Kristin White’s ultimate goal in the sport of gymnastics was to become a head coach one day. She had the pedigree to do it.
After a successful career as a gymnast and graduate assistant at Oklahoma, she moved into coaching. She spent time at Iowa State and Arizona State before the opportunity at Utah State arose in 2023. It was an opportunity to rebuild a program after several athletes and coaches had moved on to other opportunities.
White took the leap and, four years in, the Aggies are on the rise. After finishing 2023 and 2024 ranked in the 40s, they ended 2025 ranked No. 34 and entered the postseason this year ranked No. 26 after winning their second straight Mountain West championship with their sixth consecutive 196 of the season.
While the success has been visible to many, it didn’t happen overnight. After White’s second year at the helm, changes needed to happen, starting with the recruiting process. White looked for recruits who understood her vision and where they saw the program in the future. It continued into changes in preparing for the season, such as conditioning and mental preparation. That third year was when everything started to take off.
“The team has been together through everything, and they’ve never faltered away from our goals and where we want to take this program, and that has been one of the biggest changes,” White recalled.
The athlete buy-in was a critical component. Fifth-year senior Amari Evans had the opportunity to transfer after a successful freshman season, but a phone call from White made her decision to stay easy. “Just knowing that we had a coach that was coming who cared and was willing to do anything that they could to help us thrive and cared about us as people was really the key factor,” she recalled.
Junior Isabella Vater, a member of an early recruiting class for White, was one of those recruits who committed to White’s vision. She’s been one of the key athletes of her class and has noticed the changes in just three short years. “Attitudes changed a lot and we started to grow as a team and [realized] we can do it and that really helped us get to where we are now,” she says. Vater also noted that having a coach who believes in them and the team allowed Utah State to rise to the occasion and keep getting better this year.
As their 2026 season comes to a close, White says that this year’s team has laid the foundation for future Aggies. Their returners, coupled with a stellar freshman class, share one thing in common: both groups believe the Aggies can get better each and every year and that, White says, will be the thing that will propel Utah State to even higher levels.
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Article by Savanna Wellman
