STANFORD, Calif. - Eighteenth-year head coach Thom Glielmi filled the assistant coaching void left by the departure of Karl Ziehn earlier this month, adding Mark Freeman to the Stanford gymnastics staff.
Freeman comes to The Farm after serving two seasons as an assistant at Cal.
The native of Manchester, England competed for Cal from 2004-08 and was also a member of the Great Britain National Team. During his time in Berkeley, the Bears finished among the top five at the NCAA Championships on three occasions, and notched an MPSF conference title. Freeman also coached the Golden Bears Club Team while he was still a student-athlete.
After graduation, Freeman spent six years as a Cirque du Soleil performer and acrobat where he traveled across the world performing before starting his own elite acrobatic consultancy. Freeman has developed programming for more than 500 clients and 30 facilities across athletic disciplines and has also conducted injury prevention and performance optimization clinics nationwide.
In 2002, Freeman made gymnastics history by becoming the first British gymnast to win a major international competition – earing the title of Junior European champion on still rings at the European Championships in Patras, Greece.
Stanford edged four-time defending national champion Oklahoma in the final rotation to capture the 2019 NCAA title last year – the program's sixth national championship. Proving itself as the best all-around program in the nation, the Cardinal then won the College Gymnastics Association national academic team championship with a team grade point average of 3.435. The dual title season was just the third in NCAA men's gymnastics history – with Stanford managing the feat twice (2009).