Reaching the Pinnacle

Mark Williams is a name that is synonymous with gymnastics greatness.

Under Williams' 17-year leadership, the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team has secured a staggering seven NCAA National Titles, bringing the program total to 10. The Sooners have won 14 MPSF Championships in Williams' tenure, and he has been tabbed as the conference coach of the year a dozen times.

Williams has coached 32 individual national champions, 182 All-Americans and three Nissen-Emery Award winners, recognizing the nation's most outstanding senior gymnast. A seven-time national coach of the year, Williams was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2015.

This is just a taste of what Williams and his Crimson and Cream-clad squads have accomplished. And now, Williams is adding a new accolade to this extensive list: Head Coach of the United States Olympic Team.

“It's been something I've wanted to be a part of since I was little ... to be out there as the head coach and involved in everything – I'm excited about the opportunity."
- Mark Williams

In Rio, Williams' five-man team features three familiar faces in former Sooners Chris Brooks, Jake Dalton and Alex Naddour. The OU trio, along with Sam Mikulak and Danell Leyva, will vie for a medal in Monday's team finals after qualifying for the competition on Saturday.

“More than half the guys are guys who I've experienced with right here in our facility at Oklahoma,” Williams says. “They've been a part of championship teams with Oklahoma, and I've worked with them even after they've graduated. I can call those guys, even if they're not training with me on a day-to-day basis, and I can have a conversation because we've got a connection from the years that they'd been here.

Although this marks the first time Williams has served at the helm of the Olympic Team, he is no stranger to the international stage.

The appearance is Williams' fifth overall at the Olympic Games. In 1996, he served as an assistant coach for Team USA and worked as a personal coach in 2004, 2008 and 2012. He has served as head coach for Team USA twice in World Championships, most recently in 2014 when the U.S. took the bronze medal.

For Williams, being selected to lead Team USA in Rio and reaching the pinnacle of the sport is “a tremendous honor.”

“It's been something I've wanted to be a part of since I was little,” Williams says of the Olympic Games. “I never got a chance to go as an athlete, but this is the fifth time I've been as a coach, and I've learned things along the way just observing the people who have been in charge. The athletic prowess of these guys is unbelievable. To be out there as the head coach and involved in everything – I'm excited about the opportunity. I'd like to feel as if it's like what I do with my university team, where the guys are so well prepared that the day they go out there, there's going to be no surprises. They will put everything out on the floor and there's going to be no regrets.”

Williams' sizeable ring collection.

“It's amazing how you can start something and then watch it develop into something that's creating such level of success at the highest level of the sport,” Williams continues. “I'm excited to see what they do. We really have a good, talented team and we're very consistent in our preparation so we can go out on the floor and show the rest of the world how good we are. We'll be taking Oklahoma all the way to the top.”

In college, Williams competed at the University of Nebraska, where he was an All-American on the high bar and a member of two national title teams. He says this experience as a collegiate athlete helped allowed him to know and learn the sport and benefits him in his coaching career even still today.

“I was a part of a couple national championship teams, and it was all about how we put together a group that was striving for the same goal, went through the same training process and, emotionally, had to go through that event where you're trying to put together enough to win a championship,” Williams explains. “The same kind of thing happens at the Olympic level. You're bringing guys together who have been training many years for a common goal. We're hoping to get that lightning-in-a-bottle type thing for the team championships where we can move up to the medal stand with these Olympic guys.”

Those in the gymnastics community have no shortage of praise for Williams, including the current and former Sooners who have trained under the Hall of Famer.

"He's the best coach in the United States, and he's probably one of the best coaches in the world."
- 2016 NCAA All-Around Champion Yul Moldauer

Yul Moldauer, who won the NCAA All-Around title last season as a freshman and participated in this year's Olympic Trials, says it is amazing to be able to compete for a coach the caliber of Williams.

“He's the best coach in the United States, and he's probably one of the best coaches in the world,” Moldauer shares. “What's really cool is seeing, it's not just words, it's actions. You can see it in his gymnasts, you can see it in the program, then you can see it with all the titles he's won. He's an awesome coach. He's like a father. He's there every step. He understands if you're tired, he understands if you need to rest a body part, he's always there basing his schedule around yours. He's helpful and he's amazing.”

While Williams brings a wealth of experience to the table, Dalton says that his personality is equally beneficial in his success as a head coach.

“He just brings a lot of experience, but I think one of the most important thing is he's just real,” Dalton states. “He's going to tell you the truth, and he's the coach who's going to make sure everybody's prepared, and that's what's made him so successful over the years, especially in the NCAA program, where if you're not really ready, he's going to take you out, but if you're ready, he's putting you in. He just basically puts you through such a hard process of getting you in shape and ready that you feel really confident when you go out to compete on that floor, so I think that's what makes him so great as a coach.”

Steven Legendre, Mark Williams and Jake Dalton pose for a photo during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Current OU assistant coach Steven Legendre, who competed under Williams from 2008-2011 and is one of the most decorated gymnasts in Sooner history, says that Williams' extensive experience as a coach provides a confidence boost to his athletes.

“Mark is a great in our sport,” Legendre says. “He's been doing this for a lot of years, I know more years than I've even been doing gymnastics, maybe even been alive. The amount of experience he has is just unparalleled … You just feel confident, so you know your preparation and what you're doing is right. It's just that confidence boost knowing you're following a good plan.”

To aid his gymnasts in their journeys to reach the highest level of their sport, Williams created his training system to equal what happens on the international level, finding a way to train twice a day often to push his athletes to be as physically prepared as anybody else in the world.

“Having watched many of the top teams, you kind of start to get the idea of the exercise, time and commitments they're making to their sport,” Williams shares. “So I brought some of that knowledge back here and just said, 'Well, if you want to be able to compete for medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games, you're going to have to keep up with these guys who have done it.' That's what my training system was trying to focus in on. … It works for us to be a great college team, but if you have the potential and talent you can transition into the USA gymnastics-level and compete internationally and also be successful there.”

Williams' system clearly translates internationally as well, as four Sooners have reached the Olympic Games a total of six times under Williams' leadership.

“As a head coach, I just kind of kept putting together more athletes who wanted to buy into the system and refine what we did in our training,” Williams shares. “Then, you start seeing success and pretty soon we've got a whole group at the Olympic Trials and more that make the Olympic team. I don't really look at it in the broad perspective that often, but I like to be involved with those guys and see them succeed in reaching the dreams they have for the sport.”

Without a doubt, there's no one better to lead OU and help Sooner gymnasts achieve their dreams than Mark Williams.