TEMPE, Ariz.—Arizona State gymnastics head coach Jay Santos has added Stephen Buckner to the coaching staff as an assistant coach, it was announced on Tuesday.
“I am extremely excited to announce the addition of Stephen to our coaching staff,” Santos said. “He is a high character individual with a tremendous background and experience in gymnastics. His expertise in multiple areas of our sport will be huge asset to the team and I’m sure our athletes will thrive with his coaching style. I truly look forward to his contributions to building this program to new heights.”
Buckner comes to Tempe from Seattle, where he spent this past season as an assistant at the University of Washington. There, he coached vault and floor, helping the Huskies to a third-place finish at the 2016 Salt Lake City Regional. He also had a hand in coaching Washington’s first individual NCAA Qualifier since 2013, all-arounder Allison Northey.
Prior to his time in Seattle, Buckner spent five years on the coaching staff at the University of Alabama, where he was both the team’s strength and conditioning coach (2013-15) and a graduate assistant (2010-13). He helped the Crimson Tide to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2011 and 2012, and to two more top-four finishes in 2014 and 2015.
A former instructor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Kinesiology, Buckner obtained both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in exercise physiology from Alabama. He has been a certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association since 2014.