By Mubarak Simmons, GymnasticsVille Host
On May 15, 2026, Penn State named Tony Beck the seventh head coach in the history of its men’s gymnastics program. He replaces Randy Jepson, the man who recruited him, coached him, and mentored him for the better part of two decades. For Beck, the moment arrived at home, with his wife standing next to him.
“Dreams coming true, right? Like my wife actually was standing right next to me when I got the call. She’s like, put it on speakerphone.”
Tony Beck, Penn State men’s gymnastics head coach
That call is where our conversation started. What followed was a wide ranging sit down about legacy, loss, coaching philosophy, and what the next era of Penn State men’s gymnastics is going to look like. Watch the full episode below, or find it on the GymnasticsVille Podcast.
Tony Beck and Penn State Gymnastics: A Full Circle Moment
I have known Tony Beck since he was a teenager. I coached him his junior and senior years of high school in eastern Pennsylvania, before he ever put on a Penn State singlet. He grew up in Northampton and competed for Lehigh Valley Sports Academy, about an hour from where I sit today.
Here is something most Penn State fans do not know. The school he actually wanted was not Penn State.
“Before I knew you guys, the big school I wanted to go to is Ohio State. And it was because Blaine Wilson, the Hamm Twins. Those were the idols. And then I took my trip to Penn State and it was just home.”
Tony Beck
He committed and never looked back. Beck competed for the Nittany Lions from 2009 through 2013, finishing sixth on high bar at the 2013 NCAA Championships and ninth on pommel horse at the 2011 NCAA Championships. His senior year, Penn State finished second at the Big Ten Championships and fourth nationally.
From Five Kids in a Small Gym to Associate Head Coach
After graduating in 2013 with a degree in recreation, parks and tourism management, Beck built the first boys program at Centre Elite Gymnastics from nothing. It started with five athletes in a gym so tight the parallel bars had to be offset so they would not hit the rings hanging from the ceiling. He grew it into one of the largest boys programs in Pennsylvania and was named the 2015 Pennsylvania Coach of the Year.
He returned to Penn State as a volunteer assistant, became a full assistant coach in 2016, and was promoted to associate head coach in 2023. When he was first hired, not everyone understood the decision.
“Randy, why are you hiring Tony? Like what experience does he have? I was a nobody. And I guess he’s not wrong, but he didn’t know my drive. Randy knew my drive, knew who I was.”
Tony Beck
The Analytics Behind the Coaching
What separates Beck from a lot of college coaches is not just what happens in the gym. He is a trained judge who has officiated from the junior national level through the collegiate level, and he applies that lens to routine construction. Then he takes it further.
“I don’t sleep. You can ask my wife. I’ll be on my computer and I’m doing data analytics nonstop. I coded my own analytics website for my team and that tracks hit percentage, routine scores. I’ll judge every routine in practice.”
Tony Beck
That approach has produced results. Beck helped develop Stephen Nedoroscik and Sam Zakutney, the 21st and 22nd Olympians in program history. He coached Josh Karnes to a Big Ten individual title on parallel bars, and Karnes finished fourth all around at the 2026 U.S. Championships earlier this month before being named to the U.S. Senior National Team. In 2026, Beck developed Landon Simpson and Kellen Ryan into full all arounders competing all six events at both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships.
Two Athletes, Two Kinds of Tough
When I asked Beck what he looks for in an athlete, he did not talk about skills. He talked about mentality, and he used two of his own guys to explain it.
Karnes, he said, is a phenom. One of the most talented athletes he has ever worked with, capable of flipping a switch regardless of how he felt walking in the door. Nedoroscik was a different case entirely. Ahead of the World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, Nedoroscik ran a fever for roughly two weeks and could not train for somewhere between seven and twelve days.
“The dude swinging horse looks like he’s never done pommel horse in his entire life. And Randy’s like, he’s good. Just, he’ll be okay. Ended up winning world championship on pommel horse that year.”
Tony Beck
Beck traces that mindset back to his own training, and to a phrase he heard constantly as a young gymnast.
“Trust in the process. If you trust in the process and you have your ebbs and flows of a season, when things are easy, when things are tough, you can’t get emotional about it, you can’t overthink it.”
Tony Beck
Twelve National Titles and the Weight of the Chair
Penn State men’s gymnastics holds 12 NCAA national team titles, tied with Oklahoma for the most in NCAA history. Beck is the seventh person to sit in this chair, and he knows exactly whose seat it is.
Gene Whetstone won nine national titles as head coach. Carl Schier coached at the Olympic level. Randy Jepson led Penn State to three NCAA team championships and five Big Ten titles across 35 years as head coach and 45 total years with the program.
“I got big shoes to fill, but I’m up to the challenge. I’m excited. I also feel very confident in my abilities. I feel confident in this team. I feel confident in the support I have from the other coaches, that we can do big things, we can do amazing things here. We just gotta do it together as a family.”
Tony Beck
The 2025 season delivered Penn State’s first regular season Big Ten title in program history and a fifth place NCAA finish, the best in nine seasons. Beck was named Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year for his work. The 2026 season was harder, and he is candid about it. You can read more of our NCAA gymnastics coverage and elite gymnastics reporting for the broader picture of where the sport stands.
What He Tells Young Gymnasts
Beck was never the most naturally gifted athlete in his gym. He says so himself. What he had was a specific way of thinking about the gap between where he was and where he wanted to be.
“My mentality as a kid was always, you’re beating me. I’m coming for you. I’m gonna catch you. Just give me time. Just give me time. Be patient. Don’t ever let someone put a ceiling on what you can accomplish.”
Tony Beck
Listen to the Full Episode
The complete conversation with Tony Beck is available in the video above, and on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. This is part one of a two part series. Part two will be recorded on location at Penn State in September, where we will be in the gym with Beck and members of his team ahead of the 2027 season.
You can follow Tony Beck on Instagram at @tbeck021 and Penn State men’s gymnastics at @psugym.
A New Era Begins
Tony Beck inherits a program with more national team titles than almost any in the country, a mentor’s legacy to honor, and a Big Ten down to five men’s teams in a sport fighting for its footing at the collegiate level. He also inherits a roster that has already bought in, and a coach who has been preparing for this chair since he was a teenager carrying a DVD player full of Olympic routines around eastern Pennsylvania.
I coached that kid. Watching him take over Penn State men’s gymnastics is a full circle moment I did not expect to be part of, and one I am grateful to have on tape.
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