After historic season, Rutgers removes interim tag for alum Anastasia Candia

For the first time since 2014, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights went dancing this spring, qualifying for one of the 36 spots in the 2025 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Tournament. While this season was historic for Rutgers, it was also a season unlike any other in program history.

In September of 2024, prior to the start of the competitive season, Rutgers announced an investigation of head coach Umme Salim-Beasley, citing athlete allegations of bullying, favoritism, and revenge by the coach, who was due to be in her seventh year at the helm of the Scarlet Knights’ program.

The investigation – which cost the university over half a million dollars – found that Salim-Beasley had “presided over a divided and dysfunctional organization.” It was also found that Salim-Beasley engaged in an improper, consensual relationship with at-the-time Rutgers athletic director Pat Hobbs during Hobbs’ time as Salim-Beasley’s boss.

Salim-Beasley was placed on paid leave in January, only two weeks into the season and less than a week before the Scarlet Knights would depart for Happy Valley to take on Big Ten rival Penn State. The team was put into the hands of associate head coach and former Rutgers gymnast Anastasia Candia for the remainder of the season. At the conclusion of the season, it was announced that Candia would officially and permanently take over head coaching duties from Salim-Beasley.

For any other program, this type of midseason shakeup could have spelled the start of disaster. In 2017, when Michigan State head coach Kathie Klages stepped down midseason due to her involvement in the Larry Nassar scandal, the Spartans finished the season with the lowest team ranking in 18 years. About a week and a half later, Penn State’s Jeff Thompson stepped down, facing similar team culture allegations as Salim-Beasley; that season would go on to be the Nittany Lions’ lowest season ranking in 15 years. 

For Rutgers, however, the wake of Salim-Beasley’s departure saw the Scarlet Knights soar to heights not seen in years. 

Immediately prior to the suspension, Rutgers bested Washington to secure its first Big Ten victory in nearly three years – only the third conference victory of Salim-Beasley’s seven-year tenure. In March, the Scarlet Knights recorded the highest Big Ten championships score in program history to move on to the Tuscaloosa Regional. All of this success came despite the loss of 2024 All-Big Ten Second Team selection and 2023 NCAA Regionals qualifier Emily Leese to an Achilles tear at the end of the 2024 season. (Leese returned for the 2025 season as a graduate student but did not compete.)

While issues on beam – Rutgers’ highest-ranked event and the only event where the Scarlet Knights were ranked in the top 25 – led to a first-round loss to Clemson, the 2025 season as a whole was no less historic for the team. At the conclusion of the season, acting head coach Candia was named WCGA Region 3 Head Coach of the Year, while assistants Danielle DeMarco and Michael Rosso were named the WCGA Region 3 Assistant Coaches of the Year. 

The Journey from New Jersey to Tuscaloosa

Most conferences have weekly awards for gymnasts; Rutgers has its own slate of weekly awards voted on by the gymnasts. Flashback to week nine: the team voted Rachael Riley’s beam routine as the “Most Outstanding Routine” of the meet, and for good reason. Riley had just posted a 9.95, tying the Scarlet Knights’ program record.

For Riley, this breakthrough was personal because it wasn’t always a given. After a successful elite career for Canada, Riley came to Piscataway as a highly-touted recruit, only to miss her freshman season entirely after an Achilles tear.

Now in her junior year, Riley has come back as a leader by leaning on her teammates.

“We really rely on each other to cheer each other on… to have someone to talk to if we’re not having such a great day,” Riley said.

Riley credits Candia for the Scarlet Knights’ strength, characterizing her as “really supportive and such a strong person,” and saying she has helped the Scarlet Knights “have a lot of trust in ourselves and everyone else.”

What Candia has done is nothing short of impressive. In less than three months as head coach, she was able to do the seemingly impossible: getting her alma mater back to regionals for the first time since she was a gymnast there a decade ago. 

“It’s almost like a full circle moment,” said Candia, a four-year letterwinner for the Scarlet Knights, “just being able to lead this team in the season that they were able to qualify for the postseason.”

Both Candia and Riley emphasized the community built at Rutgers. For Candia, who has a master’s degree in counseling psychology, it is a priority to “build off of not just the physical, but the mental as well.”

The sense of camaraderie felt amongst the athletes has seeped into the coaching staff as well. In a college gymnastics rarity, Candia’s coaching staff includes both a college teammate – DeMarco, who competed alongside Candia at Rutgers in 2012 and 2013 – and a gymnast she helped coach – Stephanie Zannella, who competed for the Scarlet Knights from 2021 to 2024. 

“I don’t think there is another coaching staff in gymnastics in this country that has so many alumni on staff. That is something to be proud of in itself,” Candia said. “It’s so nice to be able to be on the same page with the people that you’re working with. It makes coming to work not seem like work.”

Moving into her first full year as head coach, Candia has stressed a vision for the team that involves more than just the physical side of the sport, saying, “You can have the best talent in the world, but if they’re not believing in themselves, that makes the difference.”

As Rutgers enters a new era, this holistic approach to sports comes as a refreshing take, especially after many of the concerns regarding Salim-Beasley. With Leese on the way back from injury and a large freshman class ready to take on new leadership roles in their second year, it seems that the sky is the limit for the Scarlet Knights.