Hamline University Athletics

Doug Byrnes is in his 26th year as the head gymnastics coach at Hamline in 2024-25, taking over the program before the 1999-2000 season.

In his head coaching career, the Pipers have earned 34 All-America honors. The most recent HU gymnast to earn the award was Danielle Jaworski (floor exercise) in 2023. The Pipers also had back-to-back NCGA Floor Exercise champions during the 2013 and 2014 seasons in gymnasts Courtney Benson and Bria Blakely. In addition, Benson was an NCAA Woman of the Year semifinalist and the NCGA Senior Athlete of the Year. The Pipers have accumulated seven individual national champions under Byrnes' leadership.

In 2018, Byrnes was named both WIAC and NCGA Coach of the Year, just the second Piper coach of any program to ever win the national honor. He earned the award for his guidance of a team that finished third in the WIAC meet and fourth nationally with a team-record score of 190.000. Byrnes is a three-time WIAC Gymnastics Coach of the Year recipient (2005, 2007, 2018). 

He began his career with Hamline in 1996 as an assistant coach and took over as head coach at the start of the 1999-2000 season. That year, the Pipers went on to win their first NCGA National Championship and produced their first all-around champion in Lindsay Odom. Byrnes would coach Hamline's second consecutive all-around, and uneven bars champion Melissa Stanton in 2001.

During a coaching career that has included over 20 years in the collegiate ranks, 20 years of USA gymnastics, and three years of high school, he has had the opportunity to work with many USAG regional and national qualifiers, high school state meet participants, and collegiate gymnasts and champions around the country.  

Placing priority on teaching new skills and improving the gymnastics of his athletes, his leadership is crucial to achieving a successful season. In addition to the Piper team, he directs and coaches for the Spirit Gymnastics club, which instructs recreational classes through USAG competitive level gymnastics.  

He holds a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and practiced structural engineering for eight years prior to taking over as head coach. Outside the gym, Byrnes is an avid outdoor enthusiast and continues his passionate and more often, painful, pursuit of rugby.