Manny Rivera

California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

Title

Head Coach
Email

mrivera48@csub.edu
Phone

(661) 654-2343

Manny Rivera was named head wrestling coach at CSU Bakersfield in July of 2016 following five years as an assistant at Big-12-member North Dakota State. He becomes just the fourth head coach in program history.

Rivera has mentored four Pac-12 Champions and 15 NCAA Qualifiers, while leading the Roadrunners to third place conference finishes in three of the last four seasons. He has posted a 25-32 dual meet record, with a 6-11 mark in Pac-12 competition during his four seasons in Bakersfield.

In 2020, Rivera led the `Runners to a 7-6 dual meet record when the team won five of its last seven to close out the regular season. Josh Loomer and Russell Rohlfing captured Pac-12 Championships at 184 and 149 pounds, respectively, with Rohlfing reaching the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.

Rivera coached Sean Nickell to Pac-12 Championships at 125 pounds in 2017 and at 133 pounds in 2019.

He has also overseen the development of the annual Feud on the Field, an event hosted on the Main Soccer Field at CSUB. The `Runners captured the inaugural event in 2019, posting a 18-12 dual meet victory over a ranked Fresno State opponent.

In 2015, at NDSU, he helped coach senior 174-pounder Kurtis Julson to an eighth-place finish and 184-pound junior Hayden Zillmer to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. As a team, the Bison won the NCAA West Regional/Western Wrestling Conference championship with 70.5 points with five individual champions and one runner-up.

Rivera joined NDSU in 2011 after spending one year as an assistant coach at Virginia and two years as a graduate assistant at Minnesota. While at Virginia, he helped coach two All-America performers.

While a graduate assistant for the Gophers, he also served as the assistant director at the School of Champions, a wrestling training program for junior high and high school students. Additionally, he was a volunteer wrestling coach at Rosemead High School.

A native of El Monte, Calif., Rivera was a three-time NCAA qualifier at Minnesota and earned All-America honors as a senior after finishing seventh at 141 pounds at the NCAA Championships. He was also a starter on Minnesota’s 2007 national championship team. He finished his career with a record of 113-40 and 27 pins and was team captain as a senior.