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JT Okada

Jt Okada

J.T. Okada will begin his fifth season as head coach of the Cal men's gymnastics team for the 2022 campaign.

Okada had previously served as an assistant coach for the Golden Bears the previous five seasons before taking the helm.

Navigating through unprecedented times during the COVID-19 global pandemic, Okada led the Golden Bears to their seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships, finishing with a national team ranking of No. 10. His leadership helped Caleb Rickard earn All-America honors at the national meet. Okada also produced the program's first national rookie of the year honor when Noah Newfeld was tabbed the CGA Rookie of the Year.

Prior to the 2020 season ending abruptly due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Okada guided his Bears to many accomplishments. The Bears set program records in three events - floor, parallel bars and vault, including notching the top three vault scores in school history. Individually, Okada helped Darren Wong set the school record on parallel bars and also guided the sophomore to an event victory on floor at the Pac-12 Invitational. Another of his pupils, 2021 team captain Caleb Rickard, was tabbed MPSF Gymnast of the Week in March. Academically, five Bears earned MPSF All-Academic honors.

In 2019, for the sixth consecutive season, Cal found itself in the NCAA competition finishing 11th in the nation. The Bears upward trajectory throughout the year was highlighted by a pair of 400-plus team scores for the first time since 2017. Under Okada's tutelage, breakout freshman Darren Wong earned a pair of MPSF Gymnast of the Week nods and a CGA Rookie of the Week honor. He finished the regular season ranked sixth in the country with a team-high 80.117 average score in the all-around competition. The Bears culminated the year with seven MPSF All-Academic honorees.

In Okada's first season at the helm in 2018, the Bears advanced to their fifth consecutive trip to the national stage and in one year's time, the Bears more than doubled their number of entries to the NCAA Championship individual finals. Seven Cal gymnasts advanced to the culminating session after just three Bears qualified a season ago. At the NCAA meet, Cal produced a pair of All-Americans in senior Yordan Aleksandrov and sophomore Kyte Crigger.

In addition to the success on the mats, the Bears excel in the classroom, as well, under Okada's guidance. Seven Bears earned MPSF All-Academic honors in each of Okada's first two seasons as head coach.

Okada, who was officially named head coach on May 2, 2017, came to the Golden Bears with several years of coaching experience to his name as a competitive gymnastics instructor for Golden Bear & Head Over Heels Gymnastics. There he coached gymnasts in preparation for college gymnastics. He has also served as the sport psychology coordinator for Cal Athletics and works with a variety of sports and athletes.

Okada graduated from Cal in May 2009 with a degree in anthropology and holds a Master’s in Kinesiology from San Francisco State.

Okada has coached a variety of national and international team members for USA, Canada, Bulgaria and more recently served as the South Africa men's gymnastics head coach at the 2016 Rio Olympics

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