Sacramento City College has one of the finest wrestling programs in the state. It is one of the most demanding and successful programs at SCC. The coaches responsible for much of that success are Head Coach David Pacheco and Associate Head Coach Walter Ulrich. Pacheco is entering his 40th season in coaching, 37th at SCC. Ulrich is starting his 22nd season of coaching at SCC.

Last season, 2017, these two along with the rest of the coaching staff, led the Panthers to a 3^rd place finish at the state meet. A line up with 3 sophomores and 9 freshmen beat the rankings to jump into the trophy level. SCC has finished 3^rd the past two years and had 2 State Championships in the previous 3 seasons. The Panthers also won their 7^th straight BIG 8 Conference title last year. We affectionately call it, “Saucy Seven”.

Since Coach Pacheco started coaching at SCC, they have won 15 Conference Titles and 4 Regional Titles. He has coached 20 State Champions, 91 All Americans, 172 State Medalists, 49 Regional Champions and 119 Conference Champions. He has also had 89 Academic All-Americans in his program, the most of any Community College in California. We send on many wrestlers to the 4 year level to compete, but those that do not wrestle, for the most part, continue their education.  He has been named the State Wrestling Coach of the Year three times and has been regional and conference Coach of the Year many times. In addition to his duties at SCC, Coach Pacheco has led 6 cultural exchange teams to Japan, and hosted an equal number of Japanese teams in Sacramento.  His team’s 13 dual wins last season put him at 284 wins overall. That keeps him in the top 100 coaches in wins by a college coach of all time, all divisions.

Coach Pacheco is a Panther Alumnus (1976-77), where he finished 4th in the State as a sophomore. He also was one of four SCC wrestlers to earn Academic All-American awards that season, the first of the many SCC Academic AA’s. He transferred to Idaho State University where he was a 2 time Big Sky Conference Champion and 2 time NCAA Division I National qualifier. He once again made the All-Academic team as well. He has been inducted into the Idaho State University Hall of Fame as well as the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, California Chapter. 

A Sacramento area product, Coach Pacheco graduated from Luther Burbank HS and Sacramento City College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and Special Education from Idaho State University. He earned a Master of Science degree in Physical Education from CSU Sacramento. He resides in Sacramento with his wife, Stephanie, who has worked for the UC Davis system for 40 years. His son Joe graduated from Sacramento CC and then Dickinson State University in North Dakota where many Panther wrestlers have competed for the DSU Wrestling program. Joe has been an Assistant Coach with SCC in wrestling and soccer, and currently works for the State Department of Health Services.