WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (May 13, 2014)—William and Mary men's gymnastics head coach Cliff Gauthier was recently recognized as an Honorary Alumnus by the College's Alumni Association.
The ceremony was part of Commencement weekend, as Gauthier accepted the honor before family, friends and members of the W&M community at the Alumni House.
The W&M Alumni Association grants the status of Honorary Alumni to individuals with a distinguished record of service, support, advocacy and commitment on behalf of the College and its schools, departments, units, organizations and boards.
Gauthier, who has led the Tribe men's gymnastics program for the past 41 seasons, has established a standard of excellence by mentoring student-athletes who excel both in the gym and in the classroom. A former recipient of the Thomas Ashley Graves, Jr. Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching at W&M, Gauthier's long list of accolades also includes the Honor Coach Award presented by the College Gymnastics Association.
During the past 21 seasons, Gauthier has been selected as the College Gymnastics Association Collegiate Coach of the Year 15 times en route to recording more than 800 career victories. Additionally, he has produced seven Nissen-Emery Award finalists, two NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners, two NCAA national champions and two national runners-up.
Gauthier's gymnasts have combined to earn 197 USA Gymnastics Collegiate All-America awards, more than any other university since the inception of the awards in 1990. Additionally, W&M claimed the College Gymnastics Association's National Academic Team Titles five times (1991, 1992, 2002, 2008, 2012) and placed second on six occasions (1994, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2013).
Gauthier received his bachelor's degree cum laude from the University of Denver where he was a top eight NCAA Division I finalist on various events during each of the final three years of collegiate competition. His senior year was culminated by his selection as the university's outstanding scholar-athlete. He also earned a master's degree in kinesiology from the University of Colorado.
In addition to Gauthier, the Class of 2014 Honorary Alumni recipients also included Patricia Demoff and Carol Brown Taylor.
