Sergio Rouco enters his first season as an assistant men's basketball coach at Samford.
Rouco, a veteran coach, spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Austin Peay. During his time with the Governors, he helped lead the team to a pair of 20-win seasons. His time at APSU was just the latest stop in a long career spanning the prep, collegiate and international professional scene.
Prior to his time at Austin Peay, Rouco was on the staff at South Florida, where he spent three seasons as an assistant for Orlando Antigua and Murry Bartow.
Rouco broke into collegiate coaching at Florida International as an assistant, serving four seasons (1987-91) and returning to FIU as an assistant from 2000-2003. He spent a season at UTEP in 2003-04, helping the Miners win 24 games and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Rouco later became the head coach at FIU, a position he held from 2004-09. During Rouco’s tenure as the head coach of the Panthers, FIU made a semifinal appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the program’s longest postseason run since 1998, and mentored four All-Sun Belt players.
Prior to his tenure at South Florida, Rouco spent three seasons at Ole Miss (2011-14), helping lead the Rebels to a school record-tying 27 wins and an SEC Tournament title in the 2012-13 season. Rouco helped the Rebels win 20 games and earn an NIT bid in his first season with the program.
Rouco was a successful prep coach in the Miami area at Loyola (1986-87) and Norland (1991-95). He led Miami Norland to 29 victories and a spot atop the state rankings for a portion of the 1994-95 campaign.
He boasts professional head coaching experience for Club Mauricio Baez (1995) and Los Minas (1996) in the Dominican Republic, helping both squads reach the semifinals of the playoffs. In 1996-97, he was the head coach of the Trotamundos de Carabobo in Venezuela, and he returned to that country in 2010.
A 1987 graduate of Nova Southeastern with an education degree, Rouco and his wife, Kelly, have two sons, Sergio Alessandro and Fabian.
