Victor Lopez enters his fourth season as strength and conditioning director for the Florida men’s basketball program in 2025-26 after helping the Gators claim the 2025 national championship.
Florida won both the NCAA Tournament and SEC Tournament in compiling a 36-4 record. Lopez’s training had the Gators ready for the long haul, as UF’s championships all came as part of a memorable 12-game win streak to end the season that began March 1. The 12-game run to close the season included nine top-25 wins, a total that eclipsed any full-season total in program history. Eight of the nine ranked wins were vs. teams in the top 12.
The Gators totaled 12 top-25 wins on the season, eight top-10 wins and a pair of wins vs. the #1 team in the nation, as Walter Clayton Jr. became the program’s first first-team All-America honoree.
Lopez’s work helped the Gators weather the 40-game season with their top seven players in minutes combining to miss just seven total games all season. Three players – Rueben Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh and Will Richard – played all 40 games to match the program record.
The Gators tallied four top-25 wins in 2023-24 and had their highest-scoring team in program history with 85.7 points per game, ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, rebounds per game, offensive rebounds per game and offensive rebounding percentage. Florida returned to the SEC Tournament championship game for the first time in 10 years, and three Gators earned All-SEC honors in Walter Clayton Jr., Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel.
Lopez came to UF alongside head coach Todd Golden and trained a Florida squad that earned a pair of top-25 wins and a postseason berth in his first season at UF. The 2022-23 campaign also included All-SEC honors for Colin Castleton and SEC All-Freshman recognition for Riley Kugel.
Lopez, who hails from Antioch, Calif., first worked as a collegiate athletics strength coach as a volunteer with California State University, East Bay, assisting with men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and women’s soccer. Lopez then worked as a graduate assistant at Saint Mary’s from 2017-19, leading men’s and women’s tennis and women’s lacrosse while assisting with numerous other sports. He also spent time as interim head strength coach with the Saint Mary’s men’s basketball team.
Prior to his time in collegiate athletics, Lopez spent eight years working as a strength coach and fitness trainer. From 2004-08, Lopez served four years as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, where he commanded an elite team of Marines as a team leader in peacetime and in hostile environments.
Lopez earned his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from CSU East Bay in 2017 and his Master’s in Kinesiology from Saint Mary’s in 2019, where he graduated with honors. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
He has also obtained his Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach (RSCC) credential, an extra step beyond the CSCS signifying that a CSCS Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach has met specified higher standards for team-based professional and practical experience in the strength and conditioning profession. Every RSCC coach participates in annual training and assessments beyond what is required of their peers and is held to the highest standards of practice in the profession.
Credentials
- NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction * (CSCS*D)
- Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach Credential (RSCC)
- United States of America Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach Level 1 (USAW)
- NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM PES)
- Functional Movement Specialist Level 1 (FMS)
- Master’s Degree, Kinesiology, Saint Mary’s
- Bachelor’s Degree, Kinesiology, CSU East Bay
