DALLAS (SMU) — SMU Men's Tennis Head Coach Grant Chen announces the addition of Jaime Pulgar-Garcia and Bryce Pereira to his coaching staff ahead of the 2026-27 season on Monday.
"It's an exciting time. It is a new era, and we look to continue the climb of where SMU Men's Tennis needs to be. I've known these two coaches for a long time, both in different capacities, and that's allowed us to understand the vision and the alignment of where we're trying to get to," said Chen.
"What's exciting is we all bring different strengths to the table, but at the same time, it's something we can all absolutely complement and help each other build. As a collective whole, the strengths, the focus and the mission is all aligned."
Pulgar-Garcia will join the team as associate head coach, returning to the Hilltop after serving as assistant coach for SMU Women's Tennis in the 2018-19 season. He has been coaching professional tennis players since 2015, including several players in the top 200 of the ATP's world rankings who have competed in Grand Slams. He first started coaching as a private tennis instructor in both Spain and Raleigh, N.C., from 2006 to 2012.
"Super happy to be back. SMU is a special place for my family—my wife played here, and I coached here in the past, so I'm very excited to be back," said Pulgar-Garcia.
"The reasons that drove me back was the potential that this program has in terms of facilities, academics, recruiting and everything. We can compete with anyone in the country, and I'm excited. It's going to be a challenge, and I'm ready for it, and to do it alongside, Grant, and Bryce is truly special."
The Madrid, Spain, native has a multi-year professional career. His ATP world ranking reached as high as 296 in singles and 274 in doubles. He won 21 International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit doubles titles and reached the final of 11 ITF Pro Circuit singles events, winning the Open de Oliveira de Azemeis in Portugal in Sept. 2014.
Pereira will join the team as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator after spending four years as an assistant coach at Southern California. With him on staff, the Trojans have made the NCAA Super Regionals in 2025 and most recently reached the round of 32 in 2026.
"Grant recruited me some years ago at UCLA and coming here is a full circle and be able to work with Jaime as well. I'm incredibly excited," said Pereira.
"I'm going to hit the ground running right away. Grant and I are pretty aligned in the mentalities on things and how the team should be running. As a staff, I think we're all moving in the right direction."
Prior to coaching, Pereira was a standout player at UCLA, who claimed a career best ITA singles ranking of No. 53, while also tallying a total of 83 doubles victories during his time as a Bruin.
