Bio

Pat Mooney begins his 15th year at South Mountain and his third as an assistant in the 2021-22 academic year for SMCC in women's volleyball. He was named the SMCC beach volleyball and men's volleyball head coach on Aug. 18 , 2021. 

In his 13 years as the head coach at SMCC, he took the team to the playoffs seven times, (2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) and in 2007, it was the team's first playoff appearance in 10 years. The last team under his head coach assignment in 2018 was the most successful as the team finished 2nd in the conference, hosted the ACCAC Region 1 tournament as the highest finishing NJCAA Division II team in the conference, held an NJCAA ranking as high as 4th, won the region tourney and finished 5th at the National Tournament. 

During his head coaching tenure he produced numerous all-region players, all-conference players, academic all-americans, two All-Americans, won 3 ACCAC Coach of the Year awards (2004, 2014, 2018) and has helped the team win five NJCAA Academic Team of the Year awards, awarded to the team with the highest grade point average in the country, most recently in 2014-2015. 

Mooney served as an assistant coach for the SMCC beach volleyball team in the 2021 spring season, the program's inaugural campaign. 

Also possessing a 10 year head coaching tenure at Phoenix College, his teams were named NJCAA Academic Team of the Year every year from 2000 to 2004. His team was Phoenix College Team of the Year for 2000-2001, and in 1999 they finished fourth at the National Tournament. In 2004 his team placed second in the conference and held an NJCAA National ranking of 3rd in the country.

For 29 years, Pat has also worked with two junior volleyball clubs, with his latest tenure being at Spiral, both as a head and assistant coach.  Over the past several years, Pat’s Spiral teams have finished fifth, seventh, ninth, and the most recent finish in the summer of 2016 in first, as the National Champions! In 2005, he first served as an assistant coach with the USA Volleyball Arizona High Performance program. Pat was also the assistant for the 2008 and 2009 teams, with the 2008 team winning the championship---the first ever for an Arizona team!  In 2011, he moved to a head coaching position that included a 3rd place finish and a bronze medal at the championships in Tucson.

From 1991 to 1996, he was a Physical Education teacher in the Kyrene School District as well as the Boys’ and Girls’ Head and Assistant Volleyball Coach at Corona del Sol High School. At Corona, he led both of the programs to the state semi-finals from 1994 to 1996, was the first coach of the boy's program in 1994, and was AIA Central Region Coach of the Year in 1995.

In 2004, Coach Mooney graduated summa cum laude from Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, with a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and carried a 4.0 GPA throughout his master’s courses. In 1990 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, with an emphasis on Physical Education, from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. While at BGSU, he competed on the men’s club team, achieving all-conference honors in 1989 and 1990, and was elected as the team captain in 1990. 

Originally from Toledo Ohio and a graduate of Waite High School, Pat is married to Jama Nacke, the principal at Salt River Accelerated Learning Academy, and has two stepchildren, Carter and Carly.