Mike Linn | Jon Fussell | Jacquelyn Harris | Brent Tanaka | Myles Cooper | Adam Cretti | Interns | Athletic Performance Home Page

Mike Linn is in the first year of his second tenure as UCLA's athletic performance coach. Linn, who has both collegiate and corporate experience, previously served as the Bruin head strength and conditioning coach from 1999-2002. The 1993 UCLA graduate was a two-year starter along the offensive line on the Bruin football team and a member of two Bruin bowl teams.

In addition to working directly with football, he oversees all operations in UCLA's 15,000-square foot weight room. He is joined by a highly-accredited staff, including assistant coaches Craig Sowers, Ray Weisenbarger, Jon Fussell, Jill Robinson, Wes Long and Jacquelyn Harris.

Linn is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength Coaches Association, as well as a Level One weightlifting coach. A national speaker in his field, he is also a published author in the field of human performance.

Linn rejoins the Bruin program after serving as the Vice President of Performance for Velocity Sports Performance since 2006. While at Velocity Sports Performance, he worked to develop training programs for its 63 franchise locations and over 20,000 athletes nationwide. In addition, Linn supervised the training and professional development for a network of over 700 coaches. Linn was also instrumental in launching several key initiatives with Velocity's national partners Gatorade, Nike and the National Strength and Conditioning Association during his tenure.

From 2005-2006, Linn served as the Director of the Velocity Sports Performance franchise in St. Louis, MO. While at the St. Louis location, he collaborated on the training, injury prevention and rehabilitation of over 500 area athletes. He also directed professional athlete development programs for numerous NFL, MLB, NHL and MLS athletes.

Linn's collegiate experience includes a stint from 2002-2005 as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at St. Louis University. At SLU, he was responsible for all aspects of athletic performance for the over 350 student-athletes at the university that participated in 16 Division I sports.

Mike previously served as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at UCLA from 1999-2002. While managing all areas of the strength and conditioning department for over 700 student-athletes, Linn designed and administered weight training, conditioning, agility, plyometric and speed development programs for football and basketball.

Prior to becoming the head of the UCLA program in 1999, he worked with the Olympic sports teams as an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 1992-99. Five of his Bruin teams captured national championships during his tenure as an assistant (men's volleyball, men's water polo (2), men's soccer and women's softball). In addition, the women's basketball team won its first Pac-10 Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight.

Linn came to UCLA as a freshman recruit in 1987 after starring as an offensive lineman and track and field performer at Esperanza High School in Orange County, CA. He was named the No. 17 prep lineman in the country by one publication and earned Tacoma News Tribune and Long Beach Press Telegram Best in the West team honors. Linn was also a school record-holder and All-CIF performer in the discus. The 1993 UCLA graduate was a member of two bowl teams and a starter in two seasons. The Bruins averaged 164 yards on the ground during Linn's starts at right guard, including one of UCLA's all-time best efforts of 358 yards versus Arizona in 1991.

He also was a starter for UCLA's stunning upset at No. 2-ranked Washington in the 1990 season. One of the top Bruins in the weight room as a player, Linn set a team-high in the three main lifts -- squat, bench, and clean -- of 1,366 pounds during his junior season. Following the conclusion of his playing days, Mike served as a undergraduate assistant coach during the 1992 season at UCLA.

PERSONAL -- Education: Bachelor`s of Arts, UCLA, 1993; At UCLA: First year of second tenure (joined staff in February, 2007) - 11th year overall; Born: November 7, 1969; Family: Linn is married to the former Karen Nelson, a UCLA gymnast who was a two-time All-American in the Vault and the 1994 Pac-10 Vault champion. They have two children, Kylie and Ryker.

Jon Fussell

Jon Fussell has been an Assistant Athletic Performance coach since July 2004 for Bruin athletics. Fussell is responsible for the implementation of sport specific programs for gymnastics, track and field (jumpers, sprinters, pole vault and cross country) men's soccer, and women's volleyball. Prior to UCLA, Fussell served as an intern for Sports Performance at Arizona State and an intern for Strength and Conditioning at Oregon. He also was an assistant basketball coach for Linn Benton Community College from 2002-2003. Fussell graduated from the University of Oregon in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science with a concentration on Exercise and Movement Science, and minored in Business. He received his Associate in Arts Degree from Clark College in 1999 where he was a member of the basketball team. Fussell is also CSCA, NASE, and FMS certified.

Jacquelyn Harris comes from the University of San Diego where she was an Assistant Athletic Performance Coach (2008). At USD she oversaw women's rowing, swimming and diving and was an assistant to football and women's volleyball.

Jacquelyn is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the NSCA and has a Sports performance Coach Certification (USAW) through USA Weightlifting.

