Rae Sáenz was hired at UNLV in July of 2025 and oversees all strength and conditioning programs for women's basketball and cross country.
She comes to Las Vegas after being the Interim Director of Athletic Performance at Seattle University, where she served as the head strength coach for men's and women's basketball, volleyball, softball, men's and women's tennis and golf, and men's soccer. Before her time in Seattle, Sáenz spent one year as a strength and conditioning coach at Utah Tech University, where she was the head strength coach for the women's basketball team, volleyball and tennis, while assisting with football.
Prior to Utah Tech, Sáenz worked as a strength and conditioning coach while getting her master’s degree at Texas A&M-Kingsville, where she led the strength and conditioning programs for the development football group, softball, tennis, cross country and golf, while being first assistant strength coach for the travel football group. In the summer of 2021, Saenz interned at Sacramento State in their strength and conditioning program, where she helped coach the football and basketball programs. She was an intern at UC Davis from 2018-20, where she assisted in training the football, basketball, volleyball, softball, and track teams. During her internships, she also coached at private facilities, (The Experience and Iggy Training) doing personal sessions and group sessions with a variety of athletes
Saenz earned an associate's degree in health science from Merritt College in 2018 before double majoring in cognitive science and exercise biology at UC Davis, graduating in June of 2021. She received her master’s in kinesiology from Texas A&M Kingsville in May 2024.
