It started in 1993.

“We did a little bit of a play with our gymnasts and how rock solid they are, but also the red rock of southern Utah,” Utah co-head coach Megan Marsden said. “So it was kind of a combination name that takes in the part of our country that has the beautiful red rocks and the plateaus and then our gymnasts and their rock solid muscles.”
At the time, the women’s athletics teams were all using the moniker of the Lady Utes, and that didn’t sit too well with the gymnastics team or its coaches.
Feeling that Lady Utes was a “little behind the times,” the team set to find a new nickname. The basketball team had its own unique name in the Runnin’ Utes, so the gymnastics team thought they could have its own too.
“Greg and our team felt strongly that we shouldn’t be the Lady Utes, so we made up our own,” Marsden said.
The Red Rocks were born. The name took a while to catch on, starting within the gymnastics team, before appearing in slogans and apparel, and eventually becoming well known around the valley.