April 25, 2008

Longtime University of Illinois men's gymnastics head coach Yoshi Hayasaki announced today that he is retiring following the 2008-09 season. Next year will be his 33rd and final season leading the Illini men's gymnastics program. Hayasaki enters his final year having led the Illini to 16 NCAA Top-10 finishes, including six straight Top-5 finishes and the 1989 NCAA National Championship. Illinois took third at the most recent NCAA Championships in 2008.

"I want to thank Yoshi for the outstanding job he has done as head coach of our men's gymnastics program for more than 30 years," Director of Athletics Ron Guenther said. "He has continually had the Illini team competing for Big Ten and national championships and has represented the University of Illinois at the highest level. He will be greatly missed on the national gymnastics scene."

During his career, Hayasaki has produced 86 All-Americans, 44 Big Ten Champions and 10 National Champions, including Paul Ruggeri, who won the 2008 High Bar national title. His crowning moment came in 1989 when he led the Illini to the NCAA Team Championship. Hayasaki led Illinois to five Big Ten titles in 1981, 1983, 1988, 1989 and 2004. He earned his second-consecutive Big Ten Coach of the Year award that season while adding Region and National Coach of the Year honors. Hayasaki earned a total of three Big Ten Coach of the Year awards in addition to three Central Region Coach of the Year accolades.

"I'm content with my decision to finish off my coaching career at the end of the 2009 season," Hayasaki said. "The Illinois program is in great shape now and its success will continue. It is always difficult to say good bye, and it may get harder as I continue coaching next year. We have had a lot of success at Illinois and I have enjoyed each and every season with different encounters, challenges and successes. I enjoyed the journey that I took, but it is time for me to do something different while still young and healthy. I'm going to enjoy one more season with this terrific group of guys I now have, plus the outstanding freshmen who we are adding to the program. Obviously, my goal is to win the Big Ten and national title next season, just as it has been for the last 35 years."

Hayasaki captured two-consecutive NCAA all-around titles in 1970 and 1971 as a student-athlete at the University of Washington. He was the first man in the history of the school to be named the school's Athlete of the Year twice, and was inducted into the Washington Hall of Fame in 1983.

Hayasaki earned a master's degree from Illinois in 1973, while serving as an assistant coach and teaching classes in the College of Applied Life Studies. He immediately inherited the program upon graduation, succeeding Illini legend Charlie Pond.

An international coaching figure, Hayasaki most recently served as the assistant coach and team leader for the 2007 World University Games team that finished seventh. His other coaching stints include being a member of the U.S. Olympic staff at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He was the U.S. head coach at the 1989 Golden Sands International meet in Bulgaria, the head coach at the 1986 Moncado Cup in Havana, Cuba, and the head coach of the 1985 USA World University Games team. He coached at the 1984 Coca-Cola International Tournament in London and at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1978 and 1985. Hayasaki also served as the USA's World University Games team leader held in Daegu, South Korea, in 2003. Hayasaki is a member of the USA Senior Elite Coaches, served on the NCAA men's gymnastics rules committee from 1991 through 1995 and chaired the East Region Committee for three years.Currentely, he is serving his third term as the chair of the NCAA rules committee.

Hayasaki has coached two Olympians, Dominick Minicucci (1988 and 1992) and Charles Lakes (1988) and two winners of the Nissen-Emery Award in David Zeddies (1989) and Justin Spring (2006). Zeddies (1988), Travis Romagnoli (1998), Spring (2006) and Wes Haagensen (2007) earned Big Ten Gymnast of the Year honors.

Jon Valdez, who is finishing his eighth season as an assistant on the Illini staff, will take on the new title of Associate Head Coach and will be elevated to the Head Coaching position following the 2009 season.

"I am very excited for Jon Valdez as he will take the head coaching position after next season," Guenther said. "Jon will be following one of the nation's great gymnastics coaches, but he is considered one of the elite assistant coaches in the nation and has a great relationship with our student-athletes."

Yoshi Hayasaki File
Coaching & Teaching Experience
University of Illinois - Head Coach, 1997-present University of Illinois  -
Director of Gymnastics, 1993-96 University of Illinois - Head Coach, 1974-93
University of Illinois - Lecturer, Applied Life Studies, 1974-81 University
of Illinois - Instructor, Applied Life Studies, 1971-73 University of
Illinois - Graduate Assistant, 1971-73
Coaching Honors
National Coach of the Year - 1989
Central Region Coach of the Year - 1989, 2000, 2004
Big Ten Coach of the Year - 1988, 1989, 2004
Big Ten Championships - 1981, 1983, 1988, 1989, 2004
National Championship - 1989