Army West Point Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant Gymnastics Coach
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Jake Bonnay joined the Army West Point men's gymnastics coaching staff in August 2024 after serving as the assistant coach for the Division III Greenville University Panthers for two years. Tasked with building a new program from the ground up, Bonnay focused on fostering a culture dedicated to continuous improvement and prioritizing consistency over intensity. In the Panthers' first two years, Bonnay played a pivotal role in leading a team comprised mostly of underclassmen to the NCAA Championships for the first time in 2024. This achievement made them only the second Division III team to reach the NCAA Championships, following Springfield College in 2022 and 2023. The Panthers finished 11th, tying the record for the highest finish ever by a Division III team in NCAA history. After a 5th place finish in their inaugural season in 2023, the Panthers improved to 2nd place the following year, only behind the Navy Midshipmen, who had won the previous five ECAC titles.
In the 2024–25 season, Bonnay played an integral role in Army’s historic campaign. The team beat Navy for the first time in seven years to win their first ECAC Championship title in nine years, snapping the Midshipmen’s six-year streak, and went on to finish 10th at the NCAA Championships — the highest national finish in program history (99 years). Army also defeated Air Force for the first time since 2022 and repeated the victory at the USAG Collegiate National Championships, where the team placed second, tying its best-ever finish at that event.
Bonnay’s contributions in athlete development, competition preparation, and recruiting helped elevate the team’s performance across all areas. He was instrumental in the rise of Maddox Pabellon, who became Army’s first-ever CGA All-American on Pommel Horse, finishing the regular season ranked 7th nationally.
In recognition of his impact, Bonnay was named the 2025 CGA East Regional Assistant Coach of the Year, marking back-to-back honors in that category.
During his first two years as a coach, Bonnay mentored three individual conference champions, two CGA regular season All-Americans, one USAG National Champion, six USAG All-Americans, and four NCAA Finalists. His success earned him the title of Co-Assistant Coach of the Year in the ECAC and CGA Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2024, recognizing his contributions to one of the youngest NCAA programs in 60 years.
As a student-athlete, Bonnay attended the University of Nebraska, where he served as captain in his later years and competed from 2016 to 2022. He excelled in all apparatus except Still Rings, with Floor Exercise and High Bar as his specialties. Bonnay earned four All-American honors, two B1G silver medals, and over ten Floor Exercise titles, ranking third all-time in Husker history. He was instrumental in helping Nebraska achieve its highest-ever finish in the B1G conference (2nd) in 2021 and 2022 and in securing five consecutive NCAA team finals appearances, with three finishes in the top four—the best in two decades for the Huskers. Additionally, Bonnay was a member of the Canadian National Team (2014–2016, 2018–2022), a World University Games Pommel Horse finalist, and an Elite Canada National Champion on Floor Exercise. In 2020, he was named a Nissen-Emery Finalist, an award given to the nation’s most outstanding senior collegiate gymnast.
Academically, Bonnay was a B1G Distinguished Scholar multiple times during his collegiate career. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree with honors in Journalism and Mass Communication, specializing in integrated media communications. Jake and his wife Megan reside in New Windsor, N.Y., with their two golden retrievers, Maui and Maple.
