Coaching Staff
Enrique Cardenas | Assistant coach
Enrique Cardenas joined the staff as an assistant coach in the winter of 2020.
Cardenas joined the program after spending the three seasons as the head coach College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif.
Cardenas led a dramatic turnaround of the Roadrunners program when he took over in May of 2017. Almost overnight, the Men's Soccer program improved. The hiring of Cardenas changed how Coachella Valley student athletes viewed the Roadrunners. COD Men's Soccer immediately went from perennial cellar dwellers, where few local players were even on the roster and where even fewer played at the four-year level to Conference title contenders, all while holding onto some of the best talent in the Valley and most of that talent playing at the four-year level.
Cardenas, arguably the greatest Men's Soccer player ever to come out of the Coachella Valley, a former CIF Southern Section Player of the Year at Coachella Valley High School in Thermal and the Big West Midfielder of the Year with the Anteaters of UC Irvine in 2013, had no previous collegiate coaching experience going into the COD job. For over 15 years, Community College coaches from all over California would poach the Boys Soccer talent pool in the Coachella Valley, a few statewide Soccer powerhouses would build their foundation of success on student athletes from the Valley. In one season, Cardenas cut off that spigot. His relationships with local club and high school coaches in the Valley kept the local talent in the Valley.
In his three seasons at the helm, Cardenas amassed a 29-22-11 record, far surpassing most of his predecessors and accumulating the second-best win percentage in program history, only behind Jeffrey Keane who went 41-15-9 from 1999-2001.
The 2017 season saw the rest of the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC) put on notice that there was a new title contender in town. One of those key games was a 2-2 tie at home against the 2016 PCAC Champions, a team that the Roadrunners had not even really competed with since 2008. Unfortunately, injuries and a tough schedule took its toll on the back half of Conference play and the team finished fifth in the PCAC that season.
The 2018 season was a whole different animal entirely. The team reloaded, proving that the 2017 turnaround was not a fluke. The Roadrunners not only began the season by knocking off the #3 team in the Nation, but won Conference for the first time since 1999, grabbed Coach of the Year honors, PCAC Most Valuable Player honors for Alejandro Pimentel (Thermal Desert Mirage) and PCAC Goalkeeper of the Year honors for Uriel Lopez (Palm Desert H.S.). The team also claimed the #10 seed in the CCCAA SoCal Regionals, upsetting the #7 seed in the Quarterfinals.
For the 2019 season, the Roadrunners found themselves in a new athletic conference the Inland Empire Athletic Conference (IEAC) and with a huge target on their back. As the reconstituted Conference combined several other athletic conferences into one, with Desert the favorite to repeat as Champs. Regardless of the change, the Roadrunners did well again, winning the IEAC Title, Cardenas was again awarded Coach of the Year honors and once again, Pimentel would win Conference MVP. COD was rewarded with the # 11 seed in the CCCAA SoCal Regionals.
For his own playing career, Cardenas racked up multiple accolades at UC Irvine including an NSCAA Third Team All-American, College Soccer News Second Team All-American, Top Drawer Soccer's Team of the Season: Second Team, First Team All Far-West Region, Big West Midfielder of the Year, First Team All-Big West, Big West Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player, UC Irvine Senior Class Performance Award and Big West Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 23.
He went on to play professionally for the Orange County Blues and Atlante Futbol Club. Additionally, in the last year, he also spent time playing for the Los Angeles Force in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA).
Irving Garcia | Assistant coach
Irving Garcia joined the men's soccer staff in the summer of 2021.
"Irving has always been a catalyst for positive change as a player and person. We are very lucky to welcome him and his family to Cal State Fullerton as a mentor, coach and teacher," Kuntz said. "I have been fortunate to know Irvin for a long time. I watched him play in high school and recruited and coached him in college. His pedigree as a pro player and coaching background have provided us an opportunity to have yet another wonderful coach in our program. We are excited to have this staff together and are ready to move quickly towards the season!"
Garcia played for Kuntz from 2008-09 at UC Irvine where he helped lead the team to two Big West Conference Championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2009, Garcia was named Big West Player of the Year while earning all-american honors from National Soccer Coaches Association, College Soccer News and Soccer America.
Prior to his time at UC Irvine, Garcia started his collegiate career at Yavapai College where he was named Arizona player and NSCAA/ ADIDAS All-American while helping lead his team to a NJCAA National Championship.
Following his illustrious collegiate career, Garcia went on to play eight years of professional soccer from 2010-2018. He played in four different countries including the United States, Guatemala, Mexico and Spain. Garcia started his professional career with the New York Red Bulls in the MLS.
Igor Puglia | Goalkeepers Coach
