“Judges Were Trash”: Gymnastics NCAA Fans Pissed About Yellow Card to LSU Gymnastics Coach Jay Clark at Regionals

Ahead of the most anticipated Olympic Games, only one collegiate team has the chance to perform in Olympic order. Considering the past season that the LSU Tigers dominated, being the highest seed moving into this NCAA season isn’t unlikely. Carrying their finesse on the mat forward, the gritty women took the stage in the second round of the NCAA women’s gymnastics regionals. What happened next was quite expected.

Posting a total score of 197.80, LSU secured the gold podium, besting BYU, Oregon State, and No. 15 Minnesota. Haleigh Bryant, Olivia Dunne, and Kiya Johnson, among others, charmed the audience with their perfect routines. But the tables turned when something unpleasant happened during the event.

Jay Clark’s yellow card stirred up NCAA Gymnastics world

LSU head coach Jay Clark was shown the yellow card when the team stepped up for the bar routine. An X post of Gym Castic reads, “This means Clark was given a warning by the judges for violating the Collegiate Coach Conduct. This can be poor sportsmanship ranging from being disrespectful to objecting to a score to profanity. We don’t know which, specifically at this time”. The real reason wasn’t confirmed, but the girls never stopped displaying their best.

They stunned the audience with their floor routines, in which no gymnast scored less than 9.90. In the bar rotation, sophomore Ashley Cowan posted 9.90, but the top seed Haleigh Bryant’s score dropped to 9.825. After the second rotation, the Tigers team picked up pace and finished on top. Coach Clark was happy with the performances, but one hindrance can cause the essence of the win to fade.

Fans in splits after Clark’s yellow card

One fan rallied against the yellow card decision and said, “Jay Clark acting inappropriately towards judges… I don’t believe it”.

Another fan figured out what might be the case or what could have gone wrong. “I may not know much about gymnastics and scoring but those bar scores appeared to be low. Maybe he was mad and questioning it”.

One fan was probably present in person and witnessed the scenario. She said, “those judges were trash i ain’t lying. i was have acted up too”. 

But another X user needed more reason to believe Jay’s innocence, and said, “Do you know that for a fact? Or because he mentioned on the broadcast that he got upset with the judges?”

The official X handle of Gymkova wrote, “These girls deserved better & I could not possibly love him more for this!”

The internet has been abuzz with discussions about the NCAA judges’ inappropriate judging. Given the overwhelming support for Jay Clark, it seems likely that LSU once again fell victim to such unfair assessments.

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