Prior to being hired at UCLA Jacquelyn served as an intern at the University of Washington, University of San Diego and UCLA. Jacquelyn graduated from USD in 2008 with a B.A. in business administration. While at USD Jacquelyn was on the varsity rowing team. She helped her team to two second place finishes in conference. She was a two time team MVP, four time all conference and two time CRCA All Region Second Team. She also served as captain for two years.

Brent Tanaka

Brent Tanaka is in his first year as an Assistant Athletic Performance Coach. The UCLA graduate served as an intern at UCLA, where he worked primarily with the men's and women's basketball and baseball teams. Prior to that, he completed an internship at Loyola Marymount University, where he assisted with basketball, baseball, and various Olympic sports. The Southern California native was a tennis coach at South Bay Tennis Center in Palos Verdes, where he worked with beginners and nationally-ranked junior players.

Tanaka earned his Bachelor's Degree in Business-Economics from UCLA in 2008. He is a competitive powerlifter with an Elite total in the 165lb. weight class and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

Myles Cooper begins his first season as Assistant Athletic Performance Coach. He was the Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning at UC San Diego from July 2010 to August 2011. During his time at UCSD, Cooper worked directly with the women's volleyball, softball, women's rowing, women's water polo, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's tennis, and cross country teams. The Triton softball team won its first-ever Division II National Championship, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams had their best-ever finishes, finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in Division II, and men's tennis and women's water polo made their first ever NCAA Tournament appearances.

Cooper previously interned at UCLA, where he worked with the Bruin men's and women's basketball, football and women's volleyball programs. Prior to his stint in Westwood, he served as a strength and conditioning intern at Marquette University, working with the men's and women's cross country, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's tennis, and women's basketball teams. He also worked as an intern in the strength and conditioning department at the University of Utah and served as a conditioning coach at Park City High School in Park City, Utah. From January 2008 to August 2009, he worked as a facility manager at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) in Kearns, Utah and has also spent time with the ABA's Utah Snow Bears.

Cooper earned a bachelor's degree in Athletic Training from Weber State University in 2002 and went on to obtain his Masters in Exercise Physiology with an emphasis in Strength and Conditioning from Baylor University in 2007. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and a certified Level 1 Sport Performance Coach through USA Weightlifting.

Cooper lives in Westwood with his fiancée, Jaclyn Hill.

Adam Cretti

Adam Cretti has rejoined Coach Mike Linn for his second tenure at UCLA. Cretti oversees the Athletic Performance needs of Baseball and the throwers on the track & field team and assists with football. Cretti was first hired on staff by Coach Linn in 2001, when he worked with baseball, softball, men's and women's basketball, water polo, volleyball, golf, track and field and cross country.

Cretti returns to UCLA from Velocity Sports Performance, where he served in many capacities, but most notably as the Athletic Performance Director for Mater Dei High School. At Mater Dei, he oversaw the athletic performance needs of thousands of athletes that attended the school, helping the Monarch Athletic Department earn the distinction of "Number 1 High School Athletic Department in America" by ESPN Rise Magazine. He also worked to develop both a male and female Gatorade National Athlete of the Year, as well as several C.I.F. and California State Championships and many C.I.F. athletes of the year in their respective sports.

Cretti started coaching high-level athletes over 10 years ago while he was a captain of the UC Santa Barbara Track and Field team, competing in the shot put and hammer throw. After he completed his undergraduate work, he moved to San Diego to train as an Olympic Weightlifting competitor under the tutelage of renowned Olympic Weightlifting coach Mike Burgener. Cretti not only earned a 12th-place finish at USA Weightlifiting's National Championships in 2000, but he also was instrumental in helping Coach Burgener prepare several weightlifting competitors for national and international competitions.

In August of 2000, Cretti was recruited by the Strength and Conditioning staff of University Texas, El Paso to be a graduate assistant. While there, Cretti helped with the day-to-day strength and conditioning of the 2000 WAC Championship Football team, culminating in an appearance in the 2000 Humanitarian Bowl.

In May of 2001, Linn brought Cretti to Westwood for the first time before Cretti was hired away in 2002 to be the first Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Cal State Northridge. From 2002-2004, Cretti oversaw all aspects of strength and conditioning for all of CSUN's 18 varsity teams.

Cretti began his tenure with Velocity Sports Performance in the Fall of 2004 as a Sports Performance Coach. He quickly rose through the ranks, earning an offer to be a Sports Performance Director (SPD) and leading his own facility in the Spring of 2005. Cretti was an SPD for three years before moving on to his role of Team Performance Director. In this capacity, Cretti was also the Athletic Performance Director for Mater Dei High School.

Cretti was born and raised in Novato, CA, where he developed his passion for sports. He and his wife, the former Kelly McMurry, live in Newport Beach with their infant daughter, Ainsley.

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