Ronnie Suarez joined the St. Thomas University rugby coaching staff in 2024, bringing more than 20 years of coaching experience and a lifelong passion for the game as both a player and coach. A World Rugby Level 2 coach and former World Rugby Coach Educator, Suarez has built an accomplished career developing athletes and programs at the youth, collegiate, club, and representative levels. Since joining St. Thomas University, Suarez has assisted the rugby program in achieving championship success, helping the team capture D1AA College National Championships in both Sevens (7s) and XVs rugby.
Suarez began coaching youth soccer with AYSO in Weston, Florida, from 2000–05 before transitioning to rugby in 2005. Since then, he has coached men's and women's teams across every level of the sport, earning a reputation for player development, technical excellence, and building successful, competitive programs.
At Florida International University, Suarez guided the Panthers to three consecutive appearances at the National Collegiate Rugby Sevens Championship in 2017, 2018, and 2019, finishing sixth nationally in 2017 and ninth in both 2018 and 2019. Under his leadership, FIU also captured a conference championship in 15s rugby in 2016 and advanced to the National Round of 16. Earlier, he led FIU to the 2015 USA Rugby Club Sevens South Regional Final.
Suarez has also enjoyed success at the club and representative levels. While coaching Miami Rugby, he led the club to consecutive USA Rugby Club Sevens South Regional Final appearances in 2016 and 2017. As head coach of the Florida High Performance (HPP) Sevens program from 2015–18, he led Florida to multiple appearances at the prestigious Las Vegas Invitational and coached HPP squads in international preseason matches against Canada and Mexico as they prepared for competition on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. In 2014, Suarez coached the Florida Burn to a USA Rugby Club Sevens regional final and served as backs coach for the Florida Juice squad that captured the USA Rugby Regional All-Star Championship.
In 2019, Suarez founded the S7ormers Sevens program, quickly guiding the club to a Florida state championship, a South Regional Final appearance, and qualification for the 2020 Las Vegas Invitational. Since 2020, he has also served as head coach of the United States Coast Guard rugby team.
Known for his commitment to developing student-athletes on and off the pitch, Suarez emphasizes leadership, accountability, discipline, and a high-performance culture that prepares players for success in competition, academics, and life.
Outside of rugby, Suarez earned a Bachelor of Science in Cyber and Data Security from the University of Arizona and is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
Fun Fact: When he's not coaching rugby, Ronnie enjoys traveling with his wife and daughter and is a dedicated motorsports fan. Whether it's Formula 1, endurance racing, NASCAR, or rally, he rarely misses a race—and still hopes to one day fulfill his dream of driving a rally car.
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