Ronaldo Pacheco is entering his first year as associate head coach for the Chanticleers women's volleyball team.
Before arriving at Coastal, Pacheco was an assistant coach with the University of Baltimore Maryland County (UMBC) Retrievers where he assisted in the organization, planning, and coaching of all practices and games. He also worked one-on-one with the student-athletes to facilitate individual skill development.
In his two years at UMBC, Pacheco helped guide the Retrievers to back-to-back American East Conference championships and NCAA tournament bids in both 2020 and 2021. He was vital in the scouting and evaluating in the recruitment of potential student-athletes.
"Ronaldo had a high-level professional playing career as an outside hitter with the Brazilian Men's National Team. He also has Olympic-level coaching experience as an assistant coach with the Brazilian men's and women's national teams," said Forman. "He worked along with the Olympic Champions head coach Bernardo Rezende and head coach Jose 'Ze Roberto' Guimaraes of Brazil's men's and women's national teams."
"While he was working as an assistant coach at Tulsa and UMBC, the team won their conference championships and made the NCAA tournament," Forman continued. "Over his five seasons at Ole Miss as an associate head coach, along with head coach Steven McRoberts, they won the NIVC tournament. Ronaldo's knowledge and experience together with his leadership make him an excellent and loyal coach, and we are lucky to have him!"
Pacheco was at Ole Miss from 2014-19 where he was promoted to associate head coach in January of 2017. He helped guide the Rebels to four-straight winning seasons for the first time in three decades, where Ole Miss won 12 regular-season tournaments and set numerous team and individual records.
In 2017, Pacheco helped coach the Rebels to a historic season as they captured the National Invitational Volleyball Championship and equaled the most wins (22) in the rally era. Ole Miss set several team and individual records with a pair of senior outside hitters joining the 1,000/1,000 club.
During his fifth year with the Rebels in 2018, Pacheco helped guide Ole Miss to 11 consecutive victories to begin the season, including sweeping the Georgia State Invitational Tournament in September in Atlanta. He coached All-SEC and AVCA All-Region selection Emily Stroup, who set the single-match kills and replaced herself as the single-season kills during the season. She also replaced herself as the single-season kills leader, a statistic she ranked second in the country.
In his first season 2014, Pacheco helped Ole Miss post their best record (22-10) in seven years and the best start in program history at 14-0. The Rebels posted consecutive 20-win seasons with a 22-11 record in 2015, which included a school record of 13 home wins, for the first time in three decades.
During his tenure at Ole Miss, Pacheco helped coach several players to individual honors, including All-American Nakeyta Clair, CoSIDA first-team Academic All-American Aubrey Edi, honorable mention All-Region Ty Laporte, and Lexi Thompson.
Prior to joining Ole Miss, Pacheco joined the Tulsa coaching staff before the start of the 2012 season. He helped lead Tulsa to a 26-10 record, both a C-USA regular and post season championship, and an NCAA Championship appearance. At Tulsa, Pacheco was involved in planning practice, scouting, recruiting, and conducting camps for the Hurricane. Pacheco also served as a student manager for the team from 2009-12.
A former professional volleyball player in Brazil and Argentina, Pacheco brings a wealth of coaching experience both on a national and international level. He served as the head coach for the Club Jundiai men's volleyball squad in 2005, the Melhoramentos men's volleyball team along with the Club Melhoramentos women's junior volleyball squad in 2002. Pacheco also served as an assistant coach on the Brazilian men's (2004) and women's national (2005-07) teams and aided Brazil men's team to a first-place finish at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
During his playing career (1983-2001), Pacheco played on 10 different teams, including S.E. Palmerias, the Brazilian Superliga runner-up. He also played for the Brazilian National Team, which captured a gold medal at the 1988 South American Junior Championship.
Pacheco is a native of Campinas, Brazil, and graduated from the University of Tulsa in 2012 with a degree in psychology.
