During the 2022-23 season, Pillado's close work with sprinter Victor Baganha helped the athlete break the school record in the 100 fly (44.75), propelling him to NCAA Championship finals and All-American status. Baganha also set personal best times in the 50 (19.10) and 100 free (42.39) for the second consecutive year at the national meet, claiming the third and second-fastest times in the events in program history.
More Nittany Lion sprinters saw success in 2022-23 as Emma Harvey climbed the top-time sheets in the 50 Free and Marianno Lazzerini stood out in the breaststroke events. Harvey, swimming the 50 (22.58), tied for Penn State's eighth-fastest ever. At Big Ten Championships, she contributed to the fourth-placing 200 free relay alongside Mary Brinker, Cat Stanford and Ellie Tiskus. Lazzerini, the quickest freshman breaststroker in the conference, concluded a successful season as the Nittany Lion's second-fastest swimmer in both the 100 (52.49) and 200 (1:54.38) breast. Notably, at the Big Ten Championships, each athlete advanced to finals.
Joining the staff in September 2021, Pillado's coaching of breaststroke and middle-distance swimmers helped Nittany Lions break Penn State records and earn NCAA and international appearances. Junior Daniel Raisanen competed four times at the NCAA Championships and broke three school records, placing 18th in the 100 breast (51.96 - school record) and 27th in the 200 breast (1:53.79 - school record). He also swam the breaststroke leg in the record-making 200 medley relay (1:23.85). On the women's squad, Pillado helped coach the Nittany Lions to one school record, 10 new program top-10 performances, 26 top-24 finishes and nearly 400 points at the B1G Championships.
Pilado's first year continued through the summer as he accompanied Raisanen and graduate student William Lulek to Rome and served as an assistant coach at the European Aquatics Championship for team Sweden. Both swimmers earned their spots on the national squad earlier in the summer by sweeping the IM and breaststroke events and missing a national record by less than 0.3 seconds.
Pillado comes to Happy Valley after spending time as an assistant coach at Saginaw Valley State from 2020-21. Pillado ran daily training sessions, spearheaded the recruiting process and monitored academic progress. SVSU had seven school records broken at the GLIAC Championships.
Prior to Saginaw Valley State, Pillado was a volunteer assistant coach for the women's team at Texas A&M, from 2017-2020, where he helped to run practices and daily workouts. For the Aggies, Pillado helped run daily training sessions and coached the post-grad/professional group in his final two years in College Station. Pillado helped guide the Aggies to back-to-back SEC Championships in 2018 and 2019 and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2018. During his time at Texas A&M, eight school records were broken and the Aggies captured 11 individual conference championships, including two relay teams. Pillado helped coach 33 All-Americans and aided four swimmers to finish in the top-eight in the 200 breaststroke at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
Pillado coached five Olympians and multiple national team swimmers, from various countries, during the 2017-2020 tenure.
Pillado attended Davis & Elkins College and was a member of the swimming & diving team from 2013-17. He held nine different program records at one point. His 400 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay records still stand. Pillado was the first and only swimmer in school history to achieve all-conference honors at the Bluegrass Mountain Championships in 2016 for his performance in the 1,000-yard freestyle. He was named the Male Athlete of the Year in 2016 and was an Academic All-American every semester as a student-athlete. Pillado competed in track & field for the Senators in 2017 as well and still holds the school record in the javelin, an event where he was a GMAC finalist.
Pillado, a native of Coral Springs, Florida, earned his bachelor's degree in sport management from Davis & Elkins in 2017. He earned his master's degree in sport management from Texas A&M in 2020.