University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Gymnastics
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Phone: 952-707-2261
Email: fystr001@umn.edu
A four-year letterwinner for the Golden Gophers and a 1973 graduate of the University, Russ Fystrom completed his 35th season as an assistant coach at Minnesota in 2015-16. At the the conclusion of the 2016 season, Fystrom was named Central Region Assistant Coach of the year along with his counterpart, Kostya Kolesnikov.
Fystrom recorded an outstanding gymnastics career in his own right. A three-time AAU pommel horse vice champion, he was a captain for the Golden Gophers during the 1973 season. In that same year, Fystrom won the Big Ten pommel horse title. Thirty-four years later he coached Kit Beikmann to that same title, as Beikmann was the 2007 Big Ten Champion on pommel horse. Again in 2014 and 2015, he coached Ellis Mannon to back-to-back Big Ten pommel horse titles as well as the NCAA National Pommel Horse Title in 2014.
A national and international certified judge, Fystrom was selected to coach at the 1985 U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston where he coached the North Team to a Gold Medal in the Team Competition. After graduating from the U of M in 1973, he taught high school at Edina. He then moved to Burnsville School system where he taught until his retirement in 2010 in the Burnsville school system.
Fystrom serves as one of two Senior Coaches Representative of the USA Gymnastics Men's Program Committee (MPC) for eight years (2009 - 2016). The MPC determines the direction of the entire Men's Program in the United States and is the most powerful committee in men's gymnastics. The coaches of the current Senior National Team members vote for their representative on the MPC.
Fystrom and his wife Janet have three children: twin daughters, Amelia and Martha, and a son, Charles.
"Russ has been one of the most loyal Gopher coaches at Minnesota in his years as an assistant," head coach Mike Burns said. "His knowledge of the FIG Code of Points and how to utilize it in the gym combined with his many years of experience with college gymnastics makes him an invaluable member of our staff. He is a daily beacon of integrity and has been instrumental in the continued success of the Golden Gopher Men's Gymnastics Program."
