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Robert Ladanyi
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Robert Ladanyi (pronounced La-DA-knee) is in his eighth season as an assistant coach at Florida. He coaches the Gator uneven bar performers and also shares the team’s conditioning coach duties.
The 2012 season saw Florida make five additions to the Gators’ All-Time Top 20 scores list at 9.95 (Alaina Johnson, three times; Mackenzie Caquatto and Ashanée Dickerson). Both Caquatto and Johnson advanced to the NCAA bars final. Johnson claimed the Southeastern Conference bar title with her winning mark of 9.925. During the course of the season, Florida ranked No. 1 in the final eight national uneven bars rankings of 2012.
Under Ladanyi, the Gators have ranked No. 1 in 15 of the last 18 national uneven bars rankings (spanning to 2011 season), turned in eight individual bar marks of 9.95 or better and seen the Gators claim a total of four All-America honors on the bars.
Ladanyi coached vault and the team on their tumbling skills when he first joined the Gator coaching staff. The upgrade was immediately seen in his first season in 2006 as the Gators gained a reputation among the nation's collegiate programs for their difficulty throughout the floor lineup. Florida’s 12 representatives from 2006-10 in NCAA floor exercise final competition is tops among the nation’s gymnastics programs.
In 2008, Florida sent four to the NCAA floor final (Amanda Castillo, Corey Hartung, Ashley Reed and Nicola Willis) with Willis leading the Gators by cumulating her UF career with a third-place finish. Half of Florida's floor lineup earned All-America honors in 2006 and 2007, with Savannah Evans (2006 and 2007), Hartung (2006 and 2007) and Reed (2007) advancing to the NCAA Event Final. Hartung finished her UF career in 2009 by taking third in the NCAA floor final. A pair of Gator freshmen – Marissa King and Ashanée Dickerson advanced to the 2010 NCAA floor final.
The Gators also were successful in vault under Ladanyi’s supervision. He saw seven additions to the program's all-time top-10 vault team totals list from 2007 to 2010. A Gator took at least a share of nine vault event titles during the course of the 2006 campaign. Two Gators advanced to the 2007 NCAA vault event final - Castillo and Evans. A Gator claimed at least a share of all but two 2008 regular-season vault titles and Reed won the SEC and NCAA Southeast Region vault titles. In 2009, Florida gymnasts claimed five regular-season vault titles and Maranda Smith advanced to the NCAA vault final. King and Dickerson also represented UF in the 2010 NCAA vault final.
His peers recognized Ladanyi and fellow Gator assistant Adrian Burde as the 2011 National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches for Women (NACGC) Southeast Region Assistant Coaches of the Year.
Ladanyi came to UF from the Mihaiuc Gymnastics Academy (MGA) in Webster, Texas, where he had coached since 2002. Three gymnasts advanced to the National Junior Olympic Championships during his time at MGA. He also was an assistant coach at the Academy of Gymnastics and Dance in Las Vegas, Nev., in 2001-02.
Before coaching in the United States, Ladanyi was head coach of CSM in Baia Mare, Romania (1992-97). Part of his responsibilities included coaching the Romania Junior National team from 1994-97. Three gymnasts he coached were selected for the 1999 Romanian Senior National team, while Monica Sabou was the alternate for the 2001 Romanian World Team. Ladanyi then left his native Romania to become the head coach at S.G. Amsicora in Cagliari, Italy from 1997-01.
Ladanyi graduated from the Romanian National School of Coaching in 1994 with a degree in International High Level Gymnastics. He trained with the Romanian National Team where he was an all-around competitor who excelled in parallel bars and rings before an injury forced him to retire from competition at age 19.
Ladanyi has two daughters, Gabriella, who was born in December of 2004 and Laila, who arrived in May of 2009. Gabby is an aspiring gymnast herself, taking the 2012 Texas Level 6 Junior A1 state uneven bars title.
