Iowa gymnastics finally has new facility to match new coach’s big ambitions

IOWA CITY — Ilka Juk took advantage of her team’s new touch screen video board and film room on a Friday morning to show some of her teammates — and derive some amusement from — her old recruiting videos.

“Thank you for watching,” one of her teammates said from the movie-theater-style seating as Juk laughed at how her video ended.

The setting for the lighthearted moment was in Iowa’s gymnastics and spirit squad facility, which opened last month. The facility — an “absolute game-changer,” Iowa Coach Jen Llewellyn told The Gazette — includes modern and spacious areas for training, pre-practice and post-practice recovery and team gatherings.

It has a few finishing touches left in the locker room, and the generic white walls don’t have graphics yet. (Iowa “wanted to live in the space first to really understand what graphics do we want,” Llewellyn said.)

It also is perhaps a metaphor for where Iowa gymnastics currently is as a program and, more importantly, where it could go — not a finished product in Llewellyn’s first year, but a program with an abundance of potential.

“I have really big dreams and goals for being a part of an NCAA institution and wanting to win a national championship,” Llewellyn told The Gazette in a hallway of the new facility. “And I feel like you can do this here with all the resources and the support.”

Llewellyn is in her first year at Iowa after three years in the same role at Washington. She replaced Larissa Libby, whose departure followed an independent review of the program’s culture.

Simply poaching Llewellyn from a fellow Big Ten school was a win for the Hawkeyes. She took Washington to NCAA regionals in three consecutive seasons. Before that, she was the first-ever coach at Lindenwood and led the Lions to six consecutive conference titles. She was the 2015 and 2016 USA Gymnastics Head Coach of the Year.

“There’s so many factors that go into it, and so many people are like, ‘Why would you leave Seattle for Iowa?’” Llewellyn said. “But I want to go to a place that cares and wants to win, and that’s what I feel here.”

Iowa is 2-2 so far in 2025, with the two losses being to then-No. 9 Ohio State and No. 20 Minnesota. The Hawkeyes were No. 27 in last week’s national rankings.

“Any time you have a coaching change, they’re adjusting to new styles and probably new points of emphasis,” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said. “But they’ve done well. … I think they’re going to be right where she wants them and maybe even a little farther along than she expected at this point in time.”

Overall, Goetz is “incredibly impressed with Jen.”

“She has just a contagious enthusiasm,” Goetz said. “At the same time, she’s got a steady hand and approach.”

That approach seems to be effective on the recruiting trail, as College Gym News has ranked Llewellyn’s 2025 recruiting class 15th nationally and fifth in the Big Ten.

The 2026 recruiting class is not ranked — at least not yet — but Llewellyn now has the benefit of selling recruits on a place that she believes is “for sure one of the best facilities in the country.” The first 2026 recruit is scheduled to visit the facility next weekend.

“When you are competing against other schools, this is a huge icing on the cake for (recruits) to be like, ‘I want to go to Iowa because I know I’m going to have the best facilities and resources here on top of a great education, on top of the community and support system behind women’s sports here,” Llewellyn said.

Llewellyn also has grand ambitions for the crowds that Iowa gymnastics can draw. The Hawkeyes had crowds of 3,105 and 3,193 in the two home meets in 2024 with listed attendance figures. They have been splitting their home meets between Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Coralville’s newer, 5,100-seat Xtream Arena.

“It would be awesome to be at Xtream — that’s our home base — and we sell out, and then we’re forced to go to Carver,” Llewellyn said.

Llewellyn was at Carver-Hawkeye Arena last weekend when a raucous, sold-out crowd witnessed Iowa women’s basketball’s upset over No. 4 USC and the subsequent jersey retirement of Caitlin Clark.

“I was like, ‘This could be gymnastics,’” Llewellyn said. “It’s very possible. It’s very doable. … I always say, ‘Once you come to one meet, you’re hooked.’”

To Llewellyn’s point, LSU averaged 12,590 fans per home meet in 2024 (and that was the Tigers’ seventh consecutive season with 10,000-plus fans per meet). Utah was not far behind with 12,522 fans per meet. Alabama had 10,595 fans per meet.

Of course, some Caitlin Clark-level success would go a long way in attracting Caitlin Clark-level crowds.

“It’s our job to be able to put the product out there and to get the fans excited to watch our athletes,” Llewellyn said.

Llewellyn knows that is not an easy process — “it’s a very competitive sport, and there’s a lot of powerhouses out there” — but lighthearted moments like Friday morning certainly don’t hurt in her quest to take Iowa gymnastics to new heights.

“A big part of a team is team chemistry and giving them a space where they can lounge together,” Llewellyn said. “It allows them to be able to hang out with each other more outside of the gym. … They build that rapport with one another. And those little things go a long way.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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