The Iowa men’s gymnastics team will have a new assistant coach in the winter, according to a release.

Spencer Slaton will replace former aide Dmitri Trouch, head coach J.D. Reive said on Tuesday.

“I’m excited to have Spencer on board,” Reive said in the release. “He’s going to bring a lot of energy and knowledge to the guys and put us in a position to start contending for those top spots where we belong.”

Slaton, 36, competed at Junior Nationals from 1989-91 and was named the floor exercise champion three times. The native of Decatur, Ga., received a gymnastics scholarship from UCLA and earned the school’s Freshman of the Year award in 1993.

After UCLA dropped men’s gymnastics as an intercollegiate sport, Slaton was a U-19 Winter National all-around champion in 1994 and helped Team USA win the team title at the Pacific Alliance Championship in New Zealand.

Slaton was an assistant coach at the Atlanta School of Gymnastics from 2001-09, a span in which he was also the head coach of the Emory University club gymnastics team.

He most recently coached at Premier West Gymnastics Academy in Oswego, Ill.

“I’m excited to be back involved with an NCAA program,” Slaton said in a release. “Coach Reive did a great job last year of building some fundamental pieces that are in place now, and we’re only going up from here.”

— by Seth Roberts