Gymnastics
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- braschilla@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-0461
Bryan Raschilla is in his fourth season as Alabama’s associate head coach.
“I have so much respect for Bryan’s technical expertise, his for talent and his gift for art and creative design,” UA head coach Dana Duckworth said. “All of that has allowed him to make an indelible mark on our program. Bryan has been a part of this program for 20 years and during that time he has proven himself an awesome coach, family man and friend.”
For Raschilla, there is no better place to be than The University of Alabama and no better job than coaching its gymnastics team.
“I absolutely love what I am doing,” Raschilla said. “I get to meet and build relationships with some really wonderful people. The chance to work with this caliber of student-athlete, I don’t think you get anywhere else. And what I like the most is that it’s not just about gymnastics and it’s not just about the four years they’re here on campus. Being at Alabama is about creating lifelong relationships.”
Most importantly to him, Raschilla has seen class after class of Alabama gymnasts come through the program, grow as athletes and people and graduate, ready to make something great of their lives.
“I’m at Alabama to be a part of a program that does things the right way,” Raschilla said. “I have the good fortune to coach athletes who excel in academics, athletics and community service. To be able to have some part in their development is really at the heart of why I coach.”
Since he joined the Tide for the 1997 season, Raschilla has helped coach Alabama to NCAA championships in 2002, 2011 and 2012 as well as a trio of NCAA runner-up finishes and 18 top-six national finishes overall. With Raschilla on board, the Tide also owns four of the past eight Southeastern Conference titles and six overall, with league championships coming in 2000, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Alabama gymnasts have won 15 individual NCAA titles during his tenure, including Katie Bailey’s vault title in 2016 and Kim Jacob’s 2014 NCAA all-around championship. The Tide has earned 212 Championship All-America honors and 199 Scholastic All-America honors with Raschilla on staff. On a conference level, in addition to the team titles, Alabama gymnasts have won 49 individual SEC titles and been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll 250 times since he arrived.
As the Tide’s primary uneven bars and floor exercise tumbling coach, Raschilla has helped some of the Crimson Tide’s best gymnasts to ever greater heights, including two-time NCAA uneven bars champion Terin Humphrey and NCAA floor exercise champions Ashley Miles, Morgan Dennis and Geralen Stack-Eaton.
The Crimson Tide’s tradition of excellence has garnered a staunch following, another aspect of the program that Raschilla loves.
“There is no better program in the country in terms of atmosphere,” Raschilla said. “Coleman Coliseum is the best arena to compete in. We draw between 12,000 and 15,000 people per home meet and we sell out pretty much every year, bringing over 15,000 fans in to watch our ladies compete.”
Raschilla’s excitement about Alabama goes far beyond the gymnastics program, extending to the University as a whole.
“I love the energy this campus has and how it’s growing all the time,” Raschilla said. “There’s not a better time to be here than right now, and it’s not just because Alabama has won 10 national championships, including two in gymnastics since 2009. It’s great people coming together to do amazing things. If you look at how the student body has grown and how campus has grown right along with it, today’s students enjoy the best of the best all the time.”
For Raschilla the campus atmosphere makes Tuscaloosa a great place to raise his family. While he and wife Laura are Ohio natives, their son Adam, born in 1998, and daughter Kathryn, born in 2001, are native Alabamians, born and raised. Kathryn plays volleyball and basketball for Tuscaloosa County High School while Adam is a freshman on the Western Kentucky football team after an all-star career at Tuscaloosa County.
“Both our children were born here and we have family that moved here to be with us and to get warm,” Raschilla said with a laugh. “Laura and I may be from Ohio originally, but we consider ourselves Alabamians now and we feel fortunate to be raising our family in Tuscaloosa. It’s a strong community, one that’s growing all the time.”
As his own family has grown, Raschilla has come to appreciate the family aspect of the Tide gymnastics program more and more.
“I am impressed and amazed by how our ladies stay connected to the program and to each other,” Raschilla said. “They also remain big fans and supporters of the team, from those who graduated over 30 years ago to those who graduated last year. There is just a tremendous bond, one that lasts a lifetime, and it’s truly a family, one that is there in the good times and the tough times.”
His duties with the Crimson Tide are as wide-ranging as his talents, including recruiting, serving as the primary uneven bars coach and tumbling coach on the floor exercise as well as coordinating all aspects of practice with Duckworth.
Raschilla also brings a talent for graphic design to bear on the Tide’s posters, logos, advertising, media guide covers along with a host of other projects. His most recent work is on display in the Crimson Tide’s newly revitalized practice facility. Raschilla produced the graphics design for the larger-than-life murals that populate the gym.
So how did the 6-foot, 5-inch redhead with a degree in graphic design get involved in the one sport he’d never tried?
“I probably get asked that question a hundred times a year,” Raschilla said with a laugh.
Asked to spot for his high school team, Raschilla’s interest continued to develop throughout his time at Youngstown State University in Ohio when he coached age-group gymnastics. After 11 years of club gymnastics and countless state champions, national qualifiers and national team members, he moved into the collegiate arena.
“I started in 1983 and I’ve been coaching ever since,” Raschilla said.
Following a two-year stretch coaching at the University of Michigan, Raschilla came to Alabama. In his years with the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Raschilla has accumulated masses of great memories, but it is not just the championships, the honors and the victories that stick with him.
“As a coach, some of my greatest memories come from those moments that no one else sees,” Raschilla said. “It’s those moments in the gym when someone is having a hard time, but they push through anyway. It’s breakthroughs in practice, and all the hard work along the way that sets up the championship moments. Those are some of my best memories.”
