Robert Pitre was announced as the new head coach for the indoor volleyball program on on Nov. 11, 2024. He takes over the program after serving the last seven seasons as an assistant coach and the last three years as the Head Beach Volleyball Coach. As the assistant coach, Pitre focused on defense and worked closely with the middle blockers. Loyola was consistently one of the best blocking teams in the SSAC, and two of the best middle blockers in program history (Emily Sheperis and Amaya Bazemore) excelled at the net for the Wolf Pack. He was also named the SSAC Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2021.
Pitre joined the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball staff in the spring of 2018. He also serves as the Wolf Pack's head beach volleyball coach.
In his sixth season as assistant coach, the Wolf Pack put together a 26-7 overall record, the best winning percentage in a season in program history. While the Pack dropped its SSAC semifinal match, the team earned an at-large bid to make the field of the NAIA National Championship tournament for the first time since 2002. The team also featured three First-Team All-Conference winners for the fourth year in a row.
The 2021 fall season was also historic for the Wolf Pack volleyball program in many ways. In August of that year, Pitre was named the head coach of the new beach volleyball program. The Wolf Pack indoor volleyball team then captured its first SSAC Regular Season Championship since joining the conference prior to the 2010 season. Pitre was named SSAC Assistant Coach of the Year and the AVCA Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
Pitre was recognized by several institutions after the 2020-21 season, his third with the program, after the Wolf Pack, with a 17-11 overall record, finished third in the SSAC in the regular season and runners-up at the SSAC Championship tournament. He was named the Assistant Coach of the Year by the SSAC and the Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Pitre came to Loyola after coaching the Mississippi Gulf Coast Volleyball Club to a 16-10 record. During the 2017 volleyball season as the assistant coach at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Ore., he helped guide the team to a historic year, garnering the most conference wins in school history. Earning their first playoff appearance for the program since 2014, their season was highlighted by an upset against the No. 15 team in the country, Corban University. Working with the 16U Webfoot Juniors Volleyball Club in Eugene, Ore. during the 2015-16 season, the team went 16-2 and placed eighth at the Pacific Northwest Qualifier in 2017.
Pitre’s other coaching experiences include volunteering with NCU volleyball during the 2014-15 season and earning the 2010 Baseball Willamette Valley Championship as the 12U Willamette Valley Babe Ruth Volunteer Head Coach.
He graduated with Cum Laude Honors from the University of Oregon in June of 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Pitre married his wife, Kelly Pitre, in 2015 and welcomed his first child in the winter of 2016, Elijah.
