BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 The Cal State Bakersfield Athletics Department announced Tuesday that women’s soccer head coach Whitney Pitalo has stepped down to pursue other opportunities.<\/p>\n
Pitalo came to Bakersfield in February 2025. No other reasons were listed for her departure.<\/p>\n
“Coach Pitalo has made a lasting impact on our program and student-athletes, and we are grateful for her leadership and dedication. While we will miss her, we wish her continued success as she begins her next chapter,” Sarah Tuohy said.<\/p>\n
Tuohy is the acting director of athletics for CSUB.<\/p>\n
Associate Head Coach Martin Navarro Jr. will serve as interim head coach through the end of the calendar year.<\/p>\n
Pitalo’s resignation is the latest in a series of coaching changes for CSUB athletics. Earlier in March, women’s basketball head coach Ari Wideman was placed on administrative leave.<\/p>\n
In October 2025, Head Coach and Director of Swimming Eric Bugby resigned less than three months after being hired. No reason was given for his departure.<\/p>\n
In September, men’s basketball head coach Rod Barnes stepped down after a 14-year tenure.<\/p>\n
In August, men’s basketball assistant coach Kevin Mays was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and possession of child pornography. Mays was fired and is currently awaiting trial.<\/p>\n
WATCH OUR COVERAGE OF THE TURNOVER AT CSUB BELOW:<\/p>\n
CSUB Athletics Leadership Turnover: A timeline of department departures<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 The Cal State Bakersfield Athletics Department announced Tuesday that women’s soccer head coach Whitney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,155,153,152,9930,23399,106289,162,106290],"class_list":{"0":"post-234890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-downtown","10":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","11":"tag-bakersfield-news","12":"tag-cal-state-bakersfield","13":"tag-csub-athletics","14":"tag-csub-womens-soccer","15":"tag-kern-county-news","16":"tag-whitney-pitalo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}