Stephanie Stephens enters her ninth season as head coach Barbara Cordova's assistant coach. With the Golden Rams' move to the Gymnastics East Conference (GEC), Stephens has served as the loop's sports information director the first four years of the GEC.

During her first eight coaching campaigns with Cordova, Stephens has helped 12 different Golden Rams earn an All-America certificate while assisting the 2019, 2022, 2024 and 2025 squads to the national championships.In 2024, senior Caroline Cascadden was selected as the GEC Specialist of the Year while junior Jordan Coleman took home Performance of the Year for her routine on bars in the opening meet of the season. Freshman EmmaGrace Kelly made it two straight Performance of the Year accolades for Golden Rams gymnasts when she was a co-winner of the award in 2025.

Along the way, Stephens has been recognized as Assistant Coach of the Year by two separate organizations. In 2018, she was the ECAC Assistant Coach of the Year while one year later, she took home the same award among Division II institutions as handed out by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA). This past spring (2024), Stephens added a GEC Assistant Coach of the Year plaque to her trophy case.

Stephens always goes above and beyond for West Chester Gymnastics and head coach Barbara Cordova so that the Golden Rams can be as successful of a program that it can be. In addition to her coaching duties, Stephens leads the team's social media, helps with alumni relations and is a huge help with fundraising. The former WCU gymnast also goes above and beyond forming positive relationships with team members encouraging them in and out of the gym.  
 
Stephens put her love for former teammate Meghan Brannon and WCU Gymnastics together and organized a scholarship in Brannon's name and a Memorial Meet for Meghan. Stephens did an excellent job organizing all of this on top of all her other responsibilities. 
 
Stephens possesses an excellent knowledge of all four events and is invested in making the team better. She is the primary beam coach, and West Chester's beam team is enjoying a great year. The Golden Rams broke, or tied, an individual beam record five times, along with the team record once, during the 2024 campaign. In all, West Chester set or tied seven records – four individual and three team marks.

Stephens, who competed under her maiden name of Plaugher, was a national qualifier her senior year (2014) in the floor exercise. The Lansdale, Pa., native competed on the vault, uneven bars and floor during her four-year collegiate career. In the fall of 2017, Cordova welcomed back one of her star pupils when the national qualifier jumped on board as the gymnastics assistant coach. Though Stephens had been coaching gymnastics at her club gym since she was 14, she discovered her passion for coaching once she teamed up with her former mentor at West Chester.

"It is a privilege to coach with and learn from Barb," Stephens said. "The relationship and coaching dynamic we have together is very special."

Stephens is a school teacher in the West Chester area. She received her bachelor's of science degree in Early Grades Prep from West Chester University in 2014.