NC State Wolfpack

Karen Pleasants
	Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 5th season Email: karen_pleasants@ncsu.edu

Returning to her alma mater, Karen Pleasants enters her fifth season as an assistant coach for the Pack. She will be involved in coaching both beam and floor, and doing the choreography for both. Pleasants, who's maiden name was Karen Tart, was one of the Pack's top gymnasts of all-time, competing for the Pack from 1988-1991.

Pleasants was named the 2008 NCAA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year for her work in coaching beam and floor, including EAGL co-floor champions Taylor Seaman and Leigha Hancock and NCAA Southeast Regional Beam champion, Hancock. Both events - beam and floor - were ranked first in EAGL during the season and floor was ranked No. 15 nationally. In 2009, Pleasants helped floor finish second in EAGL and 30th nationally.

Pleasants has provided gymnastics instruction, clinics and choreography nationally. Pleasants experience includes working at Orlando Metro Gymnastics (Orlando, Fla.), Woodward Gymnastics Camp (Woodward, Pa.), and has worked closely with many of the programs in North Carolina. Many of the athletes from these gyms have gone on to be successful national gymnasts, as well as scholarship collegiate gymnasts.

In addition to coaching gymnastics, Pleasants is also a current Level 10 rated judge. Pleasants is a member of the National Association of Women's Gymnastics Judges (NAWGJ). She is entering her ninth year as a judge, and has had experience judging in the NCAA. She is also a certified meet director, and has had experience serving on the NC board of judges.

While a member of the NC State gymnastics team, she was named team MVP in 1988 and 1989. She was the ACC All-Around Champion in both 1988 and 1989, and was a NCAA Regional qualifier from 1988-90. Upon graduation, she held six different school records.

Pleasants graduated with a degree in biology with a nutrition concentration from NC State in 1992, then went on to East Carolina and completed graduate school coursework in dietetics in 1996.

Pleasants grew up in Kansas, before graduating from high school in Pittsburgh, Pa. She is currently married to Greg Pleasants, a fellow NC State graduate and former student athletic trainer for the football team under Dick Sheridan. The couple has three sons: Jacob (11), Colton (9), and Lucas (7).