Men's Gymnastics
- Title:
- Head Coach
Kurt Golder retired following his 25th season as the head coach for the men's gymnastics team at the University of Michigan. He is only the fourth coach in the program's 80-plus-year history, following Wilbur West, the legendary Newt Loken and Bob Darden. A native of Alpena, Mich., Golder has led the Wolverines to high levels of success over the last five years, including back-to-back NCAA and Big Ten Championships in 2013 and 2014, as well as NCAA and Big Ten titles in 1999. Golder has coached 137 NCAA All-Americans and 17 NCAA individual national champions, and has won four of U-M's six national titles (1963, '70, '99, 2010, '13, '14).
Golder's four NCAA titles (1999, 2010, 2013, 2014), is tied with swimming coach Gus Stager for the third-most NCAA titles by a coach in school history. He trails only Matt Mann (13) and football coach Fielding Yost (six), and the back-to-back NCAA titles are the first for any U-M sport since 1969-70, as trampoline won in 1969-70, and men's swimming and diving also accomplished the feat in 1958-59. Overall, U-M earned a 27-2 overall record on the season. The margin of victory of 443.200-440.100 over second-place Oklahoma at NCAA's was the largest victory margin in 29 years.
Golder has continued to turn out leading teams in the Big Ten conference producing six Big Ten team titles and 40 individual titles. Golder was awarded Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 1999, 2000, 2013, 2014 and 2021, as well as being named the NCAA regional and national coach of the year in 1999, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2021.
After graduating from Michigan in 1977 with his Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Education, Golder began his teaching and coaching career at Ann Arbor Huron High School where he taught and coached from 1976-79. In 1991, Golder joined the University of Iowa staff as an assistant coach. He was with the Hawkeye program until his appointment as the Wolverine head coach in July of 1996.
Golder was a three-time letterwinner in gymnastics (1975-77) and a member of Michigan's 1975 Big Ten championship team. In 2008, Golder was inducted into the Alpena High School Alumni Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Golder has a 28-year-old daughter, Roberta, who is a graduate of U-M.
