MINNEAPOLIS — For 41 years, Mike Burns made a career out of coaching gymnastics. Then the University of Minnesota eliminated his program last year, and it became strictly a labor of love.
He doesn't get paid for coaching any more. Gigs such as driving an Uber, delivering packages and judging youth meets cover the bills, but Burns still spends much of his time running a men's gymnastics team out of Cooke Hall on the Minnesota campus.
After the school cut three men's sports — gymnastics, tennis and indoor track — Burns kept his sport alive as a competitive club program, a self-funded entity with no scholarships, no staff and no salaries.
