Mandy Gardner enters her first season as the assistant coach in August 2021 after spending six seasons at Grand Canyon University.
In her first season with the gold and blue, Gardner helped guide the Tritons to a successful second season in the Division I era. UC San Diego finished with an overall record of 28-28 (.500) and 15-12 (.556) in the Big West Conference, solidifying a fifth-place finish in conference standings. Working primarily with the Triton pitching staff, Gardner assisted UC San Diego in leading the Big West in staff ERA, strikeouts, home runs allowed, and saves. The Triton pitching staff was in the top three Big West staffs for batting average against, walks allowed, and hits allowed.
Gardner saw two of her pitchers named to the NFCA All-Region and All-Big West teams, guiding the Tritons’ freshman ace, Jada Cecil, to earn Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year and Pitcher of the Year. Cecil also earned an NFCA Freshman of the Year nod, making the Division I Top 10 Freshman of the Year list. Gardner coached Cecil to a 20-5 season with a 1.88 ERA, 234 strikeouts, 41 walks, .182 batting average against. Under Gardner’s guidance, the Triton staff broke multiple records from in the circle, including the single season individual strikeout record and the staff single season strikeout record that was set 20 years prior in 2002, and Cecil set the single-game high strikeout record with 16 Ks against Hawai‘i. Gardner helped the staff ERA improve from 3.54 to 2.93 in a single season with the team. The gold and blue staff pitched against nine NCAA postseason teams, three super regional teams, and three World Series teams. The UC San Diego staff was one of only five pitching staffs to not give up a home run to the 44-1 Oklahoma Sooners in the 2022 season and were nationally ranked 27th in strikeout to walk ratio (3.39 and 50th in staff ERA (2.93). Gardner assisted Cecil and Gabby Williams to a combined seven national rankings in various pitching categories.
Assisting with the catchers, infielders, and hitters, Gardner saw six Tritons to Big West honors with two on the first and second teams, two earning honorable mention nods, and Isabel Lavrov earn Big West Fielder of the Week recognition with Jada Cecil earning Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Week recognition three times. In a historic postseason, Gardner helped the Tritons to their first postseason appearance and postseason win in the Division I era.
Gardner joins UC San Diego with a great amount of experience from her prior positions at Grand Canyon University, both as the assistant coach from 2019-2021 and the graduate assistant coach from 2015-2018.
In her time at GCU, Gardner helped the Lopes to a Western Athletic Conference championship in 2017 and a second-place finish in 2018. In 2018, Gardner saw one of her players named a Division I Academic All-American. Guiding the Lopes as an assistant coach, Gardner saw them to a win over the undefeated No. 1 Florida State Gators in 2019. The Lopes pitching staff ERA improved from 3.77 (2018) to 2.46 (2019) under Gardner’s full-time guidance. The staff was ranked in the top 25 nationally for their ERA and helped the Lopes finish second in the WAC. In her tenure, Gardner saw multiple players earn All-WAC awards such as earning the WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year twice in 2020 and 2021. Her pitching staff from her time as the assistant, are pitchers who sit on the GCU top five career overall list in ERA, batting average against, shutouts, career wins, and strikeouts.
Gardner attended the University of Michigan in 2011 where she was a pitcher, hitter, and infielder for the Wolverines. She won back-to-back Big Ten Conference titles and finished with a 53-6 overall record with a trip to regionals in 2011 and 42-17 record with a trip to super regionals in 2012. After two seasons with the Wolverines, Gardner finished her collegiate career at the University of Maryland as a hitter, infielder, and hitter. Gardner sits in the Terrapins record books with the top 10 season records for home runs, RBI, and sac flies.
A product of California, Gardner was named California State Junior Player of the Year, California State Player of the Year, and earned Under Armour All-American honors as a highschooler in 2010.
Gardner earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Maryland in 2015. She received her master’s in special education from Grand Canyon in 2018 and is currently pursuing her master’s in business administration from GCU.
She has been involved with several community service groups, including Team Impact, the Special Olympics, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Gardner and her husband, Ryan Colegate, who coaches baseball, reside in San Diego.
