Dockendorf Promoted to Associate Head Coach
SALT LAKE CITY – University of Utah head gymnastics coach Tom Farden has announced the promotion of Carly Dockendorf to associate head coach. Dockendorf, who enters her sixth season overall and is in the midst of a multi-year contract, has been a Region 2 Assistant Coach of the Year twice in the past three seasons.
"Carly's ascension to associate head coach is most deserving," said Farden. "Her ability to lead, connect and inspire our athletes is second to none! She elevates our program with every opportunity she earns, and we could not be more excited to have Carly in this new role as she is an extremely significant piece to our program."
Dockendorf has taken Utah's beam team to the top over her last three seasons as the primary beam coach, leading the team to three consecutive top-3 finishes in the nation. She is coming off the 2022 season that saw the Red Rocks finish as the top-ranked beam team in the country for the first time since 2005. The Red Rocks finished with a 49.675 National Qualifying Score (NQS) on beam during the regular season, and finished the year with five scores of 49.7 or better and a 49.5 or better in 11 competitions.
Under Dockendorf's guidance, the Red Rocks recorded a program-record five Perfect 10s on beam in 2022, highlighted by three 10.0s from Maile O'Keefe to boast a new program record for perfect scores on beam in a single season. The beam squad posted a 49.550 or better in every meet of the postseason, including a 49.700 and 49.725 at the NCAA Regionals. Under pressure, Kara Eaker and O'Keefe posted consecutive "walk-off" 10.0s in the Regional Final to send Utah to the NCAA Championships.
The Utes finished No. 2 in the nation on beam in 2020 and backed up the performance with a No. 3 ranking in 2021 at the end of the regular season. Dockendorf guided her lineup to a 49.700 on beam in the 2021 NCAA Finals, marking the highest beam score at NCAAs in program history after besting the 49.450 mark set in 2002.
In her first season as assistant coach, Utah's beam team broke the beam school record that had stood since 1995 when the squad posted a 49.775 against UCLA on the road. The 49.775 was the highest beam score in the NCAA in the 2020 season. Dockendorf's beam athletes scored an event score of 49.600 or higher in four-straight meets and were just one of two teams in the nation to hit the mark at least four times during the shortened 2020 season.
The team successes brought individual accolades for Dockendorf's gymnasts where she has coached Maile O'Keefe to an NCAA Regional balance beam title, as well as guided O'Keefe, Eaker, Abby Paulson, and Cristal Isa to All-American honors on beam over the past three years. O'Keefe, Isa and Paulson have each earned three consecutive All-Pac-12 and regular season All-American honors on beam, while Eaker joined O'Keefe and Paulson for NCAA All-American honors this past year.
O'Keefe and Paulson became the first pair of teammates at Utah to both have recorded 10.0s on the event after Paulson earned the perfect mark at UCLA in 2020 and O'Keefe did so against Washington in 2021 before Utah exploded for five perfect scores in 2022 by three different gymnasts. Paulson is also the Pac-12's back-to-back beam champion (2021, 2022).
Dockendorf has helped lead Utah gymnastics to three consecutive Pac-12 Regular Season Championships, back-to-back Pac-12 Championships, two NCAA Regional titles and consecutive third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.
Beginning in her role as a volunteer assistant coach and continuing to the present day, Dockendorf has also been involved in floor choreography and music selections. Sydney Soloski earned four All-American honors to lead the floor lineup the past two years, while Soloski's other All-America award came in 2018 when Dockendorf was aiding the floor efforts as the volunteer assistant coach.
Before joining the Utah gymnastics staff, Dockendorf spent nine years coaching at Seattle Pacific—six as an assistant gymnastics coach (2009, 2013-17) and three as an assistant track and field coach (2010-12). During her time on the SPU gymnastics staff, Dockendorf was the head vault and floor coach, floor choreographer, recruiting coordinator and strength and conditioning coach.
As an undergraduate at Washington, Dockendorf won the 2003 Pac-12 uneven bar title, scoring a 10.0, and was a second-team All-American that season. She set a school record with six 10.0 scores in her career, including five on floor. She won 48 total event titles from 2002-05, including a school-record 24 titles on floor, and was a three-time regional champion. Dockendorf took up pole vaulting as a sophomore, earning All-America honors with her sixth-place finish at the 2005 NCAA Championships. She placed 11th at the 2006 NCAA Track & Field Championships.