Jeff Pacheco is the new University of Western Ontario Mustangs women’s field hockey coach, taking over the reins of women’s field hockey program from Brenyn Hodge, who recently stepped down to focus on her family.
After serving as assistant with Hodge since 2006, Pacheco will look to build the women’s field hockey program at Western which has seen rapid improvement over the past three seasons.
Jeff Pacheco
“I am extremely honoured to be representing The University of Western Ontario in this unique opportunity,” Pacheco says. “We have had a few really strong seasons, and I’m looking forward to building this program to take it to the next level.”
“I have no doubt that the Western field hockey team will contend and compete for OUA and CIS championships on a consistent level,” he adds. “I assure you that we will put a field hockey team on the turf that is going to play extremely hard, day in and day out.”
Western finished in third place in the OUA with an 8-1-5 record, defeating Waterloo 2-1 to capture the bronze medal.
“Jeff has been very connected with the Western field hockey program as our assistant coach for the past four years,” says acting director of Sports and Recreation Services, Chuck Mathies. “He has been very involved with the program in the off-season, overseeing training indoors. He was also very instrumental in supporting our team’s progress last season as they finished third in the OUA.”
“His transition to taking on the head coach duties will be smooth and our team will continue to build on his coaching strengths to move the program forward.”
A former member of the Junior Pan American Games field hockey team which competed in Santiago, Chile, in 2000, he has been a member of the provincial and national field hockey teams.
Pacheco coached in Australia and is the current Ontario Summer Games U-18 Southwest Region head coach. He is also a carded field hockey official.
“I’d like to thank the administration for making this such a nice fit,” Pacheco added. “They show real passion for sport at Western and it shows.”