made the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Diving Teams.
Graba is a native of Forest Lake, Minn., and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in economics and earned his M.B.A. from Salem International University in 2011. He and his wife, Bridget, have five children: Bryan, Jaymie, Jason, Kyla and Shayla.
Sara Carver-MilneAssociate Head Coach
Sara Carver-Milne, who has spent the last 20 years as head coach at Brown University, was named associate head coach for Auburn gymnastics on June 13, 2022.
Carver-Milne comes to the Plains after spending the last 21 seasons at Brown University. She was named ECAC Conference Head Coach of the Year twice during her career and improved Brown's RQS by seven points since taking over the program, breaking every individual and team record during her tenure.
Most recently, she guided her 2022 team to school records in overall score, vault, bars and floor.
She is no stranger to recruiting and coaching some of the world's top gymnasts as she coached Olympian and World Champion Alicia Sacramone in 2007.
Carver-Milne coached the Bears to an ECAC championship in 2014 and back-to-back Ivy League titles in 2013 and 2014 as well as in 2016. She has guided her gymnasts to numerous USAG All-America honors, including a pair of USAG national champions in Mei Li Costa (2019 – bars) and Diana Walters (2014 – all-around).
She has guided her gymnasts to 10 individual ECAC championships and three conference Gymnast of the Year awards. She's coached 14 NCAA regional qualifiers, including Sacramone who qualified for the NCAA championship with a regional floor victory.
In addition, her athletes have exceled in the classroom, earning multiple WCGA Scholastic All-America honors, ECAC and USA Gymnastics All-Academic awards and Academic All-Ivy recognitions.
Prior to Brown, Carver-Milne was a gymnast for 18 years and coached elite-level club teams in Texas. A 1997 graduate of Alaska-Anchorage, Carver-Milne was a NCAA gymnast and national competitor. She earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Public Communications.
Kurt HettingerAssistant Coach
The 2022 season will be Kurt Hettinger’s 14th as an assistant coach for the Tigers, serving as the recruiting coordinator, bars coach, and assists on floor and vault.
During his time with at Auburn, Hettinger has been recognized multiple times for his efforts in the program’s continuous growth. In 2015, he was named the NCAA Assistant Coach of the Year. Hettinger was also selected as the NCAA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2019.
Most recently, Hettinger helped guide a trio of Tigers to All-SEC honors in Drew Watson, Derrian Gobourne and Cassie Stevens. In addition, Gobourne was named SEC Co-Specialist of the Year for her efforts on floor, bars and vault.
In 2020, Hettinger coached Gobourne to Second Team All-America honors on bars. That recognition marked the first time a Tiger has earned the national honor in the event at the conclusion of the regular season. Gobourne also received All-SEC recognition in the event and finished with a 9.905 NQS overall.
In 2018, Hettinger guided Samantha Cerio to her second-straight appearance on bars at the NCAA Championships as an individual. In addition, Cerio picked up her second All-SEC recognition on the apparatus in as many years.
At the 2017 SEC Championship, a pair of Tigers captured All-SEC recognition on bars - Emma Engler, Cerio.
As the program’s primary recruiter, Hettinger has helped Auburn bring in some of the top recruiting classes in the nation on a consistent basis.
In the gym, Hettinger’s expertise on bars has shown through the continued progress of the program throughout the last eight years. Four of Auburn’s top five bars scores have come with him at the helm of the apparatus, including a program-record 49.600 in 2019. In addition, four of the program’s best individual scores have come under Hettinger, including Caitlin Atkinson’s and Gracie Day’s 9.975 in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
During his tenure, Hettinger’s bars corps has finished each regular season among the nation’s top 25. In 2016, Auburn finished eighth nationally with a 49.295 RQS score.
Since Hettinger has been on The Plains, the Auburn program has grown to be one of the nation’s top gymnastics teams. In the last two seasons, Auburn has reached the NCAA Championships twice, including a Super Six appearance in 2015. The Tigers also picked up its first NCAA Regional win, taking the 2016 Ann Arbor Regional as the top-ranked team in that meet.
Hettinger came to Auburn after a five-year stint at Kent State as an assistant coach. He served as the head bars coach while assisting with technique on vault and floor. He helped guide the Golden Flashes to three team records, four individual top-10 scores on bars and eight individual titles on his respective events at Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship meets.
Hettinger played an integral role in Kent State’s three NCAA Regional Championship appearances, two MAC Championship titles and three-consecutive regular-season titles.
Prior to Kent State, Hettinger spent five years at the Champaign County YMCA, assisting with the development of the junior boys program, shaping Class VI through Elite level gymnasts. A two-time member of the USAG Region V Junior Elite Boys Team Coaching Staff, he guided former University of Illinois standout Jon Drollinger to the top of the junior ranks, which included competition in floor, still rings and all-around finals at the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Junior Olympic National Championships.
Hettinger was a four-year letter-winner with the University of Illinois gymnastics team from 1996-99, helping the Fighting Illini to a third-place finish at the 1998 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships.
A native of Tuscola, Ill., Hettinger graduated from the University of Illinois in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He earned a master’s degree in education from Kent State in 2005. Hettinger and his wife, Katherine, were married in July 2006, and they have three children, one son, Cameron, and two daughters, Audrey and Elise.
Brooke Leonard-FincherAssistant Coach
Brooke Leonard-Fincher joined the Auburn gymnastics program as an assistant coach in June 2023.
Leonard-Fincher joins the program after a successful 16-year career in club coaching. She has spent 12 years of her coaching career in the state of Alabama, contributing to local club programs. She recently spent this past year coaching at Legacy Gymnastics in Pelham, Alabama.
Prior to her time with Legacy, Leonard-Fincher coached at Metroplex Gymnastics in Allen, Texas in a handful of roles. From 2014-17, she was an optional level coach with the prestigious club. Leonard-Fincher returned to Metroplex as a substitute coach from September 2020-December 2020, working with the elite level gymnasts. She worked with the club multiple times throughout 2021 and 2022.
Leonard-Fincher was with JamJev Gymnastics in Bessemer, Alabama, for three years, serving as an optional through elite coach from 2017-2020. During her time with JamJev, Leonard-Fincher was a part of the staff that coached incoming freshman Julianne Huff.
In addition to her coaching resume, Leonard-Fincher founded MindFlow Gymnastics. The website helps enhance a gymnast's personal experience through education and resources.
Leonard-Fincher was a gymnast for 10 years and has worked at many prestigious camps around the country. A 2012 graduate of the University of Montevallo, Leonard-Fincher earned a double major in mathematics and chemistry and graduated Cum Laude.