University of California Merced Men's Basketball

Gary Stewart, who has won 385 career games across all levels of NCAA basketball, was named the University of California, Merced head men’s basketball coach on September 19, Executive Director of Recreation & Athletics David Dunham announced. “We are excited to have Gary join our program to lead the men’s basketball team,” Dunham said. “He brings a wealth of experience and demonstrated success at multiple levels. His experience leading a team through a NCAA reclassification will be valuable to our men’s basketball program and department.” “The opportunity to lead UC Merced men’s basketball into NCAA Division II is a tremendous honor,” Stewart said. “I want to thank Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Executive Director of Recreation & Athletics David Dunham, Vice Chancellor Tonantzin Oseguera and the search committee at UC Merced that helped get me here. I look forward to continuing the winning tradition at one of the top universities in the country. This is a special place and I can’t wait to get started.”  Stewart comes to UC Merced after a tenure at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, MD. While there, he quickly guided the program to new heights and led Stevenson to back-to-back postseason trophies and 20+ win seasons in just his third and fourth years on the job. Those two years, 2013-14 &  2014-15, saw the program post its best two-year record in school history. He was named the 2014 Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth Coach of the Year. He later became the MAC Commonwealth’s active career wins leader. This past season, Stewart became Stevenson men’s basketball’s all-time winningest coach and he finished his time with 155 wins on the East Coast. Stewart coached two MAC Commonwealth Rookies of the Year, 11 all-league selections, and eight honorable mentions. Stewart is a well-respected leader in collegiate basketball, being appointed as the President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) President in 2022. Currently, he is a Director Emeritus alongside Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo. Stewart has also served on various other NABC and NCAA committees. Outside of basketball, he has been on the administrative staff at Stevenson and Cal State East Bay as an Assistant Athletic Director and Associate Athletic Director. He has also had head coaching stops at UC Davis, Cal State East Bay, and University of La Verne in his tenure. He has taken every program to a conference tournament and has won seven conference championships. Stewart was at the helm of UC Davis from 2003-2011, including during the Aggies reclassification period from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I. He won a Big West Tournament game in just the second eligible season. The following season, he won his 200th career game. Notable wins while at UC Davis include beating Stanford, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Tulane, Sacramento State, and Boise State. During the transition period, Stewart and UC Davis won more games than any other four-year transition program. Prior to UC Davis, he spent time at the Power 5 level as the Director of Basketball Services for UCLA under Steve Lavin for a season and was an assistant coach at Washington State for three seasons. He also spent a season at UC Santa Barbara. NBA players Cedric Bozeman, Ryan Hollins, Jason Kapono, and Dijon Thompson played at UCLA during Stewart’s time in Westwood. Stewart was the head coach at Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) from 1995-97. In just two years, he made an immediate impact on Cal State Hayward and was named the Northern California Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year and was a nominee for NABC District Coach of the Year honors. He started his head coaching career at his alma mater University of La Verne. From 1987-1995, he tallied 116 wins and three SCIAC championships. He owns the highest men’s basketball winning percentage at University La Verne, the most SCIAC championships, and ranks second all-time with his 116 wins. In addition to leading programs, Stewart has coached for Team USA Olympic Team U19 Team Trials, the NABC D1 Reese’s All-Star Game, and the Hardwood Classic Tournament held at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. He was named the 2021 Standout Coach by All-In Campus Democracy Challenge and was presented a lifetime achievement award for service recipient in 2016 by President Barack Obama. Stewart was inducted into the University of La Verne Hall of Fame in 2009. As a player at University of La Verne, Stewart was a 4X All-SCIAC honoree and graduated in the Top-10 in nearly every statistical category. He was awarded the SCIAC Ted Ducey Award as a senior which is bestowed upon one senior athlete who best exemplifies outstanding achievement in academics, athletics, leadership, and sportsmanship. Stewart earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education and master’s degree in education from University of La Verne.

