Maryville College head coach Pepe Fernandez continues a remarkable dual career in charge of the Scots soccer programs on both the men's and women's side.
Fernandez came to Maryville in 1989. Since that fortunate moment for Maryville Athletics, Fernandez has combined to win more than 800 matches over his 34 collegiate seasons. He has led the women's and men's programs to several national rankings and 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 appearance by the 2005 men's squad. Both teams have consistently ranked in the top 10 in the South and have had more than 50 All-South players and six All-Americans.
With 414 wins on the men's side against 186 losses and 49 ties, Fernandez enters the 2024 campaign ranking sixth among active Division III men's soccer coaches and 22nd all-time. For the women, Fernandez has accumulated 413 victories against 166 losses and 45 ties. He ranks fourth among active coaches in victories and 10th on the all-time list.
His combined coaching record shows 827 victories, 352 losses and 94 ties for a winning percentage of .688.
Seven-Time Coach of the Year
With Maryville's venture into the Collegiate Conference of the South, Fernandez picked up right where left off by earned Coach of the Year honors for the women in the first two campaigns of 2022 and 2023. He led the women's team to a regular season co-championship in 2022 and then the Scots swept both the regular season and tournament titles in 2023 on their way to an NCAA championship at-large bid.
Fernandez completed his USA South coaching career with a combined conference record of 146-35-14 from 2012-21. He was named the USA South Coach of the Year a combined six times between the men and the women: 2013, 2018 and 2019 for the women, and 2016, 2017 and 2021 for the men. Fernandez led the women's squad to USA South tournament titles in 2014 and 2019, while leading the men's squad to the 2016 and 2018 USA South tournament crowns.
During the program's Great South Athletic Conference days from 2000-11, Fernandez coached the Scots to a combined conference regular season record of 165-7-6. Included was a remarkable 65-5-3 record on the men's side and an even more outstanding 100-2-3 mark for the women. The Scots under Fernandez won the Great South women's tournament 10 times and the men's tournament another seven times.
Fernandez is a Franklin native who attended Father Ryan High School in Nashville. He played for the Franklin Express Soccer Club in Williamson County and then played his collegiate soccer at Tennessee Wesleyan College. He excelled for the Bulldogs, earned the captain's armband for three years, All-Conference for four years, All-South for four years, and NAIA All-American for two years. He graduated from Tennessee Wesleyan in 1985 and earned his master's degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 1990.
His coaching career began in 1985 as an assistant coach at UT Chattanooga. He soon moved to Hixson High School, where he took the Wildcats to the state championship game in 1986 and had an undefeated regular season in 1987. That fall, he accepted a coaching position at Notre Dame High School, guiding the Lady Irish to the state semifinals in 1987 and then a state championship in 1988. His boys team made the regional final and regional semifinals.
Fernandez in addition to his coaching also played for two seasons in the USISL for the Knoxville Impact, serving one year as head coach. He previously served as a state head coach for the Tennessee Olympic Development Program, and he holds the NSCAA National, Advanced National, and Premier Diplomas and is a USSF-certified coach.
Fernandez was inducted into the Tennessee Wesleyan Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Maryville College Wall of Fame in 2011.
He lives in Maryville with his wife, Fran. They are the proud parents of two sons, Marc and Chris -- both Maryville College graduates -- and three grandsons, Landon, Ethan and Charlie.
The Pepe Fernandez Era
Men’s Soccer Women’s Soccer
1989 11-6-2
1990 15-4-1
1991 12-5-2 1991 12-2-1
1992 8-9-1 1992 15-3-0
1993 13-5-1 1993 9-8-3
1994 15-3-0 1994 10-6-2
1995 15-4-0 1995 12-8-0
1996 13-4-0 1996 8-9-1
1997 11-5-2 1997 13-4-0
1998 7-11-0 1998 11-5-0
1999 10-7-1 1999 9-5-2
2000 13-5-1 (3-0-0 Great South) 2000 10-5-1
2001 14-2-2 (5-0-1 Great South) 2001 12-7-1 (5-2-0 Great South)
2002 13-6-2 (6-0-1 Great South) 2002 11-5-2 (7-0-1 Great South)
2003 13-6-0 (7-3-0 Great South) 2003 10-8-1 (8-0-1 Great South)
2004 11-7-2 (7-1-0 Great South) 2004 15-4-2 (8-0-0 Great South)
2005 15-5-2 (8-0-0 Great South) 2005 15-4-1 (11-0-1 Great South)
2006 13-6-0 (6-0-0 Great South) 2006 16-5-0 (12-0-0 Great South)
2007 12-5-1 (5-1-0 Great South) 2007 17-5-1 (12-0-0 Great South)
2008 14-4-1 (6-0-0 Great South) 2008 17-4-1 (12-0-0 Great South)
2009 13-2-3 (5-0-1 Great South) 2009 14-5-1 (10-0-0 Great South)
2010 13-5-1 (3-0-0 Great South) 2010 13-6-1 (7-0-0 Great South)
2011 14-4-2 (4-0-0 Great South) 2011 12-3-3 (8-0-0 Great South)
2012 4-11-3 (2-4-2 USA South) 2012 12-4-1 (9-1-1 USA South)
2013 10-5-2 (6-3-0 USA South) 2013 13-2-3 (10-1-1 USA South)
2014 12-6-1 (6-3-1 USA South) 2014 14-7-1 (9-2-1 USA South)
2015 14-3-2 (7-1-2 USA South) 2015 13-4-2 (9-1-2 USA South)
2016 18-3-0 (9-1-0 USA South) 2016 10-8-1 (9-4-1 USA South)
2017 16-3-1 (9-1-1 USA South) 2017 14-3-2 (6-0-1 USA South)
2018 14-4-1 (10-2-0 USA South) 2018 13-6-0 (8-0-0 USA South)
2019 11-9-0 (8-5-0 USA South) 2019 15-5-0 (8-0-0 USA South)
2020-21 3-5-0 (2-4-0 USA South) *COVID Season 2020-21 12-1-0 (8-0-0 USA South) *Covid Season
2021 12-3-1 (5-0-1 USA South) 2021 11-7-1 (6-2-0 USA South)
2022 5-8-5 (4-1-1 CCS) 2022 11-4-5 (6-1-1 CCS)
2023 7-6-6 (2-2-2 CCS) 2023 15-4-3 (7-0-1 CCS)
Career (35 Yrs) 414-186-49 (.676) Career (33 Yrs) 413-166-45 (.698)
Great South 65-5-3 (.911) Great South 100-2-3 (.967)
USA South 64-24-7 (.715) USA South 82-11-7 (.855)
Collegiate Conference of the South 6-3-3 (.625) Collegiate Conference of the South 13-1-2 (.875)
