Gymnastics
McDonald, Janelle
Janelle McDonald
- Title:
- The R.C. Rothman UCLA Head Gymnastics Coach
- Email:
- jmcdonald@athletics.ucla.edu
Follow @janel2001 on Instagram
Janelle McDonald was named the new head coach of the UCLA Gymnastics team on May 9, 2022 and in the first three seasons has brought the Bruins back into national prominence with a 2025 NCAA runner-up finish and three conference titles.
In 2025, UCLA’s first year in the Big Ten Conference, McDonald led the Bruins to big success. UCLA swept through the Big Ten with a perfect conference record to win the regular season title before recording a Championships record 198.450 to win the Big Ten Conference title, with four individual champions in Chae Campbell (all-around), Ciena Alipio (balance beam) and Brooklyn Moors and Jordan Chiles (floor exercise). The Big Ten Coach of the Year guided the Bruins to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships and coached Chiles and Moors to NCAA individual titles on uneven bars and floor exercise, respectively. The 2025 Bruins went 33-6, scored 197 in 15 consecutive meets to end the season and earned a total of 22 All-America honors.
In her first season as a head coach, McDonald was named the 2023 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) West Region Coach of the Year, and she and her coaching staff were tabbed by College Gym News as the Coaching Staff of the Year. McDonald led UCLA to its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2019 and a final national ranking of fifth. The Bruins also won a Pac-12 regular season co-championship and finished the regular season ranked No. 4 nationally, 10 spots higher than they ranked the previous year. UCLA improved its NQS by nearly nine-tenths of a point, going from 197.090 in 2022 to 197.950 in 2023, and their season average of 197.774 was 0.895 higher than a year ago, marking the greatest improvement by any Power 5 team. McDonald’s Bruins scored 197 or higher in all but one meet this season (missing by just one-tenth in that meet) and had three scores of 198 or higher, including a high of 198.275. UCLA went 24-for-24 in 12 of 14 meets, the most by any team in school history.
McDonald coached Chiles to NCAA and Pac-12 titles on uneven bars and floor exercise in 2023 and had five Bruins earn a total of 11 postseason All-America honors. As the team’s primary uneven bars coach, McDonald guided her bars squad to a No. 5 national ranking, a 14-spot improvement from the previous year. The Bruins averaged 49.487 on the event, with eight scores of 49.500 or higher, including a high of 49.725 that ranks as the No. 3 score in school history.
In 2024, McDonald led UCLA to a close second-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships, and she coached three Bruins to All-America honors. She also coached Emma Malabuyo as she qualified for the Paris Olympics after a bronze-medal all-around finish at the 2024 Asian Games.
Prior to joining the Bruins, McDonald helped coach the University of California to unprecedented success during her four seasons (2019-22), as the Golden Bears won their first-ever Pac-12 regular season title in 2022 and earned a seventh-place NCAA finish in 2021, which matched their highest-ever finish. Serving as the team’s uneven bars head coach, McDonald coached Maya Bordas to California’s first-ever NCAA individual championship in 2021, while the uneven bars squad finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation and tied a NCAA record with a team score of 49.825. In 2022, all six uneven bars performers ranked in the Top 15 in the region, with three earning All-Pac-12 honors. The Top 7 uneven bars scores in school history have come under McDonald’s watch. During her tenure, California gymnasts earned a total of 17 All-America honors, including six on uneven bars. McDonald was honored in 2020 and 2021 as the WCGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year and was part of the 2021 College Gym News Coaching Staff of the Year.
McDonald, who began her coaching career in 1999 while in high school, has extensive coaching experience at the club level, including a six-year (2012-18) tenure at WOGA, which earned USA Gymnastics Texas Junior Olympic Program of the Year honors in 2015. She coached all four events at the elite, optional and compulsory levels, mentoring USA Championship qualifiers and various athletes who earned full-ride scholarships to NCAA Division I programs.
Prior to WOGA, McDonald was the TOPS team coach at Legacy Elite Gymnastics and also coached Level 3-10 team gymnasts. She also spent eight years coaching at Desert Lights Gymnastics, where she coached all levels of competitive gymnastics, choreographed balance beam and floor exercise routines and was the TOPS Team Director and Compulsory Team Director. McDonald was named the 2005 USAG Arizona Rookie Coach of the Year and the 2006 USAG Arizona Compulsory Coach of the Year, and she was part of the staff that earned 2009-2010 USAG Arizona Coaching Staff of the Year acclaim. Since 2020, McDonald has served as the head coach on vault and uneven bars for Level 7-10 athletes at East Bay Gymnastics, coaching numerous state and regional champions.
“Janelle’s passion and love for the sport radiates throughout her,” said two-time Olympic medalist and former UCLA All-American and NCAA champion Madison Kocian, whom McDonald helped coach and support at WOGA. “She exudes qualities that will make an incredible head coach, mentor and leader for this program. I’m so excited to cheer her on as she upholds the UCLA Gymnastics legacy.”
McDonald graduated from Arizona State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. While at Arizona State, she interned for the Sun Devil gymnastics program in 2010. She has owned a National Association of Women’s Gymnastics Judges (NAWGJ) certification since 2001.
