Megan Harrington joined the women’s gymnastics staff as a graduate assistant in the fall of 2018 before becoming a full-time assistant coach and enters her seventh season as a member of the Redbird coaching staff. Harrington is the primary beam coach for the Redbirds and in 2022, she was elevated to Recruiting Coordinator.
In 2024, the Redbirds’ beam team showed great success, scoring a 49+ six times, including a season high 49.325, just .025 short of tying the school record. The 49.275 beam score at the Conference Championship was the highest beam score of the meet and second highest of the season for the Redbirds, led by Angelica Labat’s winning 9.925 score. In total, 18 Redbirds earned All-MIC honors, including 4 on beam. The season posted both the highest average (195.402) and the highest NQS (195.91) in program history.
In 2023, Harrington helped coach the Redbirds to the first 49+ score of her career at the MIC Conference Championship, which led to a program-record 196.375 and the Redbirds’ first conference championship title since 2012. The team also featured a quartet of individual champions including Labat on vault, Joy Ziegenfelder on beam, Jaye Mack on floor and Alana Laster in the all-around.
In 2021, Harrington and fellow assistant coach Chris Muras were voted MIC Assistant Coaches of the Year after helping the Redbirds to a great season. ISU finished second at the MIC Championships, thanks to all-around champion and MIC Gymnast of the Year Labat. Labat and teammate Cameron Topp each qualified for the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional and Labat became the first individual in school history to advance to the NCAA Championships, which was quickly followed by Mack on floor in 2022. Harrington also helped coach Madison Kipp to first-team All Conference on beam, one of 19 All-MIC honors for the Redbirds in 2021.
Harrington’s first season as a full-time assistant coach at ISU in 2020 saw the end of the season shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but still featured several highlights. Gabrielle Cooke was named the MIC Co-Senior of the Year and Labat was named the MIC Newcomer of the Year in a vote conducted by the conference's head coaches. In her first season with the Redbirds in 2019, ISU finished second at the MIC Championship behind an individual conference title on floor from Topp. In total, five Redbirds earned All-MIC First-Team honors and three earned second-team honors at the MIC Championships.
Before coming to Illinois State, Harrington studied and competed at Bowling Green State University. She competed in every meet during her four years at BGSU and individually qualified to NCAA Regionals in 2012, 2013, and 2014 in the all-around. At BGSU, she completed degrees in Communications and Event Planning/Tourism and holds a Masters degree from ISU in Recreation Administration.
