California women's gymnastics added Golden Bear great, Maddie Williams, to its coaching staff as a graduate assistant for the 2026 season after finishing her time as an undergraduate at Cal in 2025.
Williams finished her career at Cal as one of the most decorated gymnasts in Cal history. She was a five-time NCAA Second Team All-American (2x AA, 2x V, BB) and three-time WCGA First Team All-American in uneven bars and Second Team in the all-around. In her senior season in 2025, she qualified for the NCAA Championship in bars and was named All-ACC in both bars and floor exercise, in addition to claiming one ACC Gymnast of the Week honor. Williams had the second-most event wins of the Bears with 17, eight of which were bars titles, and 41 podium finishes. She won the NCAA Regional title on bars and earned a share of the floor title at the ACC Championships with teammate Mya Lauzon. She finished the regular season ranked nationally in the Top-35 in three events (UB – 4th, FX – 34th, AA – 15th).
As a junior, she scored the third-most points in a single season in NCAA history with 669.8125 and helped the Bears squad to their highest-ever team finish when they were the national runners-up. She was named First Team All-Pac-12 in the all-around and uneven bars and finished the year ranked fourth in the country on uneven bars and 17th in the all-around.
Williams impressed as a sophomore, finishing the season ranked eighth in the NCAA on uneven bars and taking home a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Regionals and second-place at the Pac-12 Championships in the same event. She had 20 top-three finishes, including six wins – five of which were on bars – and had a streak of eight bar routines in a row that scored a 9.00 or better.
In her debut season, Williams earned an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention on uneven bars and finished fourth at the NCA Regional semifinal in the same event with a 9.90. She won silver at her first Pac-12 Championships for her bars routine, which notched a 9.925 score, and also tallied a 9.825 on vault and a 9.85 on beam at the meet. Williams reached the podium on her first-ever collegiate meet with a third-place finish on beam.
As a graduate assistant in 2026, Williams assisted the Bears to a top-15 national ranking and a second-place finish in the ACC's regular-season standings. She helped Cal to its 13th consecutive postseason appearance, with the Bears reaching the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships, and aided in the Bears' regular-season wins over top-20 opponents Stanford, Michigan State, Clemson and North Carolina.
Prior to Cal, Williams won the 2019 Junior Olympic Nationals All-Around championship by a score of .575 – the widest margin of victory of any of the sessions that year. She also won the individual title on bars, while finishing second on vault and third on beam and floor. Williams claimed a silver medal on bars and was an all-around medalist at the 2017 U.S. Classic, before qualifying for the 2017 Junior Elite and the 2018 Senior Elite competitions.
Williams is a California native from Vacaville. She graduated from Cal with a bachelor’s degree in nutritional sciences.
