Rhonda Faehn, the former head coach of the Gators’ gymnastics team, has been relieved of her duties as a consultant for the University of Michigan’s women’s gymnastics squad less than three days after her hiring.
The university signed Faehn to a contract through May 31 of 2019 for $15,000 a month, according to the Detroit Free Press. Michigan paid Faehn the $15,000 she would have made this month due to a clause that required the university to give her a one-month’s notice if they were to let her go without paying her salary.
According to an article published by the New York Post, Faehn reportedly drew criticism from Michigan’s board of regents for her involvement in the Larry Nassar case, where the former-USA Gymnastics team doctor was accused and subsequently convicted of sexual abuse toward his patients. Faehn stepped down as the senior vice president of the women’s USA Gymnastics program four months after Nassar received his sentence on Jan. 24 amidst a call for her resignation by Olympic gold-medalist Aly Raisman.
Faehn was the head coach for 13 years at Florida and brought its gymnastics team a National Championship three years in a row from 2013-2015 as well as 10 top-five NCAA Championship finishes and four SEC Championships. The Gators hadn’t won a national title before Faehn became the coach.
Faehn left the program in 2015 to accept a position as senior vice president for USA Gymnastics and was replaced by current UF gymnastics coach Jenny Rowland. Her stint there only lasted two and a half years.
Since taking over, Rowland has an SEC Championship with Florida in 2016 and has guided the squad to a top-four ranking in every year she’s coached in Gainesville.
Faehn traveled with the team to its quad meet in Tuscaloosa, where the Wolverines faced off against Alabama, Bowling Green and Denver on Friday, but on Sunday, her hiring was deemed as a mistake.
“It was the wrong decision, and I apologize,” Warde Manuel, Michigan’s Director of Athletics, said in a release. “Our student-athletes are our highest priority, and I want to do everything in my power to support them fully and put the focus back on their athletic performance.”
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him rwells@alligator.org.
Former UF gymnastics coach Rhonda Faehn was dismissed by the University of Michigan less than a week after being hired, according the New York Post.
