Stage? – The 2024 NCAA Gymnastics Semifinal. At stake? The NCAA championship title. The defending champions, the Oklahoma Sooners, were one of the very favorites for the win, but as destiny would have it, the favorites weren’t favored and they were knocked out of the competition. The Dickie’s Arena crowd fell silent on 18 April, 2024, when three of the Sooner vaulters fell or nearly did in the opening rotation of the second national semi-final. Now it has been a full rotation as the Sooners once again perform in the NCAA semi-final, and the criticism is yet to stop. Oklahoma’s head coach has finally spoken up over those.
After the 2025 NCAA semis, KJ Kindler talked of how the criticism that has been following them for a day less than a year. In a tweet by All Things Gymnastics Podcast, it’s written, “KJ Kindler says it’s been a long 364 days & she doesn’t ever want to see TV footage of Oklahoma falling over & over again on vault. “That dragon is slayed.”KJ also talked about the criticism the team has faced each week. Full press conference coming soon to Patreon!” Now we know for sure that she is not interested in watching another video of the vault fall. The full press conference will be out in time, but some of it was in the tweet.
In the press conference, Kindler praised her gymnast, the 22-23 -23-year-olds who have held on despite the harsh words. She pointed out, “And it’s been tough to have that kind of criticism coming at you every week, week in and week out for these 18 to 22-year-olds. You know, maybe our staff can handle it, but I do think that the level of hate that has come their way is disappointing.” Very true indeed, staff members are generally much older and wiser to handle such things, someone as young as 28 can be hit very hard by such criticism.
KJ Kindler says it’s been a long 364 days & she doesn’t ever want to see TV footage of Oklahoma falling over & over again on vault. “That dragon is slayed.”
KJ also talked about the criticism the team has faced each week.
Full press conference coming soon to Patreon! pic.twitter.com/YnIEskqX6s
— All Things Gymnastics Podcast (@AllThingsGymPod) April 17, 2025
The post “Dragon Is Slayed”: Oklahoma Gymnastics Coach Sends Strong Message to Harsh Critics After Dominant NCAA Semi-Final Run appeared first on EssentiallySports.
