After spending nine years at Rhode Island as a highly respected assistant coach, Chelle Kassabian took over in July 2001 as just the third head coach in the team's 26-year history.

Kassabian helped Rhode Island reach the NCAA championships in seven of her nine years on the URI staff and earned the Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year award in 1995. She was involved in virtually all areas of coaching and recruiting.

Kassabian, a native of Akron, Ohio, earned a B.S. in accounting from the University of Virginia in 1990 after competing for UVa's club gymnastics team. She served as the club's vice president as a junior and moved up to president for her senior year.

In her final three years as an undergraduate, from 1987 to '90, Kassabian worked and competed (USGF Level 9) at the nearby Classics Gymnastics Center in Charlottesville, Va. She appeared in the Virginia State Games in 1990.

Kassabian put in one-year coaching stints with the Triangle Twisters in Durham, N.C., (1990-91) and at the Desert Academy of Artistic Gymnastics in Las Vegas, Nev., (1991-92) before joining the Rhode Island staff in 1992. Meanwhile she coached at the prestigious Woodward (Pa.) Gymnastics Camp from 1989 to '93 and served as floor manager and head balance beam timer at the United States Independent Gymnastics Clubs (USAIGC) national championships in June of 1992, '93, '94, '97 and '98.

As a former USGF certified judge, Kassabian officiated at the junior high and high school levels. She also served two terms as secretary-treasurer of the Northeast Region Gymnastics Coaches Association (NERGCA) from 1994 to '98.

Along with her coaching duties, Kassabian teaches a Basic Gymnastics class to physical education majors at the University of Rhode Island and serves as director of the URI Youth Gymnastics Program, which provides instruction to the children of URI faculty and staff and to other children in the community. She is a professional member of USA Gymnastics and is USAG safety-certified.

Kassabian and her husband Paul, the NCAA Compliance Coordinator at Rhode Island, live in Wakefield with their three children.