2024 Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Oklahoma (36 first-place votes) – 1,709 points
2. Florida (3) – 1,634
3. LSU (5) – 1,628
4. Utah (2) – 1,516
5. UCLA (1) – 1,499
6. Michigan (1) – 1,466
7. California – 1,465
8. Alabama – 1,383
9. Kentucky – 1,326
10. Denver – 1,273
11. Michigan State – 1,240
12. Missouri – 1,082
13. Oregon State – 1,065
14. Ohio State – 1,017
15. Arkansas – 999
16. Georgia – 980
17. Auburn – 940
18. Minnesota – 880
19. Arizona State – 873
20. Stanford – 796
21. Washington – 795
22. Arizona – 679
23. Iowa – 638
24. Southern Utah – 555
25. Maryland – 548
26. Illinois – 506
27. Nebraska – 445
28. Penn State – 429
29. Boise State – 393
30. NC State – 314
31. BYU – 311
32. North Carolina – 263
33. Western Michigan – 227
34. West Virginia – 220
35. Clemson – 148
36. Towson – 137

THIS IS IMPORTANT. The college gymnastics coaches have once again voted on which of their colleagues has the best hair (I think? That’s what this is, right?) and the ensuing instagram graphics about it have now been unveiled for the world to see.

Sadly, once again everyone just copied their homework from RTN, and the rogue first-place votes for Michigan and UCLA are the closest we have to anyone going out on a limb (and I do respect that). But take a risk, people! Put Michigan State in your top 4 (why not??), troll Florida by putting them in 20th (wherzz trinity?????), throw a first-place vote to Clemson (never lost a meet!!). So many missed opportunities.

Coming in at #1: Oklahoma.

No surprises here at all. Oklahoma has won the last two titles, and 2023’s closest finisher—Florida—has a lot more score replacement work to do for this season than Oklahoma does. If anything, the odds would rest on Oklahoma having a larger first-place margin this time around than last year. which is also reflected in Oklahoma’s much more dominant margin in the poll this year compared to last year. In 2023, Oklahoma got 22 first-place votes to Florida’s 21. This year, it’s 36 to 3.

Movement at the top

LSU jumps up to #3 here after finishing last season in 4th and sitting at #6 in last year’s coaches poll. I buy it. It’s an accurate reflection of LSU retaining every single routine on this year’s roster while also adding a bunch of new people—which presumably also helped LSU receive more first-place votes than Florida (and nearly knock off Florida for the #2 spot).

Utah, then, goes from finishing 2023 in 3rd place to ranking #4 in the coaches poll but still receiving the requisite 2 first-place votes. We didn’t see the poll reflect much of a reaction to…the everything, which is pretty typical. Their colleagues getting the unceremonious boot out the door doesn’t tend to make its way into the coaches rankings.

Michigan sits at #6 here, the team’s lowest preseason ranking since before winning the championship—still stronger than Michigan’s finishes the last two years, but lower than their in-season rankings. And who says compromise is dead? Meanwhile, UCLA and Cal at 5th and 7th exactly mimic where they finished in the standings in 2023.  

Other little weirds

Auburn experienced the biggest year-to-year change in the preseason poll, placing #5 in last year’s poll and now down to #17 this year. Suni and Derrian and whatnot. Understandable movement. Still, after finishing 24th last season, the team still got a bit of a “you’re Auburn” upgrade.

Speaking of which, Georgia is #16 in this year’s poll, higher than the team has finished in the postseason the last three years. Maybe the coaches are as up on Georgia’s first-year class as the rest of us. Or maybe they were like, “Georgia. I’ve heard that name before.”

On the other side of the coin, it remains hard to break into the higher echelons of the popularity contest without being one of the traditional name brands. Kentucky sits at #9 despite finishing 6th last season, and Denver is at #10 despite finishing 8th, more reflecting their regular-season rankings than any kind of Bonus Upgrade of Friendship for their finishes.

My completely baseless assumption here is that more of the Pac-12 coaches completed the assignment in their final year as a union than, say, the Big Ten coaches, because all the Pac-12 teams got up into the top 22, while Iowa, Maryland, Illinois, and Nebraska brought up the rear behind them.

Meanwhile, Clemson came in at #35 in the poll, which is something for a team that has never competed.