Co-Head Coach - Women's Gymnastics

Elisabeth Crandall-Howell

Since joining the Cal women’s gymnastics staff, the 2016 National Assistant Coach of the Year Crandall-Howell has been integral in Cal’s stellar ascent through the national rankings. The Bears finished the 2012 season ranked 49th nationally shortly before Crandall-Howell joined the program, and finished as high as 7th in 2016. Cal’s 33-spot rise from 2012-14 marks the largest margin of improvement in NCAA gymnastics history, a feat only one other school has achieved (Maryland, 1997-99). Under her tutelage, Cal has earned nine consecutive trips to NCAA Regionals since 2013 and has claimed four berths to the NCAA Championships in the last six seasons the NCAA Championships have been held (2016, 2018, 2021, 2022).

Crandall-Howell works with all aspects of the Cal women’s gymnastics program, including fitness and nutrition, academic support and character development both in and out of the gym. Additionally, Crandall-Howell lends her expertise as an international brevet judge to help strengthen Cal’s routines across the board.

In 2015, Crandall-Howell earned her first NACGC/W West Region Assistant Coach of the Year award. She helped guide the 2015 Bears to a program-record score of 197.325, along with program-record scores on vault (49.500) and floor (49.550). Cal turned in the second-highest bars score in school history (49.525). Cal’s 2015 floor lineup now owns four of the top five team scores on the event all-time.

The 2016 season saw Cal compete at the National Championships for the first time in over two decades thanks to detailed coaching from Crandall-Howell, who helped Cal post nine team totals that rank among the program’s all-time highest scores throughout the season. Crandall-Howell was named the National Assistant Coach of the Year.

Before Crandall-Howell joined the Cal coaching staff, the Bears were 47th on vault (48.620 RQS), 41st on bars (48.725 RQS), 44th on beam (48.285 RQS) and 58th on floor (48.330 RQS). In four years, she helped guide the Bears to the top 20 on four events, including a meteoric rise in one of Crandall-Howell’s primary areas of focus – the balance beam. Historically Cal’s weakest event, in 2016 the Bears improved from a No. 35 ranking and 48.770 RQS on the event in 2015, skyrocketing to No. 13 with a 49.205 RQS in 2016. Cal ranked 9th on vault (49.185 RQS), 19th on bars (49.150 RQS) and 11th on floor (49.295) in 2016.

Cal’s 2017 season saw the Bears improve their RQS on beam from 49.205 to 49.225 thanks to Crandall-Howell’s guidance, and the Bears posted their best NCAA Regional score in school history with a 196.300. She played a pivotal role in helping Desiree Palomares become the program’s first ever NCAA Regional beam champion, and for the fourth season in a row, Cal was represented at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships.

The Bears clinched their second NCAA Championships berth in three seasons with one of the most successful campaigns in school history in 2018. The Bears finished the regular season ranked ninth overall and in the nation’s top 25 on all four events – vault (8th), bars (15th), beam (12th) and floor (22nd). Cal improved its end-of-season RQS on three events -- vault (49.275, up from 49.145), bars (49.230, up from 49.025) and Floor (49.255, up from 49.120). The season saw the Bears tally 14 team totals that rank among the school’s all-time Top 5 scores while hauling in 40 event titles and 109 Top 3 individual finishes, including 17 event titles in Crandall-Howell’s areas of focus of beam and floor.

Crandall-Howell also sculpted Toni-Ann Williams as one of the nation’s top floor performers. In Williams’ freshman season, she checked in as the country’s fourth-ranked floor performer with a career-high 9.975 and 9.925 average through the regular season. Williams earned three NACGC/W Regular-Season All-America honors, was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and took home All-Pac-12 First Team All-Around laurels before being named the regional Gymnast of the Year. During Williams’ training for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Crandall-Howell’s international experience was essential in prepping Williams’ beam and floor routines for the world stage. Crandall-Howell assisted Williams in learning two new, high-level skills to meet her international goals – a double layout dismount on beam and a full-in third pass on floor. Williams successfully executed both in NCAA competition and was the only gymnast in the nation performing such difficult skills in her collegiate routines in 2016. Under Crandall-Howell’s tutelage, Williams also maintained her standing as one of the nation’s top floor gymnasts, ranking in the top 10 throughout the season. In 2018, she earned NCAA All-America Second Team honors as an all-arounder, finishing 12th overall at the NCAA Championships.

