Jenny Hansen is known for the success and accolades she brings to the Gophers gymnastics program as head coach, but before she was a coach, she was a gymnast herself. 

Native to Ripon, Wis., Hansen started coaching at 13 years old. She worked in gyms with preschool and elementary kids every summer, finding joy in helping others succeed.

Watching young athletes’ reactions to a new accomplishment fulfilled Hansen and kept her returning every summer. 

“I loved being part of the process of helping somebody get better, I got to experience that really early on and had the coaching bug in me,” Hansen said.

From 2000 to 2003, Hansen competed as a gymnast for the University of Minnesota, where she pursued both individual goals and helped her team get to the national championships. In her senior season, Hansen worked her way onto three all-time performance lists, including beam, floor and vault, and was named a team captain. 

Former Gophers gymnast and Hansen’s teammate Kelly Fang admired Hansen’s determination to improve every year. 

“By senior year, normally you are dwindling down because your body can only handle so much, and she was the opposite. She even added the event vault,” Fang said.

As she watched Hansen calculate their team’s numbers and scores, Fang knew Hansen would be a coach one day.

“She always had that mindset of figuring out what we needed to do to win, while the rest of us were mainly focused individually,” Fang said. “She had a bigger understanding of gymnastics as a whole.” 

Hansen had an abundance of coaching experience before graduating with a degree in kinesiology. As a fifth-year student, she was a student coach for the Gophers before moving into a volunteer coaching position the following year. 

In 2006, Hansen was offered a position as an assistant coach for the University of Illinois. Hansen handled the floor exercise, music selection compilation and choreography with Illinois for a year before returning to the Gophers.  

In Hansen’s eyes, a key piece to the program’s success is to value the team’s environment. In the recruiting process, Hansen looks for women who love gymnastics with a passion.

“It’s really kind of easy to coach those kinds of athletes when they walk in with a smile on their face and ready to go every day, that’s a really great environment,” Hansen said. 

National qualifier and All-American Lexy Ramler competed under Hansen for five years. Ramler said Hansen grew the culture to be more than just gymnastics and, in doing so, led the team to greater success. 

“The team environment was a big focus for Jenny. We would go over team values in practice and she would help develop us as more than just athletes,” Ramler said.

Since Hansen returned to her alma mater to coach, every coach on her roster is still here today. Hansen’s biggest goal every year is to build on the last. 

“It’s definitely something that is unique about her. Typically, you see the coaching staff change, but Minnesota has had the same staffing coach for years, which just shows the stable foundation of Minnesota’s program in general,” Ramler said.

Hansen is determined to create a program that thrives both athletically and academically. The team led all winter programs at Minnesota and in the Big Ten with 15 Academic All-Big Ten selections. 

A record six gymnasts were 2019-20 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award recipients and the 2020 spring term 3.82 grade point average was the highest in program history. 

“We want to be that premier program in the athletic program that athletically they achieve, academically achieve and just set a great example for the community,” Hansen said. 

Hansen’s biggest challenge is balancing her work and personal life. Married with two children, her experience as a student athlete helped prepare her with time-management skills. 

“Things don’t get easier, you just learn how to handle hard better,” Hansen said.

Set on continuing to grow Gophers gymnastics, Hansen’s end goal is to have a program that everyone strives to be like. 

“We want to be great in all the areas where everyone says, ‘Let’s be like the gymnastics team,’” Hansen said.