Kathie Klages has been coaching gymnastics at MSU before many current Spartans were even born. 

For Klages, who is in her 25th season, her tenure is a testament to her relationship with the university.

Former Spartan gymnast Kelsey Mazur, who was on the team from 2011 to 2013, said that one would be hard-pressed to find someone who has a negative opinion of Klages.

“I think everyone in the athletic community can attest to the fact that she’s very well liked,” Mazur said. “She’s so sweet and all the coaches that she shares the hallway with in Jenison Fieldhouse all adore her ... it’s obviously a testament to her that she’s been (at MSU) this long.”

During her career, Klages had a winning record in 21 out of 25 completed seasons, won three Big Ten Coach of the Year awards (1996, 2004, 2006), four Central Region Coach of the Year awards (1993, 1996, 1998, 2000) and has had 131 Academic All-Big Ten selections.

But Klages has no problem crediting men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo as the guy who has been around the longest.

“I think a lot of people think (25 years) is a big deal — my family, close friends,” Klages said. ”(But) for me I realize that (Tom) Izzo has been here longer ... I have no problem with saying Tom Izzo has been here longer than I have. I’m the longest reigning head coach. It has gone by so fast that it’s amazing to me that its been 25 years already.”

Transitioning to college coaching

Before becoming the fourth head coach in the history of MSU women’s gymnastics, Klages spent five years as the assistant coach of Great Lakes Gymnastics in Lansing.

“I was actually coaching private club gymnastics here in Lansing when the (MSU) job opened up, and I truly wasn’t that fired up about changing from private club to college,” Klages said. “I had no college coaching experience so Michigan State took a big chance on me when they hired me.”

But Klages has been winning ever since.

Former gymnast Heather Cooper Kim, who was on the team from 1991 to 1995 , was one of Klages’ first athletes at MSU but was certainly not unused to Klages’ coaching style. Klages had been her coach since she was 12.

“She was one of my club gymnastics coaches when I was growing up,” Cooper Kim said. “She had taken the MSU job the year before I graduated (high school), so I was technically her first recruit that she had at Michigan State.”

Klages has experienced plenty of positive moments during her career, but there have been times that her courage was tested. Gymnast Kathryn Mahoney was paralyzed in a practice accident in late 2010, Klages said it was her worst moment in coaching.

“Have we all grown from her experience? Yes,” Klages said. “Have we had to do a lot of soul searching after that experience of her getting hurt? Yeah. But Kathryn is such a fighter and such an incredible young woman that I’m proud every time I see her.”

The injury to Mahoney was devastating for all involved, but Klages is now stronger for it according to Cooper Kim.

“There were definitely some hardships that have come the last few seasons especially with the tragic accident of Kathryn being paralyzed, and she has persevered and has come through (stronger).”

Klages believes that every year presents a new challenge, forcing her to change her approach to each season. She said that might be her favorite part of the job.

“Every year is such a challenge. What worked last year perfectly for your team may not even come close to working the next year,” Klages said. “Each year was so rewarding in one way or another ... I love it.”

Coaching for life

Klages said she can come up with multiple instances of great memories of her past and present teams, their performances and has kept strong relationships with alumni.

Cooper Kim considers Klages to be one of her most dear friends to this day.

“We had that great kind of mentor-student relationship all the way through my high school years and then that more mature coach-gymnast relationship all through college,” Cooper Kim said. “She was always an honest great friend through all of that.”

Part of that strong alumni relationship comes from the way Klages prepares the women on her team, who were often in the prime of their careers before starting college, for life post gymnastics.

Former gymnast Rhiannon Bosse, who was on the team from 2005 to 2007, said she believes that Klages prepared all of her girls for the inevitable end to their athletic careers and helped them to become great people.

“When you finish gymnastics you have to move on to the next thing, it’s kind of like a break up in a sense, a lot of girls struggle with what they’re going to do next...I think Kathie did a really great job with preparing us for what that would be like,” Bosse said.

Klages likes to believe that she has had at least a small role in the lives of all of her former athletes and hopes that she has had a positive impact.

“I hope I have just a small little bit of responsibility for who all these young women have turned out to be,” Klages said. “The relationships that we’ve built and kept on all these years is to me my biggest treasure.”

Changing with the times

“Obviously the times have changed and so have the athletes,” Klages said. “Some of (the changes) are very minor things like a change in apparel for practice, but some of them are pretty big things in the sense that we communicate way differently now than we used to. We have a group text thing and the messages go out and I expect everybody to do exactly what they should do ... and you know they’re out texting.”

From changes in apparel during practices to starting a group text for the team members, Klages said the times are constantly changing, as are the athletes.

She said she tries to keep an open mind while adapting to the changing of the times.

“A lot of things are still very new,” Klages said. “You’re always growing. Every single year there’s new things to learn and new things to try and new ways to motivate your team.”

Klages knows that she can’t coach forever and she said she believes she is in the last stage of her long career at MSU.

“I know that I’m on the twilight of my career, I can say that out loud very clearly,” Klages said. “I do think there will be a time where I will know that I’m going to retire after this year. It will happen ... Right now I don’t foresee me not being here.”