Amy Smith out as Clemson gymnastics coach after 2 seasons
Clemson athletics announced on Friday it had fired its first ever gymnastics coach, the same coach who faced allegations at two previous institutions.
Tigers athletic director Graham Neff announced via press release that the school had “parted ways” with second-year coach Amy Smith. The news release was two sentences long and included no quotes from Neff.
“Clemson University has parted ways with Amy Smith, Director of Athletics Graham Neff announced,” the statement said. “Clemson will immediately commence a national search for its next head coach.”
No other information was provided about her departure. Reached by The State on Friday, an athletic department spokesman declined further comment.
Smith just concluded her second season as coach of the Tigers, who started gymnastics competition in 2024.
Clemson and Neff had previously backed Smith publicly in November 2023 after a Washington Post article detailed allegations against her from former gymnasts at UNC, where she was an assistant, and Utah State, where she was head coach.
The allegations against Smith from four former gymnasts included fostering “a culture of disordered eating” and verbally berating players.
Clemson said in a statement at that time that it conducted a background check of Smith before her hiring and found no complaints against her at previous schools. Neff also publicly backed Smith, who was one of his first hires as Clemson AD.
“Couldn’t be more excited for her support of her programs and student-athletes and our support administratively for those resources and expectations,” Neff said in November 2023. “Excited to kick off Clemson gymnastics here in a couple months.”
Smith was an assistant coach at UNC from 2014-17 and the head coach at Utah State from 2017-22 before being hired at Clemson as its first ever gymnastics coach.
Neff said at the time the university took a “thorough” look into Smith’s background before hiring her in April 2022 and, after being “in dialogue with (Smith) prior to her hire and certainly since then” regarding the allegations, he and the Clemson athletic department remained comfortable with her hire.
A Clemson athletic department spokesman provided a statement about the coaching search to The State after the Washington Post article was published.
“As we do with all searches, Clemson did an extensive amount of research into Coach Smith’s background, including checking references from previous employers as well as third-party evaluators,” the statement from Clemson athletics read. “During this process, Clemson was not made aware of formal or informal investigations of Coach Smith from her previous institutions.”
Smith was set to make $165,000 in 2024-25, per her most recent contract. It wasn’t immediately clear if Smith was fired for cause or without clause, which would change how much buyout money the university owes here.
The Tigers made the NCAA Tournament during both of Smith’s season as coach. Clemson advanced to the regional round in 2025 for the first time ever.
What allegations were made against Amy Smith?
Here’s a summary of the allegations against Smith at previous stops, according to reporting from the Washington Post’s Molly Hensley-Clancy and Emily Giambalvo.
- At UNC, former gymnast Raine Gordon said Smith, then an assistant head coach, “pitted gymnasts against one another,” “made her feel ashamed of her body” and once said “Gordon’s leg was bruised after a fall because it was ‘fat.’”
- Gordon said Smith and UNC’s head coach at the time made her sign a contract that “threatened her scholarship if she didn’t lose weight every week.”
- Gordon said Smith “singled her out” from the start of her 2016 freshman year at UNC, berated her for mistakes and compared her negatively with her teammates.
- At Utah State, former gymnast Morgan Gill said Smith held her to “impossible standards,” such as “requiring her to perform her routines for two weeks without a single fall.” “I was told every day I wasn’t good enough,” Gill told the paper.
- Gill said Smith yelled at her for “playing games” when she had to step out of practice conditioning sessions to use an inhaler prescribed to her by a Utah State doctor to combat anxiety and chest pain.
- Another former Utah State gymnast, Tori Loomis, said she felt “targeted” by Smith starting as a freshman and the coach frequently told her she was “out of shape,” including when she was injured.
- At one point, Loomis said, she asked a group of upperclassmen gymnasts how to “make Smith treat her better” and they told her Smith “would love you if you were anorexic.” Loomis said she developed a “severe eating disorder” as a result of Smith fostering “a culture of disordered eating on the team.”
- A third USU gymnast, Glory Yoakum, said in a 2021 social media post that Smith “degraded” her, called her a “weak link” who “didn’t want to work” and threatened to pull Yoakum’s scholarship.
Ten gymnasts left Smith’s Utah State team in 2019, which was almost half the roster. Seven left in 2021. A USU spokesperson told the Post that Utah State never conducted an investigation of Smith, who was reviewed annually and “in good standing at the end of her employment” before she left to take the Clemson job.
Clemson had no players from its 2024 opening day roster leave ahead of the 2025 season, per a review of online rosters. The only departure was from a player who had exhausted her eligibility.
Six USU gymnasts transferred to compete for Smith when she left for Clemson.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM.
