Assistant Coach LOU BALL Assistant coach Lou Ball enters his 10th season with Oklahoma women’s gymnastics as the primary coach on vault and co-coach on uneven bars.
in January and Kmieciak enjoyed a stellar championship showing on the event as well. Ball also led Rebecca Clark to a share of the Big 12 title on uneven bars.
The 2005 and 2010 National Co-Assistant Coach of the Year, Ball has aided OU to five top-three finishes at the NCAA Championships in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015, including Oklahoma’s first-ever NCAA championship effort in 2014. The Sooners also notched NCAA runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2013 and have finished no lower than third in the Super Six since their first appearance in 2010.
Ball helped lead Oklahoma to the best season in program history in 2014, coaching the Sooners to a first NCAA title, an NCAA Regional championship and a Big 12 title. Ball also led a resurgence of the Oklahoma vaulting corps in 2014. His Sooners averaged a program-best 49.475 over the course of the season on the event, winning 12 event titles throughout the season. OU notched five of the top six scores all-time for an Oklahoma team, including a program-record 49.700 at the NCAA Minneapolis Regional in April. Two of Ball’s gymnasts were named All-Americans on the event (Maile’ana Kanewa and Haley Scaman), and Scaman posted OU’s first perfect 10.0 on the event since 2010 in March.
Ball has been named Region Assistant Coach of the Year six times on his way to helping OU to six Big 12 Championships in the past eight years and six straight NCAA Regional titles. OU has garnered 27 All-America honors on bars and vault under Ball’s leadership, including NCAA vault runner-up Madison Mooring in 2011. Ball has also coached Haley Scaman to a prolific vaulting career at Oklahoma since 2013, including top-three NCAA individual finishes in 2014 (third) and 2015 (third). Gymnasts at Oklahoma have brought home 15 All-America awards on bars and 12 on vault in the past seven seasons. Ball’s efforts have also resulted in eight Big 12 champions on bars and seven on vault for the Sooners.
In 2013, Ball helped coach OU to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships, tying for what was then the best finish in program history. The Sooners won a Big 12 championship and took top honors at the NCAA Norman Regional en route to their record-setting performance.
Ball led Oklahoma to strong performances throughout the 2015 season on both vault and uneven bars. OU captured 11 team titles on vault and 13 on bars while totaling 32 individual event titles combined on the two events. Oklahoma set a new program record score on bars (49.625) in a victory over TWU and Southeast Missouri State and added five scores of 49.500 or higher on vault, four of which came in March and April.
Ball’s vault squad captured a total of 13 individual event titles on the season. Under Ball’s tutelage, freshman Maile’ana Kanewa overcame preseason surgery to earn top honors on vault three times, including the Big 12 vault championship. Ball also coached Madison Mooring to first-team All-America honors and an appearance in the NCAA individual finals on the event.
On vault, Ball guided an impressive four Sooners to All-America accolades, including first-team honors for Haley Scaman and Ali Jackson. Scaman posted a 10.0 on vault under Ball’s coaching during the regular season and finished third nationally on the event at NCAA event finals. Ball also guided Jackson to the Big 12 and NCAA Norman Regional individual titles on vault.
Ball and Haley teamed up to coach three Sooner gymnasts to All-America honors on bars. Erica Brewer and Rebecca Clark both earned first-team All-America honors and top-10 NCAA finishes on the event, while Brie Olson was a second-team All-American. Ball and Haley’s gymnasts captured 18 titles on bars throughout the season.
Several Sooners also shone on uneven bars under Ball’s guidance in 2015, including first-team All-Americans Brenna Dowell, Keeley Kmieciak and McKenzie Wofford. Wofford had a dominant season, earning eight individual titles while finishing fourth nationally on bars at NCAA event finals. Dowell earned the nation’s first 10.0 on bars
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On uneven bars, Ball and Haley coached senior Taylor Spears to first-team All-America honors at NCAAs for her performance. Ball and Haley’s gymnasts won 11 total uneven bars titles throughout the season.
In 2012, Ball helped coach OU to a Big 12 championship, regional championship and seventh-place national finish, marking Oklahoma’s ninth-straight trip to the NCAAs. Oklahoma’s 2011 squad earned its third undefeated regular season in four years while 11 gymnasts captured All-America honors. Ball again earned coach of the year honors