The accolades keep rolling in for Missouri’s historic season.
The Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) announced Thursday that Shannon Welker has been named the 2025 Head Coach of the Year, while Lacey Rubin, Whitney Snowden, and Jackie Terpak were named Assistant Coaches of the Year.
Welker is in his 12th season with Missouri, earning SEC Coach of the Year honors earlier this season. Under his guidance, the Tigers soared to a historic third-place finish at NCAAs, their highest finish not just in gymnastics program history but for all women’s sports at the school. He is the first head coach from Missouri to earn a national coach of the year award since 2017.
Snowden earned her second-career WCGA Assistant Coach of the Year award, her first coming in 2022 while at Michigan State. Primarily responsible for bars, Snowden guided the Tigers to their highest ever NQS on the apparatus this season and led senior Mara Titarsolej to her second consecutive SEC bars title and a third-place finish at nationals. She is in her third season at Missouri.
Rubin, a former gymnast at Eastern Michigan, led Helen Hu to Missouri’s first individual national championship on beam in only her second season with the program. The Tigers set a new program record on the event under her guidance, and three gymnasts were named WCGA All-Americans.
Terpak, a standout gymnast during her time at Temple, coached the Tigers to two top-three scores in program history on floor and led the team to its highest end-of-year NQS ranking on an event in program history, coming in at No. 4. Prior to her time at Missouri, she was the choreographer and floor coach for Arkansas and a student coach at Temple.
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Article by Savanna Wellman
