TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Gymnastics' head coach
John Court and
Elena Deets secured two of the Big 12's "Of The Year" Awards, announced by the conference on Saturday. Court is Arizona's third coach to earn the conference Coach of the Year honor and is the first since Bill Ryden was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2002. Deets becomes the program's first-ever conference Specialist of the Year.
Court was recognized as the Big 12 Coach of Year after leading Arizona to its first 14-win season since 2015 including an undefeated season at home. Deets was named Big 12 Specialist of the Year after a strong season of competing on beam and bars in every meet.
Court earns his first Coach of the Year honor in his seventh season as head coach of the GymCats. In the 2025 regular season, Court led the GymCats to a 14-3 record, the program's best record in his 27 years of being on the Arizona coaching staff. Under his guidance, the 2025 squad went undefeated at home for the first time since 2004 and finished the regular season ranked second in the Big 12 after going 5-1 in conference action. Additionally, the GymCats earned four Big 12 weekly awards, the most weekly awards for the GymCats in a season in Court's seven seasons as head coach.
Deets was named the Big 12 Specialist of the Year after ending the regular season with a 9.875 NQS on bars and an NQS of 9.885 on beam. The fifth year senior from Maple Grove, Minnesota is ranked 55th nationally and eighth in the conference on bars. As a mainstay in the the beam rotation, Deets ranked 39th in the nation and fifth in the Big 12 following the regular season. The specialist earned a career high of 9.925 against Denver and scored three 9.90s in the bars rotation. Deets put up a season high of 9.925 on beam against Denver and added two 9.90s on the event through the season. She was named the Big 12 Specialist of the Week twice during the season.
Coach of the Year and Specialist of the Year are decided by the Big 12's head coaches. In order to be eligible for the Specialist of the Year award, the gymnast may only have an NQS on one or two events.