The 2019 season saw the Golden Bears continue their transformation to a perennial powerhouse, producing a perfect record at home and qualifying for NCAA Regional competition yet again, where they managed to post a program-record 197.675 team total in the NCAA Athens Regional final, the fourth-highest score in the country in any regional final meet. Williams was named a top six finalist for the AAI Award, bestowed upon the nation’s top gymnast, and for the third time since Crandall-Howell’s arrival, a Cal gymnast claimed Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors with Milan Clausi taking the award. Clausi was also the Regional vault champion, punching her ticket as an individual to the NCAA Championships. The Bears ended the regular season ranked in the top 25 nationally on all four events -- vault (12th), bars (12th), beam (13th) and floor (21st), and jumped in the rankings on both bars (up from 15 in 2018) and floor (up from 22 in 2018).

While Cal’s 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bears clinched their eighth consecutive NCAA postseason berth. Throughout the year, Cal claimed 100 top 3 finishes and produced 40 event titles, with seven different gymnasts displaying Cal’s depth by claiming an event title. Cal’s rankings improved on all four events from 2019 -- vault: 12 to 6; bars: 12 to 8; beam: 13 to 12; floor: 21 to 13 -- with six different gymnasts ranked in the top 50 on an event nationally prior to the start of the pandemic. Crandall-Howell and co-head coach Justin Howell were voted the WCGA Regional Head Coaches of the Year, while Cal gymnasts claimed a school-record eight All-Pac-12 honors on top of three Regular-Season All-America awards.

The Bears had their best season in school history in 2021 despite dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced a shortened offseason. Cal qualified for the NCAA Championship for the fourth time in school history and set program records on the uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and overall score. Cal posted a 197+ score in 10 straight meets and did not count a fall all season, they also posted four of the top five team scores in school history during the 2021 season. The Bears finished with the fifth-best NQS in the country and ranked in the top 10 on all four events at the end of the regular season. The Bears finished seventh at the NCAA Championship and Maya Bordas won the NCAA Individual Championship on the uneven bars. Cal recorded 21 wins and posted 87 scores at 9.90 or above during the season. Kyana George was named WCGA Region 6 Gymnast of the year and was a finalist for the AAI Award. Cal also had four Regular Season All-Americans, nine All-American honorees and 12 All-Pac-12 honors all of which were program bests. Alongside her husband, Justin Howell, Crandall-Howell was named Pac-12 Co-Coach of the Year, WCGA Region 6 Co-Coach of the Year and College Gym News Coaching Staff of the Year. 

During the 2022 season, Crandall-Howell led the Bears to their first-ever Pac-12 title in school history as they Bears finished as Regular Season co-champions. At the conference meet, the Bears took second place and recorded their highest ever score at a Pac-12 championship as they posted a 197.425, Cal recorded five of the top 20 team scores in school history, including the second-best mark in school history as they posted a 197.900 against Iowa, a meet that also saw the Bears record a program record on floor. Cal set a school record on the beam at the NCAA Regional Championship. Three Bears ranked in the top 25 in the all-around, something only one other program in the country accomplished in 2022. Cal posted the second-best NQS in school history at 197.330, which was the third straight year Cal has recorded an NQS over 197 and the seventh-straight year Cal has finished in the top 16 of the NQS. The Bears finished the regular season ranked ninth, and were 11th in the final rankings. 

Individually, Crandall-Howell was also crucial in the development of 2013 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Serena Leong, helping her to the third-highest beam score (9.90) and second-highest floor score (9.925) in program history, feats less than 10 Cal gymnasts have been able to accomplish. Jessica Howe wrapped up her freshman season with four beam titles and set a career-high 9.90 on the event alongside Leong.

Prior to her time at Cal, Crandall-Howell coached at the collegiate and club levels and spent six years as a member of the U.S. national team after which she was a student-athlete at BYU.

Just one of 16 active international brevet judging officials in the U.S., Crandall-Howell has judged three Olympic trials - including the 2012 trials in San Jose. From 2001-09, she was an official for U.S. Championships, and from 2006-07, she was the U.S. Apparatus Chairperson for uneven bars.

A seven-time U.S. National Team member from 1987-92, Crandall-Howell boasts a multitude of domestic and international accolades, traveling to Japan, Russia, Belgium, and Germany to represent the US. Most notably in 1991, she took home a gold medal at the USA Championships on uneven bars. Further, she also finished fourth on vault and eighth in the all-around. She was also a member of the silver medal winning team at the 1991 World Championships. Additionally, she finished 11th in the all-around at the 1992 Olympic trials. She medaled at the 1988 U.S. Championships on uneven bars and floor exercise, taking second in the all-around.

A full athletic scholarship student-athlete at Brigham Young University, Crandall-Howell was a two-time first-team All-American on the uneven bars. She helped the Cougars qualify to three NCAA Championships from 1994-96 and qualified on the individual level in 1993. In three of her four years in Provo, Utah, Crandall-Howell was the NCAA Regional uneven bars champion. She graduated in 1997 with a degree in physical education and health promotion.

She is married to Justin Howell, and they have three children - Jacob, Noah and Greyson.