Debbie Yohmancelebrates her 25th seasonas the head coach of Pitt's gymnastics program. She's eager to add to an already illustrious career that has been filled with many individual record-breaking moments and tremendous team accomplishments. Coach Yohman has worked tirelessly for more than two decades to help mold young women from this university into fierce competitors and productive members of society. The fruits of her labor, both in and out of the gym, have come in many forms, including quality recruits from Olympic-caliber gyms and an ever-increasing amount of national recognition for the program. These successes have Yohman, and everyone associated with Pitt gymnastics excited for the program's bright future.
Success is not a new phenomenon for Coach Yohman and the Panthers. In 2000, she coached her team to a second-place finish as they hosted the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Championships. Then in 2004, she watched as Alyse Zeffiro recorded the Panthers' first two perfect 10.0 scores on the vault and floor exercise. Yohman's teams have received bids to the NCAA Northeast Regional Championshipsnumerous timesincluding 18of her 24 years at the helm.
An ECAC Coach of the Year, EAGL Coach of the Year and the 2002 Northeast Region Coach of the Year, Yohman has produced numerous decorated athletes over the years. The Panthers boast the 2009 and 2010 EAGL Rookie of the Year in Alicia Talucci and Meaghan Biros. Zeffiro was a 2004 league champion on the vault, Danielle "Freddie" Alba was EAGL balance beam champion, and Samantha Salyers won Uneven Bars both at EAGL & NCAA Regionals.
Three years ago, Yohman produced two individual EAGL Champions (Dani Bryan-Vault, Andrea Arlotta-Bars). In addition to her bar championship, Arlotta left as Pitt's all-time scoring leader with 1,609.180 points, was named Northeast Region Gymnast of the Year and became the first Pitt all-arounder to qualify to the NCAA National Chapionships.
The string of EAGL champions continued the next two seasons when Anya Chayka won the 2008 balance beam title and Alix Croop won the bars title in 2009. Yohman has led the team to four EAGL individual titles in the last three years, more than the previous 11 years combined.
In addition to having successful competitors, Yohman said one of the major highlights in the last 24 years is the new state-of-the-art training facility.
"The facility affords us all kinds of opportunities for training skills of any level--from learning new to refining current skills," said Yohman. "We have become more attractive athletically than we were in the past. We couldn't train women who wanted to compete. People are now aware of our current facility. We've been able to raise the level of our gymnastics and our expectations and we're getting more looks by higher caliber athletes."
The new facility has aided the progression of Yohman's program and has attracted national attention, drawing in new recruits from Olympic-caliber gyms. For the past three seasons, Yohman has brought in a number of influential gymnasts. Their hard work and motivation rubs off on the other gymnasts and makes them all work harder.
Yohman's gymnasts may have achieved many successes in the gym, but they have been equally strong in the classroom. In the last 10 years, the Panther gymnasts have accumulated95 All-EAGL Academic selections withnine gymnasts being named to the team for four consecutive years. The team has also boasted over 75 NACGC/W All-American Scholar Athletes having a grade point average of 3.5 or better.
"With Yohman at the helm, our women's gymnastics team has always had exemplary student-athletes proudly representing the University," said Senior Associate Athletic Director Carol Sprague. "I am thrilled with the completion of a dedicated, state-of-the-art, Women's Gymnastics Training Center in August of 2004 and I am confident she now has all the tools necessary to guide our team to the upper echelon of the EAGL Conference."
Yohman has also had a long association with successful gymnastics programs as a competitor. During her collegiate career, she was a member of the 1976 national championship team at Clarion University. Additionally, she served as a student assistant for Clarion in 1977, also a national championship season. She served as graduate assistant at the University of Iowa from 1977-79.
Her head coaching career began at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1982. From 1982-86, she helped the Division III Panthers transition to the Division II level, giving the school an opportunity to offer scholarships for the first time. Under Yohman's guidance, the program rose from the cellar of the WWIAC to a national contender, as they finished runner-up to national champion Univeristy of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Following her tenure at UWM, she returned to the NCAA Division I level as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State. She spent four years in Stillwater before coming to Pittsburgh.
Yohman has also devoted many years to leadership at the national level. She has been unselfishly involved on many committee and volunteer positions with the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches including the evolution of the Women's Collegiate Program Committee, the rules advisory body that works closely with the NACGC and the NCAA Gymnastics Committee.
Yohman is widely regarded by her peers throughout the NCAA as an expert go-to person for questions on the JO Code of Points and NCAA modifications.
Yohman is a current representative of the Women's Collegiate Program Committee and has served two tenures as its chair and previously was the NCAA Gymnastics Coaches representative to the Women's Technical Committee (WTC) of USGF. Yohman also served for four years as chairperson of the ECAC Division I Selection Committee. She has served as meet director for Big 8, Big 10, and MAIAW Regional Championships, and is a USAG Elite judge.