Moses Oceguera begins her seventh season on the UC Merced coaching staff. Her first six years with the program have been nothing short of successful. The Bobcats have won 94 games with Oceguera on staff and have played to a 94-47 record overall. In 2024-25, UC Merced won the program’s first ever California Pacific Conference Championship with a 10-0 record and earned the program’s first at-large berth to the NAIA National Championships. In 2023-23, the Bobcats set a program-record with 21 wins, 14 in conference play, and advanced to the Cal Pac Tournament Championship game. Two years prior in the shortened 2020-21 campaign, the Bobcats capped off a perfect 9-0 season with a win in the Phase Two California Pacific Conference Championship game. Overall, Oceguera has coached in four conference title games and finished her time in the Cal Pac with a 62-21 conference record. She has coached NAIA Third Team All-American, CSC Academic All-American, and Cal Pac Player of the Year Cameron Brown and many other award winners. Jonah Cottrell, Ryan Haywood, Derek E’denchukwu, Mason Westlake, Kingsley Obiorah, Jaron Mertle, Aidan Sevilla, and Brown all earned All-Cal Pac First Team honors. Understanding how to run an offense as a former all-conference point guard with UC Merced women’s basketball, Oceguera has helped the Bobcats post their two highest scoring averages in program history. The Bobcats put up 69.5 points per game in 2019-20 before resetting the record with 75.7 points per game in the championship winning season. She has also keyed in on the team’s academics during her first six years on the coaching staff and the Bobcats have responded with their top cumulative GPA’s. Oceguera carries a winning mentality on her shoulders as she previously was a part of three conference tournament championships with the UC Merced women’s basketball team. She won a championship as a player under head coach Kevin Pham in 2014-15, as a student manager with head coach Sarah Hopkins-Chery in 2015-16 and as an assistant coach with Hopkins-Chery in 2016-17. With Oceguera as an assistant coach in 2016-17, the Bobcats nearly shocked the country as they took the No. 1 team, St. Francis, to double overtime in a NAIA National Championship First Round game before falling 87-83. The Bobcats went 17-12 overall and 9-5 in conference play that season, both of which were program record win totals at the time. A point guard herself, Oceguera helped coach star point guard Courtney Danna, who became the school’s first ever two-time NAIA honorable mention All-American in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.  As mentioned previously, Oceguera was an all-conference point guard at UC Merced and played for the Bobcats under then head women’s basketball coach Kevin Pham from 2012-2015. Aside from winning the school’s first ever Cal Pac Tournament Championship in 2015, Oceguera ranks third in program history with two steals per game and fifth in program history with 2.9 assists per game. She also ranks top 15 with 7.9 points per game and is the only player in program history to start her career with four straight double figure scoring efforts.

Jaylen Wiltz is in his third season as an assistant men's basketball coach for UC Merced.  UC Merced has combined for a 37-17 overall record over the last two years with Wiltz on the staff, including 24-6 in California Pacific Conference play. Last season, UC Merced captured the program’s first Cal Pac Regular Season Championship and earned the program’s first ever at-large berth to the NAIA National Championships. Other highlights include beating seventh-ranked The Master’s University and NCAA Division II Central Valley foes Stanislaus State and Fresno Pacific on the road. Wiltz coached NAIA Third-Team All-American, CSC Academic All-American, and Cal Pac Player of the Year Cameron Brown. Wiltz has also coached All-Cal Pac First Team selections Jaron Mertle and Aidan Sevilla. Wiltz joined the Bobcats staff following two years on the sidelines as an assistant coach with La Sierra University women's basketball where he primarily worked on player development. His team won ten California Pacific Conference games a year ago and led the league in three-point percentage and finished second in assists and steals. As a student athlete, Wiltz played 65 games at Bellevue University and averaged 8.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. As a senior in 2020-21, he helped lead the Bruins to a North Star Athletic Association Tournament Championship. He also finished second on the team with 45 three-pointers made and 62 assists that year. Wiltz played at Chaffey College for two years prior to Bellevue.

Collegiate coaching veteran Ed Madec joined Gary Stewart’s staff as an assistant coach in December 2025. Previously, Madec guided Fresno City College to 14 consecutive conference championships and a pair of CCCAA State Championships (2007, 2012). Madec won 400 games at the helm of the Rams, finishing with a 400-70 record. Madec is most proud of his players success off the court with over 100 student athletes earning full ride scholarships, and 93% went on to matriculate to four year institutions. Before his tenure at Fresno City College, Madec had success at College of Siskiyous where he won 82 games and led his team to its first ever final 8 appearance and a pair of conference titles. He got his start on the sidelines as an assistant coach for two seasons at Chico State. Additionally, Madec brings over 25 years of experience in teaching and directing basketball camps from Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, South America and the western United States. Madec is a proud father of three sons, Leon, George and Armas. When he is away from the game of basketball he enjoys cooking, cleaning, exercising and spending time in the ocean and being with his three boys. Madec was a four-year player at Sonoma State and was inducted into the Sonoma State Hall of Fame in 2004. The 1995-96 NCAC Co-Player of the Year graduated from Sonoma State in 1996.