Adriano De Souza

Position: Assistant Coach Alma Mater: Universidade Estadual de Campinas '97

In the fall of 2011, Adriano De Souza begins his fourth season as an assistant coach at Illinois State University.

De Souza spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Miami University before coming to Illinois State, serving in a variety of capacities for the RedHawks, including assisting in practice design and development, season planning and assessment; and scouting opponents. In 2007, De Souza was instrumental in helping Miami reach the NCAA Tournament after capturing the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship. Two of Miami's wins came against nationally-ranked Ohio, the four-time defending conference champion. The only other team to sweep the Bobcats in 2007 was national runner-up Stanford.

In his first season (2005), the RedHawks recorded the most wins (17) since the 1998 Mid-American Conference championship team went 27-8. In 2006, Miami finished fourth in the MAC regular-season race, the RedHawks' best finish since 2000.

De Souza brings a diverse volleyball background to the Redbird program. He was a volunteer assistant at Kent State in both the 2003 and 2004 seasons, while completing his master's degree in sports pedagogy. He also volunteered as an assistant coach with the boy's volleyball team at Stow (Ohio) High School in 2004, and as the head coach of the Club Q Sport 17's team in 2004-05. Prior to his stint in Ohio,his coaching career in the U.S. started with two years as the head women's volleyball coach at Union College (Ky.) while he took postgraduate courses. He led the Bulldogs to a second-place finish in the Mid-South Conference and the program's first NAIA regional appearance in his final season (2000).

De Souza is originally from Brazil, a country with a great volleyball history and tradition, and he began playing the sport at the age of 14. He spent three years (2001-03) as the volleyball coach and co-administrator for two men's teams in the city of Rio Claro, Brazil. His under-21 men's team was the regional runner-up all three years, while his under-19 men's team was the APV League Champion in 2001, and posted a runner-up finish in 2002. In 1999, De Souza mentored the under-21, under-19 and under-16 women's programs at Club Regatas in Campinas, Brazil, before coming to the U.S.

He also served a three-year stint as the head men's volleyball coach at the State University of Campinas (1995-97), where his team won sectional championships in 1996 and 1997, finished second at the Metropolitan Championships in 1995 and 1996, and placed third in 1997.

Adriano has also worked with the former Brazilian National Junior Women National Team head coach Antonio Rizola in methods to improve game intelligence. In 1994 he worked a liaison and interpreter for the United States Women's National Team during the World Championship in Brazil and in 1993, he had the same responsibilities working with the Japanese National Junior Team during the Junior World Championship also in Brazil.

While in Brazil, De Souza taught physical education at the K-12 level from 1997-98 and also taught courses at the college level from 2001-03.

De Souza has co-authored numerous books and articles on sports and coaching:

• "Handball Coaches Perceptions About the Value of Working Competencies Accoring to Their Coaching Background" - Article in the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine with Dr. Isabel Mesquita (University of Porto, Portugal) - 2011
• "TGfU as a Coaching Methodology" - Chapter in the book More Teaching Games for Understanding - Moving Globally with Dr. Steve Mitchell (Kent State), 2010
• "A Player-Centered Approach to Coaching" - Article in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance with Dr. Judy Oslin (Kent State), 2008
• "Pedagogia dos Esportes - em esporte escolar" (Pedalogy of Sports - In School Settings) - 2004
• "Pedagogia dos Esportes" (Sports Pedagogy) - 1999

At the 2008 American Volleyball Coaches Association coaching conference, de Souza presented the seminar "Developing Game Intelligence and Empowerment Coaching: Planning, Practice Administration and Performance Evaluation." While coaching at Illinois State, de Souza continues researching on sports pedagogy and coaching approaches.

de Souza graduated with his bachelor's degree from Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Sao Paulo, Brazil in December 1997, and completed his master's degree at Kent State in May 2006.

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