University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Women's Gymnastics
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
- Email:
- cmccool@athletics.pitt.edu
In his first season at Pitt, McCool guided the Panthers' vault squad to steady improvement throughout the year. The team posted a season-high score of 49.075 against West Virginia and Illinois State on March 15. Freshmen Lailah Green and Layla Bobek led the way with career-best 9.850s, while Pitt also delivered a strong performance at Elevate the Stage, where Bobek, Kennedy Duke, Makenzie Grant and Olivia Giunta each earned a 9.825 on vault.
McCool helped guide Illinois to the NCAA Finals this past season and a fourth place finish at the Big Ten Championship. He trained athletes to four All-America honors as the Fighting Illini completed the 2025 season ranked number one on vault. McCool accompanied 2025 Big Ten Specialist of the Year and Senior National Team member Brandon Dang to the Cairo World Cup last season and oversaw operations and recruiting.
McCool also competed at Illinois from 2020-2024, earning 22 individual event titles in floor exercise, placing him at second in school history. The 2023 College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Specialist of the Year and two-time Big Ten Floor Champion also earned five regular season All-America honors (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and three NCAA postseason All-America honors (2021, 2023, 2024). Illinois and McCool advanced to four NCAA Finals during his athletic career and were crowned Big Ten Regular Season Champions in 2024.
He was named a team captain for four of his five years with the Fighting Illini (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and received the team's Hayasaki Consistency Award all five years. The Ocean City, N.J., native is also a four-time Academic All-Big Ten awardee (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar (2022, 2023).
McCool earned his undergraduate degree in marketing in 2023 before returning for a fifth year to complete a master's degree in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism with a Sports Management emphasis, graduating in 2024.
