James Stitz

Biography

I came to Utah State after spending eight seasons as an athletic performance coach for USA Volleyball Women’s Senior National Team. I spent my first season with the program as a seasonal assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2014 through the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) mentorship program. I took the reins of the team in 2015 prior to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the team earned a bronze medal. Most recently, I was a member of the team that won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, played in 2021 in Japan. 

Prior to joining the USA Volleyball staff, I worked as an intern at the former Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. Additionally, I was selected from a pool of national candidates to serve as an assistant coach through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) assistantship program in 2013. 

I graduated from California State Fullerton with a master’s degree in kinesiology in 2013, adding to my bachelor’s degree in 2011 from Minnesota State University, Mankato in exercise science, and a minor in athletic training. It was at Minnesota State that I cut my teeth from 2009-11 working as a volunteer assistant strength and conditioning coach primarily with the Mavericks’ baseball, basketball, hockey, and football teams. 

While earning my master’s degree, I was the first-ever head strength and conditioning coach for Charter Oak High School in Covina, Calif., where I grew the number of teams using the weight room from one to six in just 16 months. 

I am also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt and enjoy training in my free time. I hold an RSCC certification.  

I got married in 2020 to my wife, Alex, and welcomed our first child, Sloane, in March of 2021.