The Arkansas gymnastics staff continues to get stronger as the program has added All-American and Pac-12 champion Kyla Bryant as an assistant coach.
“Kyla Bryant is the perfect addition to our coaching staff. She brings energy and competitive fire that is contagious and those that know her, love her,” head coach Jordyn Wieber said. “She is wholeheartedly bought in to our mission of increasing national competitiveness and helping our student-athletes develop in the classroom and in the gym.”
Bryant competed at Stanford from 2018 to 2022 and had great success over the course of five seasons. She finished her run in Palo Alto with 61 career event titles, five All-Pac 12 honors (three on floor, two all-around), and as the 2021 Pac-12 floor champion. She was a two-time AAI Award nominee, known as the Heisman Trophy of NCAA women’s gymnastics, and was a finalist in 2022.
In her fifth year, Bryant earned 12 of the Cardinal’s 20 individual event titles on the year, with at least one on each event and two all-around. She had Stanford’s best score on each event and all-around in 2022, and earned career highs on vault (9.925), beam (9.975), and all-around (39.675).
Bryant’s collegiate career culminated at NCAA Championships in 2022, where she competed as an individual on floor. She scored 9.9375, a Stanford program record, and tied for seventh place, which earned her first team All-American honors. Bryant never scored below a 9.900 on floor in the 2022 slate.
As a senior in 2021, Bryant became Stanford’s first Pac-12 champion since 2018 with a title on floor after she scored a 9.950 at the conference championship. This extended a streak of excellence on the event dating back to her freshman year, and she earned Pac-12 floor honors in each season of her collegiate career.
“I want to begin by saying what an honor it is to hold this position. I am humbled, grateful and excited to say the least,” Bryant said. “I want to thank Jordyn and the rest of the Razorback gymnastics community and staff for believing in me and for granting me the privilege to be a part of the University of Arkansas family. I am fired up and ready to get to work. God bless and Wooo Pig!”
Bryant graduated from Stanford with a degree in Science, Technology and Society in 2021 and received the Spirit of Stanford award in 2022. She was also a cofounder and president of CardinalBLCK, an organization dedicated to providing “a safe space for Black student-athletes to connect, share, and foster a meaningful community,” and served as Stanford’s liaison for the Pac-12’s Gymnasts for Peace, Action and Change committee in 2021.
She joins the staff as a third assistant along with Chris Brooks and Kyla Ross.
