Ralph Rosso - Gymnastics Coach - University of Washington Athletics

Ralph Rosso

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
rrosso@uw.edu
Phone:
(206) 543-1826

In three seasons with the GymDawgs, Ralph Rosso has helped the team make its way to NCAA Nationals for the seventh time in program history. He enters his first season as head coach for Washington in 2021 after spending three years as an assistant.

In 2020, Rosso helped the GymDawgs finish 12th in the nation on bars, its highest finish on that event since 2004. The GymDawgs would earn All-American honors on bars for just the third time in program history and earned their second All-Pac-12 honor on bars under Rosso.

Rosso coached Washington's highest-ranked event in 2019, helping the GymDawgs finish 13th in the country on bars. Twice Washington broke 49.400 on bars, putting up the highest bars score since 2004 with a 49.425 before besting that with a 49.575 later in the year. The team won five individual bars event titles.

In his first year at Washington, Rosso helped the GymDawgs make it to NCAA Nationals for the second consecutive year, just the second time in school history Washington has made it to back-to-back Nationals. Washington ended the year in the nation's top 20 on bars, going over 49.000 as a team for the final 12 consecutive weeks of the season.

The GymDawgs finished the regular season ranked eighth in the country in 2018, their highest regular-season finish ever. That season included Washington's first NCAA Regional event championship since 2012 as Kristyn Hoffa, Zoey Schaefer, and Maya Washington combined to take home a floor championship en route to NCAA Nationals. The GymDawgs recorded four scores of 197 or higher in 2018, tying the program record.

Rosso joined the Washington gymnastics coaching staff in June of 2017. He came to the UW from George Washington University, where he was an assistant last season. He returns to the Pac-12 Conference, having spent the previous two seasons at Arizona State, as an assistant coach and interim head coach.

In 2017 at GW, Rosso helped the Colonials to the East Atlantic Gymnastics League championship and a berth in the NCAA Regionals, where a GW gymnast won the program's first-ever NCAA Regional individual title, on the vault. Two individuals earned individual berths to nationals, the most ever at GW. A total of eight gymnasts earned All-EAGL honors.

At Arizona State, Rosso aided in the development of nine Academic All-Pac-12 gymnasts, three All-Pac-12 selections and five NCAA qualifiers, including an individual regional champion.

He spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant at Western Michigan, after having spent two seasons at Arkansas, serving as team manager while working on a master's degree. In his two seasons with the Razorbacks, the team finished 10th and sixth in the nation.

A standout gymnast at the University of Michigan, Rosso lettered from 2006-09, helping the Wolverines to the Big Ten title as a senior. He competed at NCAA Championships all four years and finished ninth on still rings in 2007. He also made it to the Big Ten finals on pommel horse and rings in 2007, and to two more finals in 2009, on rings and floor.

Following his collegiate career, he helped coach the Michigan men’s gymnastics team as a volunteer assistant in 2010, when the Wolverines won the NCAA Championship. Rosso is also a two-time member of the U.S. Junior National Team. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2009.