Orlando Cervantes enters his fourth season as head coach at Lamar University.
Cervantes, who was named the third head coach in program history on July 16, 2012, didn't wait long to make an impact. In his first season, he led the Lady Cardinals to the best record in their six-year history, guiding Lamar to a second-place finish in the Southland Conference and their first-ever berth in the Southland Conference championship game.
In his first year at LU, Cervantes saw the Cardinals post single-season records for wins (11), goals scored (41) and goals-against average (1.37).
In his second season at LU, Cervantes kept an injury-plagued squad in contention for a Southland Conference Tournament berth up until the last weekend of the season.
Cervantes came to LU from Indiana University, where he spent two years as an assistant women's soccer coach. Prior to his stint at Indiana, he was an assistant coach at Cal Poly, where he helped the Mustangs win a Big West Conference championship.
Cervantes was the head coach for two seasons at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for one season, while also serving as the school's sports information director. Cervantes' job as a head coach was at Holy Names University for three seasons. Cervantes led the team to a pair of top three finishes in his first two seasons.
He got his start at UC Santa Cruz in 1996 as an assistant for both the men's and women's teams before moving on to his alma mater, San Jose State University, in 1998 as an assistant coach for the men's and women's soccer teams. He coached two first-round and one third-round draft picks in the Major League Soccer Draft on the men's side and helped the women's team qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history and capture a WAC Championship. The men also advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Cervantes also has experience with the Olympic Development Program (ODP), currently a member of the instructional staff with the California Youth Soccer Association as well as the USYSA ODP - Region IV team. He has served as the head coach of the California-North State ODP team.
His professional experience came with the California Jaguars of the United Soccer League (USL), where he was the head coach and assistant general manager responsible for player personnel and operations.
Cervantes graduated with a degree in kinesiology and minor in Spanish from San Jose State University. He recently earned a master's degree in coaching and athletic administration from Concordia University in Irvine, Calif.
He and his wife, Rachel, have a son, Canon, and a daughter, Graciana. The family resides in Beaumont.