Janelle McDonald was named the new head coach of the UCLA Gymnastics team on May 9, 2022 and in the first three seasons has brought the Bruins back into national prominence with a 2025 NCAA runner-up finish and three conference titles.
In 2025, UCLA’s first year in the Big Ten Conference, McDonald led the Bruins to big success. UCLA swept through the Big Ten with a perfect conference record to win the regular season title before recording a Championships record 198.450 to win the Big Ten Conference title, with four individual champions in Chae Campbell (all-around), Ciena Alipio (balance beam) and Brooklyn Moors and Jordan Chiles (floor exercise). The Big Ten Coach of the Year guided the Bruins to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships and coached Chiles and Moors to NCAA individual titles on uneven bars and floor exercise, respectively. The 2025 Bruins went 33-6, scored 197 in 15 consecutive meets to end the season and earned a total of 22 All-America honors.
In her first season as a head coach, McDonald was named the 2023 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) West Region Coach of the Year, and she and her coaching staff were tabbed by College Gym News as the Coaching Staff of the Year. McDonald led UCLA to its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2019 and a final national ranking of fifth. The Bruins also won a Pac-12 regular season co-championship and finished the regular season ranked No. 4 nationally, 10 spots higher than they ranked the previous year. UCLA improved its NQS by nearly nine-tenths of a point, going from 197.090 in 2022 to 197.950 in 2023, and their season average of 197.774 was 0.895 higher than a year ago, marking the greatest improvement by any Power 5 team. McDonald’s Bruins scored 197 or higher in all but one meet this season (missing by just one-tenth in that meet) and had three scores of 198 or higher, including a high of 198.275. UCLA went 24-for-24 in 12 of 14 meets, the most by any team in school history.
McDonald coached Chiles to NCAA and Pac-12 titles on uneven bars and floor exercise in 2023 and had five Bruins earn a total of 11 postseason All-America honors. As the team’s primary uneven bars coach, McDonald guided her bars squad to a No. 5 national ranking, a 14-spot improvement from the previous year. The Bruins averaged 49.487 on the event, with eight scores of 49.500 or higher, including a high of 49.725 that ranks as the No. 3 score in school history.
In 2024, McDonald led UCLA to a close second-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships, and she coached three Bruins to All-America honors. She also coached Emma Malabuyo as she qualified for the Paris Olympics after a bronze-medal all-around finish at the 2024 Asian Games.
Prior to joining the Bruins, McDonald helped coach the University of California to unprecedented success during her four seasons (2019-22), as the Golden Bears won their first-ever Pac-12 regular season title in 2022 and earned a seventh-place NCAA finish in 2021, which matched their highest-ever finish. Serving as the team’s uneven bars head coach, McDonald coached Maya Bordas to California’s first-ever NCAA individual championship in 2021, while the uneven bars squad finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation and tied a NCAA record with a team score of 49.825. In 2022, all six uneven bars performers ranked in the Top 15 in the region, with three earning All-Pac-12 honors. The Top 7 uneven bars scores in school history have come under McDonald’s watch. During her tenure, California gymnasts earned a total of 17 All-America honors, including six on uneven bars. McDonald was honored in 2020 and 2021 as the WCGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year and was part of the 2021 College Gym News Coaching Staff of the Year.
McDonald, who began her coaching career in 1999 while in high school, has extensive coaching experience at the club level, including a six-year (2012-18) tenure at WOGA, which earned USA Gymnastics Texas Junior Olympic Program of the Year honors in 2015. She coached all four events at the elite, optional and compulsory levels, mentoring USA Championship qualifiers and various athletes who earned full-ride scholarships to NCAA Division I programs.
Prior to WOGA, McDonald was the TOPS team coach at Legacy Elite Gymnastics and also coached Level 3-10 team gymnasts. She also spent eight years coaching at Desert Lights Gymnastics, where she coached all levels of competitive gymnastics, choreographed balance beam and floor exercise routines and was the TOPS Team Director and Compulsory Team Director. McDonald was named the 2005 USAG Arizona Rookie Coach of the Year and the 2006 USAG Arizona Compulsory Coach of the Year, and she was part of the staff that earned 2009-2010 USAG Arizona Coaching Staff of the Year acclaim. Since 2020, McDonald has served as the head coach on vault and uneven bars for Level 7-10 athletes at East Bay Gymnastics, coaching numerous state and regional champions.
“Janelle’s passion and love for the sport radiates throughout her,” said two-time Olympic medalist and former UCLA All-American and NCAA champion Madison Kocian, whom McDonald helped coach and support at WOGA. “She exudes qualities that will make an incredible head coach, mentor and leader for this program. I’m so excited to cheer her on as she upholds the UCLA Gymnastics legacy.”
McDonald graduated from Arizona State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. While at Arizona State, she interned for the Sun Devil gymnastics program in 2010. She has owned a National Association of Women’s Gymnastics Judges (NAWGJ) certification since 2001.
Jordan Chiles - 2025 Big Ten Championships Floor (10.0)
Thursday, September 04
Chae Campbell - 2025 NCAA Championship Floor (9.925)
Friday, August 15
Frida Esparza - 2025 NCAA Semifinal Bars (9.925)
Saturday, August 09
Frida Esparza - 2025 NCAA Semifinals Bars (9.925)
Saturday, August 09
