Nadalie Walsh has been chosen from a field of nine candidates to be the next women's gymnastics coach at Ball State University, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins said Monday.
"We went through a thorough search and we felt [Walsh] had good enthusiasm and wanted to be at this level," Collins said.
Walsh will replace Lisa Simonton, who resigned in April after two years with the Cardinals' program. Walsh has spent the past four seasons as head coach at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Walsh is currently in Wisconsin, but plans to arrive at Ball State with her husband and three children in the first week of August. Her first official day on the job will be Aug. 6.
During her time at UW-Oshkosh, the program broke every team record. In 2007, Walsh led UW-Oshkosh to the 2007 National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Championship, which is the Division III National Title. The year before, Walsh was named the 2006 Division III National Coach of the Year by the NCGA.
Walsh said she wants to give stability to the gymnastics program by building up each gymnast.
"My job is to build up the girls as both student athletes and young women," Walsh said. "I try to get the most I can out of each student athlete. I think the reason I've been successful is because I genuinely care for each student athlete, and they can tell whether or not you really care."
Walsh is a native of Kewaskum, Wisc., and received her bachelor's from UW-Oshkosh in 2000. Before becoming the head coach at UW-Oshkosh, she served two years with the program as an assistant coach.
Walsh, who has never lived outside of Wisconsin and has most of her family in that state, said she's ready for the new challenge that awaits her in Indiana.
"It's always hard to leave your family, but I'm excited because it's only five hours away so we'll get to still spend time together," Walsh said. "I was really impressed with how friendly everybody was at Ball State, and I think that will help ease the transition."
Collins said he was impressed with the way Walsh was able to build the UW-Oskosh program and believes she will have similar success at Ball State.
"I think her track record at a program without a tremendous amount of resources speaks for itself," Collins said.
Gymnastics Administrator Joe Hernandez headed a small committee that was responsible for the hire. The committee interviewed nine candidates via telephone and brought three candidates to campus.
Hernandez said he was looking for a coach that would be a good fit with the gymnastics program and university.
"[Walsh] came out head and shoulders above the rest of the candidates," Hernandez said. "I think it's good to have the right people work at this university. We're excited to have Coach Walsh here and we're also excited that she's excited to be at Ball State."
With the previous success Walsh has experienced, she also brings in a name that is known around the nation in gymnastic circles. Collins said he believes bringing in a well-known name will help the Cardinals' program in recruiting.
"Gymnastics is one of those unique sports where [recruiting] doesn't take place solely at the high school level," Collins said. "It's also at the club level. Somebody with a name will help with recruiting and we were looking for that."
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