McGarity: Path for dismissed gymnasts to rejoin UGA program exists

Danna Durante’s last order of business before as Georgia’s gymnastics coach was to dismiss Natalie Vaculik, junior Jasmine Arnold and sophomore Caroline Bradford.

Now that Durante herself has been dismissed, the three gymnasts have a pathway to rejoining the program.

“I think what we’ve told all of them, all of the student-athletes that have eligibility remaining, that the new coach would make those decisions,” McGarity said.

The Red & Black first reported that Vaculik, a scholarship athlete with one year of eligibility remaining, along with walk-ons Arnold and Bradford, were dismissed from the Gym Dogs team due to undisclosed reasons.

Durante told the student newspaper last Friday that the term dismissal was not a correct way to describe the situation, although sources told The Red & Black otherwise. Durante was fired Monday with an official release coming from UGA about the decision on Tuesday.

McGarity was asked if the dismissal of the three gymnasts played a role in Durante’s firing.

“There was not one particular situation that led to the decision,” he said. 

Under Durante, Georgia reached the Super Six three times in five years. At this year’s NCAA Championship, Georgia finished 12th out of 12 teams, prompting Durante to call the year a “rough season” in a news release.

For Georgia, gymnastics was once one of the top performing programs of the athletic department. During former head coach Suzanne Yoculan’s 26-year tenure, the Gym Dogs won 10 national titles, including a five-year run from 2005-09. Jay Clark, now an assistant at LSU, coached UGA for three years before his termination, which was followed by Durante’s five seasons.

Georgia will now be looking for a third gymnastics coach in the span of eight seasons.

UGA President Jere Morehead said Yoculan’s legacy has been tough to live up to.

“Gymnastics is a tough sport to be the head coach in at the University of Georgia,” Morehead said. “I want to commend our coach for her time at the University of Georgia but the legacy there of 10 national championships in gymnastics, and I think the athletic director made a decision that he needed to move in a different direction to get the program back to the highest level possible. So he made that call. That’s his call to make as an athletic director.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 1:38 PM with the headline "McGarity: Path for dismissed gymnasts to rejoin UGA program exists."