Tony Pacella enters his 12^th season as the head coach for men’s soccer at the University of the South in 2025. He is the 11th coach in the program's history.
 
The Tigers have compiled a 33-24-12 mark over the last four seasons under Pacella, reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament in each campaign. In 11 seasons at Sewanee, Pacella has coached 43 All-Conference honorees and 181 to the league's Academic Honor Roll.


The Sinking Spring, Pa., native registered a 33-49-7 record in his first five seasons with the Tigers, with the 2015 squad reaching the conference tournament finals. Sewanee finished the season 6-12-2 overall and was the No. 8 seed in the league tourney but defeated top-seeded Oglethorpe on penalties and a Ramsey Seagle goal in the final five minutes pushed the Tigers past Rhodes in the semifinals before the club lost in the finals to Millsaps.
 
Sewanee registered an 8-8-0 mark in 2017 and 7-9-1 in 2018 before a breakthrough campaign in 2019, with the Tigers collecting an 11-5-1 record overall, 5-2-0 in the SAA with a third-place finish in the league. Pacella was voted Coach of the Year by his peers, the program’s first Coach of the Year honor since 2001.
 
Five players earned All-SAA accolades and Thompson Schollaert garnered Second Team All-Region honors while Johnny McNeill was a Third Team selection, but the club lost in the conference tournament quarterfinals in overtime.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic set the program back in 2020, with the Tigers playing just two overall matches. Returning to a normal capacity in 2021, Sewanee posted an 8-8-2 overall record and made it to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Four Tigers earned All-Conference honors and 18 student-athletes were named to the SAA Academic Honor Roll. 
 
Pacella’s most successful campaign at the helm of the program came in 2022, with Sewanee finishing 13-4-0 overall, 5-2-0 in SAA action, tying for first in the league standings with 15 points. Eight players were voted All-SAA and 21 student-athletes were recognized on the SAA Academic Honor Roll. The Tigers lost in the semifinals of the league tournament for the second straight year.
 
Zach Shunnarah and JP Furman were voted First Team All-Region and sophomore Trevor Reichman earned Third Team All-Region honors. Shunnarah later garnered All-America accolades, the second All-American in program history.

Sewanee suffered through a 6-5-6 campaign in 2023, with the club scoring just 23 goals in 17 outings, hitting the crossbar and the post and every other part of the goal except the back of the net on a number of late-match occasions. The Tigers finished fourth in the SAA standings, reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament for the third consecutive season.
 
Seven players garnered All-Conference accolades and a program-record 27 student-athletes were named to the SAA Academic Honor Roll.
 
In 2024 the Tigers got off to a rough start, posting a 1-4-4 mark through the end of September that included a 2-1 loss to third-ranked Washington and Lee as well as draws against 25^th-ranked Covenant and Belhaven. The club won four of its final six regular season matches before a victory in the quarterfinals of the SAA Tournament and then a 2-1 overtime loss to Oglethorpe in the semifinals.
 
Sewanee finished the year 6-7-4 overall with five players garnering All-SAA accolades and 26 named to the SAA Academic Honor Roll.

Prior to Sewanee, Pacella served two years as an assistant coach for men’s soccer at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., helping the Jeffs (now called Mammoths) to a 35-1-5 record with back-to-back NESCAC regular season and tournament championships. Amherst earned two consecutive trips to the NCAA quarterfinals and was ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA poll in 2013.

Individually, the Jeffs boasted eight All-Americans, 18 All-NESCAC Academic selections and 10 All-NESCAC honors.

Pacella worked one year as a men’s assistant coach at Temple University in Philadelphia prior to his time at Amherst.
 
He was a four-year starter and two-time all-conference selection at Elizabethtown College, graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s in Business Administration and a concentration in Finance.

He served as the team captain during his junior and senior seasons, earning the school's Best Male Athlete honor in 2011. In addition to his all-conference recognition, Pacella was a two-time NSCAA Mid-Atlantic All-Region selection.

Updated 8/20/25