Auburn gymnastics' Derrian Gobourne and the HBCU inspiration behind her floor routine

AUBURN — Derrian Gobourne wanted to give an encore.

The mission was easier said than done. Gobourne, who had just wrapped up the 2022 season with a national runner-up finish on floor, decided to come back for one last season with Auburn gymnastics. She made the announcement of her return in May with a definitive statement: "The Queen is back!"

That nickname − the Queen − has stuck, and Gobourne made it part of her floor routine last season by incorporating a movement that emulated her placing a crown on her head. It was a hit, and she earned the first perfect 10 of her career in a meet against Florida in March.

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But that was old news after Gobourne let the world know royalty was on its way back for another go around with the Tigers. She needed something better. Something that would top what she had already done.

She enlisted the help of her brother, Derric, of course, as he was the one who helped choreograph the Missy Elliot-inspired routine in 2022. Derric, a talent in his own right as a singer, dancer and songwriter, got to work. It was a back-and-forth process with Derrian receiving something from her brother, then adding her own flare to it.

She needed to "make it more Derrian."

"My brother came up to me after we were done," Gobourne told the Montgomery Advertiser on Tuesday. "He was like, ‘I really love how you tweak it and you know what you want.’ He didn't really take it to heart. ... And that's why we were able to come up with something that was so great.”

Gobourne debuted her new floor routine, which was finished by August, during Auburn's preview meet in December. She leaned even harder into her nickname, beginning her performance by waving to the crowd as "God Save the Queen" plays behind her.

But about 10 seconds later: Record scratch. The British anthem is replaced by six consecutive whistles followed by a slowed-down version of "Do Whatcha Wanna" by the Rebirth Brass Band, a music group from New Orleans founded in 1983. The use of the slower version of the song was made popular by Beyoncé during her performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2018.

Beyoncé used HBCU musicians during the show, beginning her set by walking onto the stage with the Rebirth Brass Band's song playing in the background. That's where the inspiration for the soundtrack of Gobourne's routine comes from, an ode to HBCUs.

Or in this case, one specific HBCU.

"I wanted to do kind of like a welcome into NCAA gymnastics for Fisk University because they just got a gymnastics program," Gobourne said. "They’re the first HBCU to do that, and so I was like, ‘That's really special. I wish I could be a part of something like that.’ This is me kind of like welcoming them in and just showing them love and that we see them and just how proud I am of them.

"That was where the Beyoncé, Coachella kind of came in because that was very HBCU. Like if you listen to the soundtrack and all that, it was very HBCU and I thought that was perfect. Like I said, I love HBCUs. I wish I could've went to an HBCU to do gymnastics, (but) that's kind of me having my own moment as well.”

That artistic freedom comes from coach Jeff Graba. For the first two years of Gobourne's career at Auburn, the team did the choreography for her routines. And although Graba felt the performances were solid, he didn't think Gobourne was being allowed to express herself fully.

A conversation roughly two and a half years ago followed, giving Gobourne the green light to go work with Derric.

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"There's some different philosophies around the country," Graba explained. "Sometimes the coach wants to have their choreographer do every routine on the team. And then there are other philosophies which we are. I think more flavor is better. I think a variety is good. ... So, I think handing it off has always been one of our goals. ... You know, we did it with Gabby (McLaughlin) in the last two years and some of our other athletes have had choreographers from their clubs ... and then we'll tweak it.

"We'll work on it all year and sometimes adapt it quite a bit. ... I don't know if I've ever completely turned over everything to an athlete before Derrian, but it was the right thing to do.”

Gobourne's rise to stardom in the Auburn community has been meteoric. She helped build the program into what it is now, a unit that shrugs at scores that just narrowly squeak over 197, a mark that would've called for celebration less than a handful of years ago.

But against Penn State on Friday, not only will Gobourne be ending Auburn's regular season, she'll be ending her time performing in Neville Arena.

"We are recruiting people that can hold up to the spotlight (and) that type of stuff," Graba said. "But you don't know who the next Derrian is until somebody becomes and creates not necessarily the next Derrian, (but) creates the next big thing at Auburn. ... We've had a number of phenomenal athletes come through here that were really the voice, they were the name of that five- to 10-year span of Auburn gymnastics.

"That's what Derrian is right now, and somebody will step into that role next.”

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Derrian Gobourne: Auburn gymnastics floor routine has HBCU inspiration