Southwest MS Community College

Southwest Bear Athletics
1156 College Drive Summit, MS 39666

NJCAA Mississippi Southeast

Public Small Developing team

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Coaches

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Zach Mills

Zach Mills is in his fourth year in charge of the Men's soccer program at Southwest. He previously served as the head coach of the women's program simultaneously for the previous three seasons. This is his second stint with the Bears having served as men's head coach from 2016-18.

In his first season back at Southwest, 10 Lady Bears and seven Bears received conference academic awards, some of which received national. The Lady Bears combined for a 3.22 team GPA. Mills' 2021 Women's squad finished the year with a cumulative GPA of 3.41 while the Men finished with a 3.25 GPA.

Prior to his current run at Southwest, Mills spent two years as head coach of the Eastern Oregon University men’s soccer team. During his tenure at EOU, Mills led the Mountaineers to a 20-14-7 record and the program’s first-ever appearance in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament in 2018.

In 2019, the Mountaineers advanced to the CCC tournament championship game for the first time and also made their initial trip to the NAIA national tournament. Members of the 2019 squad included former Bears Joaquin Bermejillo, Patrick Larsen and Felipe Madero.

Also at EOU, Mills had two players named to the All-CCC 1st Team, three to the 2nd Team and had seven Honorable Mention selections.

In his first stint at SMCC (2016-18), Mills directed the Bears to a 23-10-2 record and the program’s first-ever trips to the MACJC/NJCAA Region 23 playoffs. He also coached the program’s first-ever All-American (3rd team), Jaime Delor.

Also under Mills’ guidance, the 2017-18 Bears were the MACJC men’s soccer Academic Team of the Year with a combined GPA of 3.33.

A native of Petal, MS, Mills is a 2010 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. In 2018, he received a Master’s degree in teaching Languages with an emphasis in Spanish and TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages), also from USM.

He is currently working toward a PhD in Performance Psychology.

Mills was an All-State and All-Region player during his time at Jones College. He then finished his collegiate career as an All-Academic student athlete at Delta State University.

In 2015, Mills played professional soccer with FC Olimpia in Moquegua, Peru, and led the team in scoring with 32 points.

Mills is married to the former Vanessa Cervantes Flores.

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Ivan Bastida

Ivan Bastida is in his second year as assistant coach at Southwest.

Prior to joining the Bears soccer staff, he was the Head Coach at University High School in Irvine, CA. During each of his five years at the high school level, his teams won their respective league titles.

He was also the Head Coach for Anaheim Legacy FC, a men’s UPSL team. In the spring of 2022, Anaheim Legacy FC was crowned the conference champions and promoted to the premier division of the UPSL. He led the team to a record of 21-5-1 during his tenure with the club.

He has an extensive coaching background and has managed teams of all ages. He coached multiple teams with Pateadores SC, a youth organization focused on player development in southern California. He also worked with the Men’s Club team at California State University, Fullerton where they reached the first conference championship match in school history.

Bastida went through each step of the education ladder. It began when he played for Santa Ana College where he received Defensive MVP and Rookie MVP honors in a run that took the team to the Final Four of the CCCAA. After finishing his Associate’s, he transferred to CSU-Fullerton and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. He obtained his Master’s in Coaching and Exercise Science from Concordia University, Irvine in 2021.

Ivan holds his USSF ‘C’ License.

A native of Southern California, Ivan attended Katella High School where he attained his biliteracy seal on his diploma for being a bilingual speaker. He was also named Team Captain and received the OCADA “Character of Honor Athlete” award.