Rich Stenger is set to enter his frist season with the Bears in 2026 after being named the program's associate head coach in the summer of 2025.
Stenger comes to Cal with over 30 years of coaching experience that spans NCAA, elite and Junior Olympic development levels. Most recently he spent the last 11 seasons at the University of Minnesota alongside his wife, head coach Geralen Stack-Eaton.
In Stenger's tenure at Minnesota the Gophers made three NCAA Championship appearances, won a Big 10 championship and reached the NCAA Regionals every season. He helped guide the program to 30 NCAA All-America honors, 43 WCGA regular-season All-America selections, 14 NCAA Regional event titles, 46 All-Big Ten honors, 21 Big Ten individual event titles, five Big Ten and WCGA Regional Gymnast of the Year awards, and two AAI award winners.
Serving primarily as the bars coach, Stenger oversaw technical development on all four events and played a key role in performance innovation. He developed and implemented strength, flexibility and leadership programs and was instrumental in recruiting strategy and relationship building with local clubs.
Stenger also helped produce one of the top gymnasts in program history, Mya Hooten. Hooten is a nationally lauded competitor who made four NCAA Championship appearances and tallied 15 All-America honors, five All-Big-Ten selections, six Big Ten event titles and a program-record nine perfect 10s in the floor exercise.
Prior to joining the Gophers, Stenger worked with the Twin City Twisters in Champlin, Minnesota, where he served as an optional and elite coach from 2007-2017. He worked alongside Cal assistant coach Seth Helland for a period of that time. Stenger was an assistant coach at Roseville High School in Roseville, Minnesota, from 2005-2009 and a team coach at Roseville Gymnastics Center from 1994-2006.
Stenger received his Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from St. Cloud State in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
