Amy Smith enters her fourth year of coaching at Missouri after revolutionizing the Tigers' floor and beam routines the past three seasons.
Smith joined Mizzou in 2007 as the choreographer for the team and balance beam coach. Along with her came a trademark style that brought the Tigers to life on both floor and beam, where they averaged a 48.867 and 48.752, respectively, in 2008.
In her second year she helped the team improve those marks to an average of 48.796 on beam and 49.031 on floor. Smith's balance beam coaching helped the Tigers notch a 49.250 in their meet vs. Illinois, which now ranks as the fifth best beam score in program history. Sarah Shire won the 2009 Big 12 beam title with the help of Smith's instruction. Smith's fun and crowd-pleasing work on floor routines helped Adrianne Perry win the Big 12 floor title for the second year in a row (2008 and 2009) and become Missouri's first floor All-American in almost 20 years.
In her third season, Smith coached the Tigers to an even higher level. The team appeared in the NCAA National Championships for the first time in program history. Smith helped Sarah Shire earn First Team All-America honors on floor, and the gymnast placed second on floor at Nationals. Under Smith's direction, Mary Burke and Sarah Shire set a new program record of 9.975 on floor during a regular season meet against Illinois State.
Smith spent her first year of collegiate gymnastics at the University of Oklahoma, where she won the Big Eight vault championship, and the vault and floor championships at the 1994 National Invitational Tournament.
Smith then took her skills to UCLA, and helped propel the Bruins to a National Championship in 1997. Proving her skill on both the vault and in the floor exercise, Smith earned first team All-American honors in both events in 1997. She also brought home a Pac-10 conference title in the floor exercise and an NCAA West Regional title on vault. Smith was named the UCLA team captain in 1996 and 1997.
After her outstanding run with the Bruins, Smith went on to start her professional career in coaching and choreography. Smith developed a reputation as a choreographer while coaching camps. After acting as an undergraduate coach for UCLA from 1997-98, Smith finished her education at UCLA, earning a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English in 2001.
As her floor routines were recognized, Smith became a household name among schools in the SEC, giving her a chance to choreograph for the Florida Gators. Smith put together routines for all six All-Americans while choreographing the Gators' routines from 2003-06. First Team All-Americans Savannah Evans and Corey Hartung earned their accolades with Smith's choreography in 2005. The choreography from Smith also propelled Orley Szmuch to Second Team All-America honors in 2003, while Breanne King earned the same honor in 2004. Smith also volunteered at the University of Kentucky, where she was brought on to choreograph floor routines from 2004-05.
