Veteran Arizona gymnastics assistant coach John Court enters his seventh season as the program's head coach. He earned the full-time title of head coach in March of 2018 after earlier being named the interim head coach in August of 2017. Previously, Court was on the Wildcats’ staff for 19 seasons under previous head coaches Bill Ryden and Tabitha Yim.
2025 Season
In his seventh season, Coach Court led the GymCats to the NCAA Regional Final – the GymCats’ first ever regional final appearance since this regional format began in 2019 – and an undefeated season at home during the 2025 season. Under Coach Court’s guidance, Arizona had their first 14-win season since 2015. After the 2025 squad went undefeated for the first time at home since 2005, Court was named Big 12 Coach of the Year, his first Coach of the Year honor in his seventh season as head coach and 27th season with the GymCats. Three gymnasts, Elena Deets, Alysen Fears, and Abigayle Martin earned All-Big 12 Team Selections. In addition to Coach Court’s Coach of the Year conference award, Elena Deets became Arizona’s first ever Big 12 Event Specialist of the Year. Arizona earned four Big 12 weekly awards, the most weekly awards for the Cats in a season in Court’s seven seasons as head coach.
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2024 Season
Court guided the GymCats to their fifth straight regional appearance and 35th appearance all-time following a record-breaking season. Arizona finished the season ranked No. 24 in Road to Nationals and helped the GymCats to a top 25-finish on beam (No. 19) and on floor (No. 21). The GymCats earned two team scores in the top 10 in program history – 197.000 vs. Stanford (seventh highest) and 196.950 at the TWU Quad Meet (ninth highest) – and posted two program record event scores during the season – 49.475 on bars vs. Stanford and 49.625 on beam at Washington. Two gymnasts, Alysen Fears and Malia Hargrove, were named to All-Pac-12 honorable mention at the end of the season.
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2023 Season
In his fifth year at the helm of Arizona Gymnastics, Court led the GymCats to a final NQS rank of No. 21 – the program’s highest final ranking since 2016. Court helped the GymCats to Top 25 rankings on two events – No. 15 on beam and No. 23 on vault. Arizona posted a 197.275 in a dual meet against BYU – the third highest score in program history under Court’s guidance. The floor team earned a 49.500 against BYU – the fifth highest floor score in program history – to help the GymCats earn the program’s third highest team score.
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2022 Season
Court coached the GymCats to a final NQS rank of No. 26 in his fourth year as head coach. Arizona defeated Utah for the first time in program history and the team earned the most consecutive 196.00s and higher since 2004. Under his guidance, the GymCats finished the season ranked No. 27 on floor, a five-rank improvement from the 2021 season.
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2021 Season
In his third year as head coach, Court led Arizona to a final NQS rank of No. 27. With his help, sophomore Malia Hargrove qualified to the NCAA Gymnastics Championships as an individual competitor on the floor exercise.
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2020 Season
Led Arizona to a final NQS rank of No. 27 before the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic that halted all sports in the United States. Court coached Arizona to a No. 23 national ranking on vault during the regular season, an 18-rank improvement from 2019. He helped senior Maddi Leydin earn a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team for vault.
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2019 Season
In his first year as head coach, Court led the GymCats to the NCAA Corvallis Regional and helped Christina Berg, Haylie Hendrickson, Maddi Leydin, Danielle Spencer, and Heather Swanson qualify to Regionals as individual competitors. He coached the floor exercise to finish the season ranked No. 24 nationally.
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With the GymCats
Court’s extensive experience includes nearly two decades working with Arizona’s vault and floor exercise teams. He has also served as the Wildcats’ recruiting coordinator throughout much of his career, efforts that have helped extend the program’s streak of NCAA regional appearances to 31-consecutive years, including a trip to the 2002 NCAA Championships. Additionally, Court has developed numerous all-conference and All-American honorees both in the gym and the classroom.
The 2007 and 2012 South Central Regional Assistant Coach of the Year, Court has mentored some of Arizona’s top gymnasts. Included are Heidi Hornbeek, recipient of the 2000 AAI American Award, Monica Bisordi, the program’s all-time scoring leader and a multi-time All-American, Karin Wurm, the 2008 Pac-10 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and 2014 All-American Kristen Klarenbach. The quartet is among a half-dozen gymnasts who have garnered All-America recognition during Court’s time on staff.
Before Arizona
Before coaching at Arizona, Court spent five years at the University of Vermont, his last three years 1995-98 serving as head coach. During those years, he was named ECAC Coach of the Year twice. Prior to Vermont, Court spent two years as an assistant coach at Brown University under his mother and legendary gymnastics coach Jackie Court, who coached there for 33 years.
Court is a 1993 graduate of Johnson & Wales University with a B.S. in marketing. He received his master’s degree in public/athletic administration from the University of Vermont in 1995.
