The mantra at ISU gymnastics practice this week has been, “It’s just another meet.”

Even to the untrained eye, however, Friday’s meet versus No. 8 Oklahoma (8-1) isn’t a typical competition for the 10th-ranked Cyclones (7-2). It has nothing to do with the talented Sooner gymnasts that will grace Hilton Coliseum – it has everything to do with the coaches.

Former Iowa State, now Oklahoma coaches K.J. Kindler and Lou Ball, return to coach in Ames for the first time since the husband-and-wife duo led the Cyclones to their first-ever NCAA Super Six Finals appearance last season. The story of Iowa State’s gymnasts competing against their former coaches makes Friday’s meet one of the most anticipated competitions of the year among college gymnastics fans.

Kindler, a former Cyclone gymnast and assistant coach, earned numerous accolades during her six-year head coaching stint at Iowa State. In those six years, she led the Cyclones to an 83-41-1 record, one Big 12 championship and two NCAA national championship appearances, among others.

According to an ISU athletic department press release, Kindler left Iowa State after an agreement could not be reached regarding the construction of a new practice facility.

Kindler and Ball were unavailable for comment at press time.

ISU gymnastics head coach Jay Ronayne hopes the intrigue of Kindler’s and Ball’s return, combined with free admission for ISU students, faculty and staff with an ISUCard, will draw a record number of fans. The current record is 3,429, set earlier this season against Big 12 rival Nebraska.

“I’m hoping it triples our attendance, quadruples our attendance,” Ronayne said. “I think [their return] is a great thing, a great thing for our sport. The more people we can get to see ISU gymnastics for the first time, they will come back the second time because it’s that cool of a show. The artistry and the raw athleticism of it will bring them back.

I’m hoping a lot of people will come out to see it just because whatever intrigues them about a former coach coming back and competing against a place that not only did they work, but they were an athlete – very close ties here. It’s kind of like homecoming.”

Ronayne, admittedly, is slightly worried about his gymnasts’ emotions getting the best of them when seeing their former coaches across the floor, but adds that his team is doing a great job of approaching it like an average meet.

“It would be silly to say they will not have some sort of emotional tie to this [meet], but we’ve been working on and discussing constantly how it’s just another meet,” Ronayne said. “This is all just practice for championships at the end of the year. We’ll try to look beyond what other extraneous circumstances we have. As best we can, we’re going to approach this as every other meet.”

Senior Katie Lasher, who was coached by Kindler and Ball for the first three years of her collegiate career, agrees that the team is approaching this as just another competition.

“It’s going to be a little weird, I’m not gonna lie, but I haven’t really been thinking about it,” Lasher said. “It’s not really going to effect or change anything, it’s just going to be weird seeing her [Kindler] and Lou [Ball] on the side.”

Senior Janet Anson, who was a four-time All-American under Kindler and Ball, points out that many of the emotions related to Kindler’s departure have worn off and the team quickly transferred to accepting Ronayne’s tutelage.

“It was different. Sometimes it was really easy, sometimes it was hard, more so for the seniors because we had been with [the former coaches] for three years,” Anson said. “Everyone’s adjusted now and we’re having a lot of fun.”

Ronayne agreed, adding that he hopes his athletes are looking forward to seeing their former coaches again.

“I hope they’re happy to see her. I think they know that she’s not here anymore because she had to make the right decision for herself,” he said. “I think they’re a lot more accepting of that fact now than they were initially. I think a lot of the emotion that was originally there may have dissipated over time.”

Lasher said that even though the team may be looking forward to seeing Kindler and Ball again, they certainly don’t want to let the Sooners return to Oklahoma with a win.

“Of course, we want to prove a point and we don’t want to lose in our own house, but, I mean, of course we want to kick their butt,” Lasher said.