As expected, Chuck Chmelka has replaced Francis Allen as Nebraska’s men’s gymnastics head coach. Allen announced his resignation last week after forty years on the job.  Chmelka has been coaching at Nebraska since 1982, after competing there from 1978-1981.

Current assistant coach, Jim Hartung, will remain on staff as assistant coach.  Chmelka and Hartung know what it’s like to win a national championship as they won three titles when they competed together in ‘79, ‘80 and ‘81.  Hartung went on to enjoy one more title in 1982, and is a two-time Olympian.

Apparently Chmelka and Hartung will be under the gun to bring instant improvement to the program.  That doesn’t mean they have to win a title next season, but they need to instill a new brand of discipline and find a way to improve recruiting.  They do have a strong sophomore class, led by Josh Dilworth.

Recruiting has now got to be even more of a challenge since A.D. Tom Osborne has not kept it a secret that the men’s program is endangered.  Chmelka and Hartung appear to be hungry enough to pull out all the stops to keep this legendary program alive.  Definitely not to take anything away from Coach Allen, but sometimes a coaching change can turn things around.  Let’s hope so.