KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan gymnastics team and head coach Penny Jernigan have announced the hiring of Don Houlton to the position of assistant coach. 
 
Houlton joins the Broncos after spending the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Central Michigan, where he coached Hannah Demers to a MAC Championship in the bars in 2021, also seeing her become a NCAA Nationals qualifier. Prior to that he was an assistant coach with IGI Gymnastics for eight years, helping many gymnasts move on to compete at the Division I level, including Oklahoma's Anastasia Webb, a NCAA All-Around, Floor and Vault champion. Along with other coaching stops he was also the owner, director and head coach at Nebraska Gold Gymnastics in Omaha for 15 years. 
 
"We are all excited to welcome Don to our staff," said Jernigan. "He is a highly-experienced and accomplished gymnastics coach at both the collegiate and club levels. He's passionate about the sport of gymnastics and we believe he will fit well into the positive culture Coach Scharns and I have developed. We can't wait to see what we're all able to accomplish together."
 
Houlton, who is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, spent last year as the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association Vice President and has spent 11 years as a National Junior Olympic Program Committee member with USA Gymnastics.