Head Coach

Zach Mills

Zach Mills is in his third year in charge of the Men's and Women's soccer programs at Southwest. This is his second stint with the Bears having served as men's head coach from 2016-18. 

In his first season back at Southwest, 10 Lady Bears and seven Bears received conference academic awards, some of which received national. The Lady Bears combined for a 3.22 team GPA. Mills' 2021 Women's squad finished the year with a cumulative GPA of 3.41 while the Men finished with a 3.25 GPA. 

Prior to his current run at Southwest, Mills spent two years as head coach of the Eastern Oregon University men’s soccer team. During his tenure at EOU, Mills led the Mountaineers to a 20-14-7 record and the program’s first-ever appearance in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament in 2018.

In 2019, the Mountaineers advanced to the CCC tournament championship game for the first time and also made their initial trip to the NAIA national tournament. Members of the 2019 squad included former Bears Joaquin Bermejillo, Patrick Larsen and Felipe Madero.

Also at EOU, Mills had two players named to the All-CCC 1st Team, three to the 2nd Team and had seven Honorable Mention selections.

In his first stint at SMCC (2016-18), Mills directed the Bears to a 23-10-2 record and the program’s first-ever trips to the MACJC/NJCAA Region 23 playoffs. He also coached the program’s first-ever All-American (3rd team), Jaime Delor.

Also under Mills’ guidance, the 2017-18 Bears were the MACJC men’s soccer Academic Team of the Year with a combined GPA of 3.33.

A native of Petal, MS, Mills is a 2010 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. In 2018, he received a Master’s degree in teaching Languages with an emphasis in Spanish and TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages), also from USM.

He is currently working toward a PhD in Performance Psychology.

Mills was an All-State and All-Region player during his time at Jones College. He then finished his collegiate career as an All-Academic student athlete at Delta State University. 

In 2015, Mills played professional soccer with FC Olimpia in Moquegua, Peru, and led the team in scoring with 32 points.

Mills is married to the former Vanessa Cervantes Flores.