Coming off a so-so season, where the team pulled off a heroic 13th place finish, Denver gymnastics faces many unknowns for 2026. By the numbers, Denver should have averaged 197.2 this year. The only athlete who didn’t return for a fifth season was Jessica Hutchinson. Denver should have been consistently strong, given their record smashing season in 2024. Instead, they could only muster a 196.7 NQS, with some huge misses along the way. Yet they performed well in regional semi-finals to finish above their #18 seed. The season was baffling and frustrating for fans. But it’s going to get worse in 2026.
Assistant Coaching Staff Shakeup
Changes are afoot in the coaching lineup. Although head coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart is signed through the 2027 season, the assistant coaching situation is unknown for 2026. Denver associate head coach Linas Gaveika and assistant coach Stephen Hood both announced their departures via Instagram just days apart from each other. The Pioneers have not commented on any reasons for their departures or what their plans are for replacing them for next year.
Athlete Turnover and Losses
Denver is losing four fifth-year athletes and two seniors who have filled their NCAA eligibility, and at least one athlete to the transfer portal. That is a roster turnover of nearly half (7 out of 15 rostered athletes leaving). For much of the season, Denver’s fifth-year athletes didn’t perform at the level they did in prior years. But All Around athlete, Madison Ulrich, was the team’s top performer in 2025, and did her part to make up for the loss of Hutchinson. However, Ulrich entered the transfer portal and recently posted about an official visit to LSU on Instagram. Is this the sign of NIL gutting Denver’s ability to recruit and keep top level gymnasts? Has Denver’s run of National appearances ended?
Incoming freshmen provide hope for rebuilding…if they stay…
Denver’s incoming class is a top 10 ranked group of athletes: https://denverpioneers.com/news/2024/11/13/denver-gymnastics-inks-five-for-2025-26.aspx
These five gymnasts should fill in many gaps in the roster for 2026. But with the coaching changes, will they all still come to Denver? Given DU’s top gymnast is leaving, will they still come to Denver? Will they stay if their first years are successful? For the most part, Denver gymnastics has been immune to the transfer insanity during the first few years of NIL. But now a new precedent has been set. Can head coach, Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart, set a team culture that keeps gymnasts at DU even if they can’t make big NIL bucks here? I think a lot will depend on how the coaching staff shakes out and how committed the rest of the team is to staying at DU. Otherwise Denver gymnastics could become a revolving door for athletes who cut their teeth in D1 competition and then head to upper tier programs after early successes.
Will the fan base stay loyal?
I’ll admit, gymnastics is a bit of a niche sport when it comes to drawing huge amounts of fans. Most people only pay attention for two weeks every four years for the Olympics. But high performing NCAA teams regularly draw thousands of fans every weekend. DU will no doubt see attendance decline if the level of performance declines. It is no coincidence that rising team ranking resulted in huge attendance surges. If those surges die out, maybe DU can save some money and move gymnastics meets back to Hamilton Gym. If they want to continue selling tickets in Magness, DU will need to do more to keep community support behind the team. Luckily for them, the season ticket renewal window closed before the coaches and Ulrich announced they were leaving. But the team really needs to rally and improve performances next year, otherwise they will see less season ticket holders and less individual meet tickets sold. There’s only so much two volunteer hype guys can do to keep fans engaged. Time will tell if Denver gymnastics can pull itself back up or fizzle out into D1 obscurity.
Photo courtesy University of Denver Gymnastics
DU is likely cooked. Melissa has done well the recruits she gets, but DU does not have the money for six figure NIL deals for gymnasts. The assistant coach departures are indicative of increasing friction, and the departure of Ullrich was tawdry, especially her LSU tweet
NIL is destroying college sports. Period.
I found Ullrich’s tweet to be disrespectful. Her photo sitting on the throne is laughable at best. Good luck to her, with a little bit of good riddance thrown in.
I thought from afar that DU had built a very strong local fan base. It won’t disappear overnight.
Three days ago, assistant coach and former DU gymnast, Mia Sundstom, also announced she is leaving.
Is it too late to get a refund on my season tix for next year?
What is going on?
It looks to me like the days of Denver being a national contender are fading very quickly. That was a very underwhelming season, given that talent and experience level.
Losing the all of the assistant coaches is a very bad sign, too – either the administration told Melissa to clean house, or the assistants have all left to find greener pastures. I suspect the latter, and my guess is that the money train of the Joy Burns era is just no longer keeping pace with today’s era of program spending, especially battling the growth of NIL. Given the tweet by Ulrich, I also suspect a slight character decline, among some gymnasts which may be more reflective of the era we live in than caused by the program itself.
Anyway, the NIL genie is out of the bottle and will be significant factor for top 10 programs. DU needs to decide if it wants to compete for the upper echelon or not. If they do, they will need more money.
I think the era of DU being nationally competitive in 7-8 sports programs is ending soon. Hockey and men’s soccer are the only real national title contender programs right now. Both of the DU lax programs both faded this year from recent highs, as did gymnastics. Volleyball and women’s soccer, once strong, NCAA tourney calibre programs are no longer nationally relevant. Skiing is stuck in a terrible women’s nordic rut for years which keeps them out of the NCAA title picture. Both Basketball programs are mired in losing eras. Swimming has faded from what it was a decade ago. Tennis and Golf (both m and w) are what they are- Summit League relevant, but no threat nationally. Triathlon should be a more of national power given our great location, but is not a top program.
For once, I agree with you completely, Puck.
DU will now pay the price of dropping football 64 years ago. The success of the niche sports will get waxed by the NIL and I wouldn’t be surprised to see DU drop to a lower level of competition.