Taylor Burkhart, who helped Stanford men's gymnastics win three national championships as a competitor, returns to The Farm as an assistant coach ahead of the 2027 season.

Head coach Thom Glielmi announced the hire Wednesday, Aug. 26, bringing back one of the program's most decorated recent athletes after a run of six titles in seven years.

Burkhart competed for Stanford from 2022 to 2025, earning five NCAA All-American honors across four events: floor exercise, high bar, pommel horse and vault. In his senior season he was named the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) MVP of the Year, won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Gymnast of the Year award, and was a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award, collegiate gymnastics' highest individual honor.

"I'm incredibly excited and honored to step into this new role with the program that's already given me so much as an athlete," Burkhart said. "… I've learned so many valuable life lessons here as a student-athlete, and now, as a coach, I want to pass those same lessons on while continuing to uphold the standard of excellence."

Beyond college competition, Burkhart is a multiple-time U.S. Senior National Team member. He won the national high bar title in 2025, served as an alternate for Team USA at the 2025 World Championships, and has represented the United States at three Senior Pan American Championships, helping win team gold in 2022 and 2025 and bronze in 2026.

Burkhart joins a program riding historic momentum. Stanford won the 2026 NCAA championship in Champaign, Illinois, with freshmen Cooper Kim and Jun Iwai each claiming individual event titles, according to the Associated Press. That victory gave the Cardinal six titles in the last seven NCAA championships and extended Stanford's streak of winning at least one NCAA team championship in any sport to 50 consecutive years, per USA Today.

Eight of the program's 11 national titles have come under Glielmi.

No 2027 competition schedule has been announced. Burkhart will begin his first season as an assistant coach with a program that has won six of the last seven NCAA championships.