Adriano De Souza

Biography

De Souza arrived in Chicago in 2022 following a three-year stint as an assistant at West Virginia where he helped the program to go to their first ever NCAA appearance. Prior to his time at West Virginia, De Souza was the head coach at Louisiana Tech. The Brazil native has been an assistant coach at Illinois State, Miami University (MAC Tournament Champion, NCAA qualifier) and a volunteer assistant at Kent State. Internationally, De Souza has mentored youth at many different levels of the game, from beginners to expertise. He served as the men's volleyball coach at the State University of Campinas winning sectional titles in back-to-back seasons. In 2001-2002 De Souza worked and studied closely with the head coach from the Brazilian Women Junior National team Antonio Rizola in developing tools for performance development. While taking undergraduate courses, De Souza served as a liaison and interpreter for the U.S. Women's National Team (1994) and Japanese National Junior Team (1993) while both were competing in the FIVB World Championships in Brazil. De Souza has spent a career in the States helping programs reach new levels of performance through his player-centered approach. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education and a second in Sports Training/Coaching from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo, Brazil and completed his master's degree in Sports Studies at Kent State University.