William & Mary Athletics

After a legendary 43-year career as head coach of the William & Mary men's gymnastics program, Cliff Gauthier transitioned into the role of volunteer assistant on Jan. 1, 2017.
 
Although Gauthier no longer travels with the team and relinquished his administrative duties, he continues to provide a significant presence in the gym as an instructor.  
 
One of the nation's most respected head coaches during his more than four decades at the helm of W&M Men’s Gymnastics, Gauthier's impressive résumé included 856 career victories, 13 USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Team Championships, four Eastern College Athletic Conference titles and 15 College Gymnastics Association Collegiate Coach of the Year awards.
 
In addition to the team's collective success, Tribe gymnasts thrived individually under Gauthier's tutelage and combined to earn 216 USA Gymnastics Collegiate All-America awards, more than any other university since the inception of the awards in 1990. Additionally, the program produced two NCAA National Champions, two NCAA National Runners-Up, 10 NCAA All-America honors, seven Nissen-Emery Award Finalists and 43 USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Event Champions.
 
Equally, if not more, impressive than the program's accomplishments in the gym is the tremendous success achieved by Tribe gymnasts in the classroom. Gauthier's teams combined to win a record eight College Gymnastics Association National Academic Team Titles (1991, 1992, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) and placed second on six occasions (1994, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2013). Additionally, W&M finished third three times (1999, 2006, 2011). Highlighting the eight titles was the 2014 squad that posted the highest recorded grade point average (3.622) since the inception of the team award in 1991.
 
Tribe gymnasts also led the nation with more individual All-America Scholar-Athlete honors than any other program in men's gymnastics, as 49 W&M gymnasts combined to earn 152 All-American Scholar-Athlete honors during his tenure. Additionally, a pair of former standouts were honored as NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners.
 
A College Gymnastics Association Honor Coach Award recipient, Gauthier was also recognized by W&M with some of the university's most prestigious distinctions. In 2004, he garnered the Thomas Ashley Graves, Jr. Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching at W&M, while he was chosen as an Honorary Alumnus in 2014.
 
Volunteer service was also a hallmark of Gauthier's program through the years, and Tribe gymnasts significantly impacted the Williamsburg community in numerous ways. Recent projects included volunteering with the local kids gymnastics program, conducting the Williamsburg awareness and fundraising walk for the National Eating Disorders Association, and collecting food and goods for the annual canned food drive that totaled more than 20,000 pounds of goods.