A new hire has Oregon State University gymnastics seeing double, as Brian Carey, father and coach of Olympian and Beaver Gymnast Jade Carey, has joined the OSU gymnastics coaching staff for the 2024 season.
“I’m just excited to be here,” Carey said. “It’s a great program and I’ve had the opportunity to watch from a distance and both be kind of close to it at the same time working with Jade but I’m just really excited to be here.”
Carey had been working as a gymnastics consultant, teaching clinics for athletes and their coaches, guest-coaching at other gyms, and serving in coaching and committee positions within USA gymnastics before joining OSU as an assistant coach.
“Brian is a world-class coach and will be an amazing mentor to our student-athletes,” said Tanya Chaplin, OSU gymnastics head coach in a press release about Carey’s addition to the coaching staff.
“His technical knowledge, alongside his work with both the international and elite developmental programs will benefit our athletes immediately,” Chaplin said.
Carey had been around the OSU team as he came to work with Jade on her elite skills throughout the year but says when the opportunity to work with the team anc actually coach her came up, “it just made sense”.
Sophomore OSU gymnast majoring in pre-veterinary biology, Ellie Weaver says she is looking forward to the motivation that having Carey on the coaching staff will bring.
”I am incredibly excited, I think it is going to be an incredibly good year, we have some good gymnasts coming up this year,” Weaver said. “I think having a coach that has experience in the elite world and the gymnastics world is going to really help improve our team.”
According to Weaver, the team’s goal is to make it to nationals.
“We will be working step by step on how to get there and be unified as a team and have a good year,” Weaver said.
According to Carey, OSU’s coaching staff is taking an interlocking approach to coaching where every coach works on every event. This strategy allows for the athletes to be comfortable with more than one designated coach on an event.
“This staff works really well together and so that’s going to be a good time I think and we are going to keep going in a positive direction forward and keep the athletes going in the right direction, keeping their wellbeing as a priority,” Carey said.
As for any concerns about the recent conference realignment impacting the season Carey says his focus is on doing what he came to OSU to do, help the athletes in any way he can.
“I trust that they will look out for the best interest of the student athletes, of all the student athletes and (I will) focus on what I can control,” Carey said.
Jade was unable to be reached by the Barometer but according to Carey, they will continue with her elite career geering up towards the 2024 Olympics while proceeding to compete collegiately.
“It’s a great group of coaches, a great group of athletes really seems like they have a great support system through the administration, through the trainers, the medical, so it’s been great,” Carey said.