Revaluation and retrospect. These might be the predominant moods in the Utah Gymnastics tent after they were crushed for a fourth finish in the 2025 season opener. The 10x national champion Red Rocks failed to prove equal to Oklahoma, LSU, and California at the recent Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate quad meet. But as per the coach, the scoring system was to be blamed. Well, we’re talking about Head Coach Carly Dockendorf, who has been managing the side since former Coach Tom Farden’s exit.

Coach Dockendorf remarked, “There were just some routines that we were shaking our head a little.” But she understands that they “can’t control what the judges do.” She has been with the Utahns since 2023 and thus is a good judge of their abilities. Her appointment to the side was rather abrupt, starting as an interim head coach first and ultimately taking over the reins. But what conditions caused this switch from Coach Tom Farden to her? Here are the details.

Everything about the ex-Utah gymnastics coach, Tom Farden

Tom Farden’s NCAA coaching experience before coming to Utah included 10 seasons at Southeast Missouri State. From there to Arkansas, he finally entered his longest reign with a side when he joined Utah in 2011. He started out as an Assistant Coach until he was made the co-head coach in 2016 and ultimately, the head in 2020. Naturally, these final years were the most impactful of them all, for he solely guided the Red Rocks to 3 straight Pac-12 Championships, 3 NCAA regional titles, and a top 3 finish at the last 3 NCAA championships.

However, things took a bitter turn in 2023. After Utah Gymnastics wrapped up their 2023 season third in the Final Four, Coach Tom Farden still believed the team “took another step forward.” This was until gymnasts from Utah’s program alleged verbal and emotional ab*se by Coach Tom Farden. The unnamed lot alleged demeaning behavior and fits of aggression from his side, during which he would even hurl objects at them in frustration.

Utah then hired an outside investigator to probe into these allegations against Tom Farden. All this while he denied any such claims and had multiple former gymnasts standing up in his defense too. Like Lia Del Priore, who agreed that Farden would get “intense” but refused to believe that he could ever cross that line of aggression. Instead, she called him the team’s hype man.

By September, the investigation findings were out. The report said that coach Tom Farden’s conduct had not been “severe, pervasive, or egregious” after a majority of his current athletes defended him. Thus, he got to retain his job. Until another wave of allegations showed up when Kara Eaker confessed to being a ‘victim’ of the coach’s mistreatment and announced retirement. Another ex-athlete, Kim Tessen, criticized the university’s investigation and cited being ‘verbally attacked’ with no signs of sympathy, which led to her experiencing depression while at Utah.

Shortly after, Utah Gymnastics announced placing Tom Farden on paid leave. That’s when Dockensorf, the interim coach, stepped in. And two days before Thanksgiving, the Athletic Director of Utah, Mark Harlan, announced that the university had decided to mutually part ways with Tom Farden. The decision was said to provide clarity and stability to the student-athletes at Utah and keep their minds away from any distractions ahead of the upcoming season.

So what happened to the coach then? Well, here’s what his coming days looked like.

Where is ex-Utah coach Tom Farden now?

Around July 2024, news dropped that ex-Utah coach Tom Farden was set to onboard the coaching staff of Minnesota-based Twin City Twisters. This led the Twin City authorities to post a statement expressing their jubilation. They wrote, “Tom mentored dozens of NCAA All-Americans, as well as five NCAA champions, in 25 years as a college coach at Utah, Arkansas, and Southeast Missouri State. Among his All-Americans at Utah were former Twin City Twisters Grace McCallum, Abby Paulson, Abby Brenner, and Breanna Hughes. Along with Grace, who, as you know, was a silver medalist at the 2020 Olympics.

However, this decision was met with a pinch of salt from fans. They questioned Tom Farden’s hire, but there has been no talk on the matter ever since. That narrative quickly died down over the next few months.