The Nebraska men's gymnastics staff added coaching legend Phil Cahoy Sr. to its staff as an assistant coach. After Francis Allen's retirement last summer, Chuck Chmelka took over as NU's head coach, while Jim Hartung and Cahoy Sr. will be the two assistant coaches for the 2010 season.
"His leadership and experience are immeasurable because he has coached for 50 years," Chmelka said of Cahoy. "His knowledge, leadership and experience is going to help us tremendously. How he reacts with the guys is really wholesome and positive. He gets the most out of kids. That's going to help us this year. We have a very senior-dominated team, and with all of the new faces and all of the changes, he's a very welcome entity into our program."
A legend in the gymnastics community, Cahoy Sr. has been coaching and producing gymnastics champions at all levels for over 50 years. Among his most successful athletes are his son, Phil Cahoy Jr., and Jim Hartung. Cahoy and Hartung represented the United States at three Olympic Games and eight World Gymnastics Championships.
Cahoy Sr. coached three NCAA All-Around Champions (Hartung, Dennis Harrison, and Richard Grace) and multiple NCAA Individual Event Champions and All-American Award Winners. He even coached current Nebraska Head Coach Chuck Chmelka.
Cahoy Sr. has coached an unprecedented number of high school and Junior Olympic State Champions. He has coached U.S. National Teams at competitions in Germany, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Switzerland and Hungary.
He has been recognized for his contributions to the sport of gymnastics as recipient of the following awards: The Frank Cuminsky Service Award, the NACGC Honor Coach Award, KETV's Putting People First Award and he is a member of the Nebraska Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Cahoy Sr. owns Cahoy's Gymnastic Training Center and is Co-Owner of Tumble Bus Inc.
He and his wife, Bernice, have two children: their son, Phil Jr., who was a four-time national champion and standout NU athlete; and their daughter, Catheryne, who is also a successful gymnastics coach.