| John Spini |
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Over the past quarter of a century, the name John Spini has become synonymous to ASU gymnastics. Going into his 27th season as head coach, he has coached 26 All-Americans including six national champions. He has led his team to the NCAA Championships 20 times with 19 of those teams placing in the top 10 in the country. Ten times, the Sun Devils under Spini have finished nationally in the top six with four of those times being national runners up (1983, 1985, 1986, 1997). ASU has been represented by at least one gymnast in 24 of the 25 years of the NCAA Championship. The Sun Devils have also won their Regional Championship three times: in 1983, 1987 and in 2006.
Throughout the 26 years Spini has been head coach at ASU, he carries a 315-123-2 win-loss record. His teams have defended their home turf just as well with a 168-27-1 (.857) win-loss record at home.
Last season he coached the team to their first regional championship since 1987 when the Devils won the North Central Regional Championship in Ames, Iowa, defeating teams that included host Iowa State and interstate rival Arizona. The team moved on to place ninth at the NCAA Championships, with two athletes achieving All-American status.
In 2004, Spini coached Ashley Kelly to a national championship on the balance beam, ASU's 10th all-time and fourth in that event. Kelly also established the all-around school record with 39.875 against Kentucky in 2003, a score she repeated again in 2004 (Arizona) and 2006 (Iowa State). The year 2004 marked a record-breaking year for Spini's squad as the Sun Devils set school records for total score (198.450 vs. Eastern Michigan), vault (49.650 vs. Arizona), bars (49.600 vs. Eastern Michigan) and floor (49.725 vs. Arizona).
Spini has helped coach four women to individual championships on the balance beam, including Lisa Zeis in 1985, Jackie Brummer in 1986, Elizabeth Reid in 1997, and Ashley Kelly in 2004. Under Spini, two women have won the individual championship on the uneven bars, Jeri Cameron in 1983 and Jackie Brummer in 1984 and on the floor exercise with Neal and Zeis crowned champions in 1983 and 1986 respectfully. Brummer was also the 1986 all around champion and in 1986 Neal won the NCAA individual championship on the vault.
Individually, Spini has coached 26 All-Americans who compiled 80 All-American honors over his 26 years as head coach. In his first year as head coach, Jeri Cameron won All-American honors on both the vault and the beam. Last season, Ashley Kelly received her fifth All-American accolade as she placed third on the uneven bars. Teammate Nicole Harris ended her freshman season with Second Team All-American honors on the balance beam. Between Cameron and Kelly and Harris, 10 gymnasts have received a combined 15 All-American honors on the vault, seven gymnasts compiled 13 All-American accolades on the uneven bars, 20 women garnered a total of 27 All-American awards, 12 women received All-American status for a combined 19 times on the floor exercise, and 11 times between nine different women, a Sun Devil has been named an All-American on the all around.
As impressive as the ASU women's gymnastics team has been athletically, the argument can be made that Spini's athletes have reached greater heights academically. Since the Pacific-10 Conference began handing out All-Academic team awards in 1992, ASU has received 45 academic honors. Last season, April Boone and Josie Hancock were named to second team Pac-10 All-Academic and Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention respectfully. In 2000 and 2001, the women's gymnastics team was honored at ASU's annual Maroon & Gold for having the highest collective GPA of any women's small-sport team (fewer than 15 members on campus).
A prominent coach on the national scale, Spini has been a U.S. national team coach at the World University Games and a member of the NCAA Gymnastics Committee. Prior to entering the collegiate ranks, he spent six years coaching the Arizona Twisters Gymnastics Club in Mesa, Ariz., where he led a team including future Sun Devil greats Jeri Cameron and Pam Godward to a National Championship Class I title in 1976.
A Phoenix, Ariz., native, Spini received his bachelor's degree in physical education from ASU in 1976. Before attending ASU, he was a student at Odessa (Texas) Junior College, where he served as an assistant coach for the NJCAA Champion men's gymnastics team.
Spini and his wife Lisa have one daughter, Shilo (26).
