Sara Nevin, who served as an assistant coach at Cal for 10 years before moving on to a nine-year stint as the head coach at Mills College, has returned to the Golden Bear program as an assistant.

Nevin helped lead Cal to seven conference championships and two NCAA crowns during her previous time at Cal. She retired from her position at Mills in June but decided to resume coaching with the Golden Bears.

"It's a great opportunity," Nevin said. "I enjoy coaching and I get to work with such a good team. It's a good fit for me."

After a decorated athletic career that included three national championships at Washington and a stint with the U.S. National Team, Nevin began coaching on the high school and club level in the Seattle area. She went on to serve as executive director and head coach of the Lake Lanier Rowing Club in Georgia and served as an assistant coach for the Serbian National Team, where one of her athletes was former Cal star and 2008 Olympian Iva Obradovic.

"We are excited to have Sara back at Cal," Cal head coach Al Acosta said. "Sara was instrumental in helping to build the team in the early 2000s. She brings a wealth of knowledge as a rower and coach, but more important she's just a great human being. We are all very fortunate to have her join the staff."

Nevin helped turn the Bears from a good program into an elite one during her first stint in Berkeley. She came to Cal in 2001 and the Bears captured their first Pac-12 championship in 2004. Cal won its first NCAA Championship the following season.

"At that time, it was about helping the program grow," Nevin said. "It was helping the athletes believe in themselves. Once you learn how to win, it's something you can reproduce and you expect to reproduce. I really like working with athletes to help them reach their goals, and maybe push them a little harder to reach higher goals than they originally had."