A Conversation with MSU Spartans Gymnastics Coach Mike Rowe

Michigan State University Gymnastics Coach Mike Rowe and All-American Spartan gymnast Sage Kellerman join Russ White on this episode of MSU Today. They say gymnastics should be fun.

Rowe describes his background and what attracted him to taking on the revitalizing of the Spartan Gymnasticsprogram. He describes his coaching philosophy and weighs on the ever-changing world of college athletics. Mike previews the coming season and talks about what he looks for in the future Spartans he recruits.

Kellerman describes the family atmosphere in Spartan Gymnastics and talks about why she decided to become a Spartan.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:24) – Mike, what’s your background, and what originally attracted you to MSU as a student?

(2:35) – How did your MSU experience prepare you for life?

(3:48) – Sage, give us some of your background and tell us why you came to MSU.

(4:43) – Mike, were you always interested in coaching?

(6:37) – How would you describe your coaching philosophy?

(9:07) – Sage, how do you balance college life with being a Big Ten athlete?

(10:18) – How and why did you go accept the challenge of reviving the Spartans gymnastics program?

(13:45) – Mike and Sage weigh in on the ever-changing world of college athletics.

(17:48) – What do you look for in the gymnasts you recruit?

(22:06) – How has gymnastics evolved over the years and where is it headed?

(26:18) – Coach Rowe previews the coming season.

Find “MSU Today with Russ White” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Conversation Transcript:

Russ White:

Well on this episode of MSU today, let's get to know MSU Gymnastics Coach Mike Rowe a little bit better, and we'll meet Sage Kellerman, one of the star gymnasts here at MSU. So Mike, great to catch up with you.

Mike Rowe:

Thanks,

Russ White:

Russ. Great to be here. And Sage, good to have you on the show.

Sage Kellerman:

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:17):

Mike could just start, give us a little bit of your background and what first attracted you to MSU as a student back in the day?

Speaker 2 (00:25):

Interesting. I started out of high school. I went to western Michigan for a year. And I'm going to be honest, this wasn't crazy about that atmosphere or whatever was going on or wasn't going on there, but Michigan State, just basketball had just won the national championship with magic and the cheerleaders had just won their national championship and all this. And I was like, I had friends coming here, I'm thinking I'm going to move across the state, I'm going to transfer. I wasn't doing anything with my major, was kind of interested in the landscape architecture puts around with that for a little bit. But the main thing that attracted me was just the environment, the huge big 10 collegiate feel and the athleticism and football obviously. I tried out for cheer my first season here, contemplated walking onto the men's team, but the cheer team needed Tumblrs in that I could do.

(01:16):

So was fortunate enough to do that. And yeah, the rest was history with that. Did it for my entire career here. I think I was on the five year program here, but I cheered for four and in 84 we were second at the national championships, which was very cool. And obviously the thrill of it was traveling with the football and the basketball teams. We only cheered for two sports at that point and just traveling and the comradery of, I think there was 20 people on the team and it was so much fun. It kind of consumed me. I probably could have been a better student, I'm not going to lie. We didn't have academic resources like they do now, but did as well as I could, but just had a great time. My sister ended up transferring here from Central Michigan and we were partners for a couple of years, so that was kind of cool. My parents thought it was, yeah, and graduated with a bachelor of landscape architecture and was minoring in musical theater, but ended up buying a one way ticket to the west coast and jumped right into musical theater right away. So

Speaker 1 (02:29):

A little bit then of how the YMSU experience impacted you, prepare you for your professional life.

Speaker 2 (02:36):

Interesting. I think the performance aspect of it, because even though I was majoring in landscape architecture and I was still interested in it, didn't know what I was going to do with it at the time, but the cheer and the dance, I was actually taking dance courses on the side at Ace of Dance Studio across the street, across Grand River from campus and kind of got the bug for that. So when I moved up to the west coast, was very fortunate and got some shows right away basically because of my gymnastics, if they were musicals, my extracurricular activities at MSU are what prepared me for the rest of my life kind of thing. It wasn't really academia, but yeah, it just, one thing led to another and I was very fortunate to write a wave of show after show after show through networking choreographers, directors, people I had worked with before, didn't have to audition a lot, so that was gymnastics and tumbling was starting to become a big kind of revolution and the musical theater aspect and timing was everything. I was in the right place at the right time.

Speaker 1 (03:42):

Well, Sage Kellerman, tell us a little bit about what attracted you to MSU and a little bit of your background.

Speaker 3 (03:49):

My family has always been Spartan fans, so that was obviously something that I've always kind of wanted to go to Michigan State. I thought that I wasn't going to end up going to college because I did quit gymnastics my sophomore year of high school. And that's your big recruiting year. And so I lost a lot of time there. I was talking to Michigan State before and then I quit. So then obviously I wasn't talking to them anym...