He might be the newest collegiate coach on the block, but the University of Oklahoma's head coach, Steve Nunno, knows exactly what to expect from his team this year.

After coaching national, world and Olympic champions in the USA Gymnastics setting, Nunno was asked to join the Sooners team as an assistant head coach with Becky Switzer. The duo led the team to the NCAA Championships for the first time in 11 years. This year, Switzer has moved on, and Nunno has the chance to make the team his own. This year, too, Nunno wants to be a contender for a top-six spot.

"I didn't like being at Nationals and not being a contender," Nunno said. "The teams that finished above us did deservedly so. We were honored to be there. Our team is trying to climb the ladder through the top-ten to the top-6. In order to be there, it will take a total team effort."

With nearly every member of the team returning, except for one gymnast who transferred, the squad is looking to be led by the three top standouts, senior Mariana Goncalves, junior Leticia Ishii and sophomore Kasie Tamayo. The team will be joined by a number of freshmen, including two scholarship athletes, hometown product and elite gymnast Allison Landis and Tennessee native Jessica Cole.

"Our new additions will provide new depth, which we needed badly last year," Nunno said. "I expect this to be a better team, and I want us to make the team finals. I think that's viable for us."

There will be a number of competitions that will challenge the Sooners this season, Nunno said. "We're heading back to Athens to get barked at by the Bulldogs," the head coach said. "This will be the first time we've met in a dual competition. We are also hosting Florida here. Our primary and major competition will be the teams that are highly ranked. We'll have the Big 12 Championships, and then we'll be coming to Tuscaloosa where to where the elephants lie."

Oklahoma was consistently ranked in the top-15 on all the events with the exception of the balance beam. This year, Nunno will be looking to his newest assistant coach, Jenny Rowland, to make major contributions to the Sooners' improvements. Rowland, an '89 World Championship team member, an All-American at Arizona State University and an elite coach, joined Oklahoma to provide some much-needed help on the balance beam. "She is just a fantastic beam coach, and I think that's where you'll see us improve the most this year," Nunno explained.

"We are hoping we have no weak events," Nunno continued. "We will be strong and excelling at vault and bars."

Mariana Goncalves, a native Brazilian, may be one Sooner who is too hot to handle. "Mariana has improved so much over the last two years. She will definitely stand out on vault, bars and floor and possibly balance beam this year. She is on fire," Nunno said.

Nunno decided to move into the collegiate ranks after he felt he had pretty much "been there, done that." His individual gymnasts had won medals around the world, and he felt he had accomplished what he had set out to do. After getting married in 1995, he decided he wanted to spend more time with his family, which expanded to three children.

"I really wanted to be a gold-medal dad instead of a gold-medal coach," Nunno said. "I never considered coaching college until Oklahoma called. Now I only travel in the United States, and I am home a lot more."

Nunno was an assistant at Oklahoma from 1983 through 1985 and looks at collegiate gymnastics as just as exciting and challenging as its club counterpart. "This is a tremendous challenge. I want to be a national power," he explained.

He spent his season as Oklahoma's co-head coach learning about the intricacies of team competition and training. He enjoyed building momentum throughout the season and training his gymnasts to peak at when it was most important. "I really think at nationals last year, we were peaking the team at jus the right time," Nunno said. "At least we beat a team and did not just get there to place last."

If there are role models Nunno seeks to follow, they are Alabama's coaching team Sarah and David Patterson. Nunno's relationship with the Pattersons dates back to the 1980s, when one of his own gymnasts, Julie Estin, now Dr. Julie Vaughn, joined the Crimson Tide program. Furthermore, Sarah Patterson served as Nunno's assistant coach at the 1997 World University Games in Sicily.

"I really commend Sarah and David," Nunno said. "They do a fine job of continuing to produce a quality program. I've learned it's very difficult to stay on top, and to have one that has for so many years is incredible. I use them as a model for the program I'd love to have at OU."