Barbara Cordova enters her 18th season as the head women’s gymnastics coach at West Chester University. The 1988 graduate of West Chester University has systematically built her alma mater into a regional and national contender, ultimately placing the Golden Rams’ gymnastics program back where it was when she was a student-athlete.

Cordova has lifted West Chester's gymnastics program to heights it has not seen since the mid 1980s while actively searching for opportunities to compete against the top programs in the region. She played an integral role in advocating for a stable conference representing the Eastern part of the United States, which culminated in the establishment of the Gymnastics East Conference (GEC) in 2022. Cordova was the driving force behind West Chester University successfully hosting the 2024 USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships inside Hollinger Field House that showcased West Chester University and brought some of the best in intercollegiate women's gymnasts to the Delaware Valley.

In her nearly two decades of heading up the Golden Rams' gymnastics program, Cordova has taken the purple & gold from the ranks of the unknown in college gymnastics to a contender in both the GEC and USAGs. To that end, Cordova has guided West Chester to the finals of the national tournament in each of the past two winters. The Golden Rams finished fourth in the USAG Nationals while repeating that effort again last year at the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics National Invitational Championships (WCGNIC).

Cordova produced a pair of third-place finishes at the first two GEC Championships. Along the way, three of her gymnasts were runner-up in their respective events while the conference’s Woman of the Year was presented to a Golden Rams gymnast each of the first two season. Senior Caroline Cascadden was selected as the GEC Specialist of the Year while junior Jordan Coleman took home Performance of the Year for her routine on bars in the opening meet of the season.

In her 17 years coaching West Chester's gymnasts, Cordova has mentored two national champions and 18 different All-Americans, who have totaled 50 such certificates. Additionally, the 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024 and 2025 squads qualified for the national championships as a team. West Chester has advanced to the team finals at nationals in each of the past two years. The former Golden Rams' gymnast has earned four ECAC Coach of the Year certificates (2010, 2012, 2015, 2017), one Ken Anderson Coaching Staff of the Year, and one national Division II Coach of the Year (2017) in her 17 previous seasons. In 2024, Cordova took home WCGA Region 7 Coach of the Year honors as well.

Under Cordova's watch, West Chester has broken every team and individual record on the books. As a result, every individual record at the school is held by somebody who was coached by Barb Cordova. During her tenure, West Chester's Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) has grown from 178.52 her first season to as high as 193.095 following the 2017 campaign - the largest improvement in the nation over that span.

In 2017, senior Majesta Valentine qualified for the NCAA Regionals for the third straight winter, she won a national championship at the U.S. Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships while earning an All-America citation in all four events and Cordova and her staff walked away with the Ken Anderson Coaching Staff of the Year award at the end of the meet. Valentine was also lauded as the Senior Athlete of the Meet. Valentine also became the first athlete at West Chester University, male or female, to earn the school's Athlete of the Year award three times during her college career.

Valentine, who qualified for the NCAA Regionals three of her four seasons at West Chester, nearly missed qualifying for the NCAA National Championships by .05 points, finishing eighth in the all-around at the West Virginia Regional in 2017.

In 2018, Cordova took a record 12 gymnasts to nationals to compete individually. Senior Meghan Chan tied the school record on the vault, finishing third overall while freshman Jessica Meakim placed fifth. It was the first of seven All-America certificates for Meakim in her first three years at the school.

Cordova managed to aid a pair of Golden Rams advance to the finals of the 2016 U.S. Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Championships. Meghan Brannon and Valentine, who each earned first team All-America status as finalists at the championships. became the first to advance to the finals. Valentine placed 10th in the all-around at the 2016 Ann Arbor Regional of the NCAA Championships.

In 2010, Cordova was named co-coach of the year at the ECAC Division II Championships. She has personally been responsible for the steadied improvement that the gymnastics program has seen over the past 12 years.

In addition to rebuilding a gymnastics program that was in ruin in 2008, Cordova has made sure that her gymnasts represented the program well outside of the gym in the classroom. West Chester has regularly placed among the Top 10 in the country over all three divisions of the NCAA in overall team grade-point average, ranking as high as fourth nationally in both 2016 and 2018. The team's cumulative GPA does not dip below 3.6.

Cordova came to West Chester from Atlantic Coast Gymnastics in Sewell, N.J. where she trained gymnasts. Her coaching experience also took her to Rancho California Gymnastics in Murrieta, Calif., for one year and Blake’s Gymnastics Training Academy in Northfield, N.J. for nine seasons.

A former Golden Rams gymnast under legendary head coach Sandy Thielz, Cordova helped West Chester University capture three PAIAW championships during her collegiate career in the late 1980s. She also served as the team captain her senior season and was a two-time PSAC scholar-athlete honoree.

Cordova graduated cum laude from West Chester University in 1988 with a degree in Physical Education and holds a National Teaching Certificate in both Health & Physical Education as well as Elementary Education. She is also USA Gymnastics Safety certified and serves on the Board of Directors for the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Asociation (WCGA) while also serving as the committee chair on the USA Gymnastics Collegiate Nationals Championships.

THE CORDOVA FILE

-- 170-150 (.531) career winning percentage in 17 seasons at the helm of West Chester University Women's Gymnastics

Awards: 
ECAC Coach of the Year (2010, 2012, 2015, 2017)
Ken Anderson Coach of the Year (2017)
Division II Coach of the Year (2017)
WCGA Region 7 Coach of the Year (2024)
Assistant Coach of the Year Awards to Sherri Missimer (2015); Stephanie Plaugher (2018, 2022).

Division II WCGA Athlete of the Year (1)

• Majesta Valentine (2017)

GEC 1st Team All-Conference (12)

• Caroline Cascadden (2x)
• Jordan Coleman (2x)
• McKenna Kissinger (2x)
• Lily McFarland (3x)
• Jessica Meakim (2x)
• Kristina Rodriguez (1x)

GEC 2nd Team All-Conference (19)

• Caitlin Allen (1x)
• Caroline Cascadden (1x)
• Jordan Coleman (2x)
• Sarah Eskew (3x)
• Rose Fanara (1x)
• Kiley Fred (1x)
• Kiah Johnson (2x)
• EmmaGrace Kelly (2x)
• Natalie Marshall (1x)
• Lily McFarland (2x)
• Jessica Meakim (1x)
• Kristina Rodriguez (1x)
• Madison Whitaker (1x)

GEC Woman of the Year (2)

• Tiara DeTommaso (2023)
• Jessica Meakim (2022)

GEC Specialist of the Year (1)

• Caroline Cascadden (2024)

ECAC Athlete of the Year (1)

• Majesta Valentine (2016, 2017)

ECAC Rookie of the Year (3)

• Kaley LaFleur (2010), Majesta Valentine (2014), Jessica Meakim (2018)

ECAC Specialist of the Year (3)

• Meghan Brannon (2014, 2015), Sarah Boyd (2019)

ECAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year (5)

• Alli Aquila (2012), Emily Seigel (2013), Meghan Chan (2017), Jessica Meakim (2019, 2020)