Rivera is serving his third year with the Lady Chaps, working primarily with the pitchers. Prior to his season at LCU, he spent three years as an assistant softball coach at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. At WWU, Rivera was the recruiting coordinator, infield coach, assisted with hitting, and oversaw the strength and conditioning program for the Vikings. He helped guide Western to a school best 36 wins, a No. 6 NFCA ranking during the regular season and No. 1 in NCAA II West Region. Rivera oversaw one of the best defenses in the country, which had a .970 fielding percentage for 18th best in the nation.
Prior to WWU, Rivera served as video coordinator at Texas Tech University. In 2010, the Red Raiders reached regional title game against eventual World Series participant Hawaii, eliminating UC Davis and Stanford along the way.
He began his coaching career at Monterey High School in Lubbock as student assistant for wrestling and football. Rivera also coached highly successful select softball teams, Full Throttle and West Texas Smash, with several players going on to play collegiately.
Rivera graduated from Texas Tech in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in International Economics.
