Palm Beach Atlantic University Athletics

Carlos Palacio begins his sixth season as the Sailfish women’s basketball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2017-18.

Coach Palacio returned to his alma mater in PBA where he received his bachelor's degree in Secondary Education in 2002 by being named head coach on July 6, 2012.

During the 2016-17 season, the Sailfih finished with a record of 8-18.  The 'Fish battled the injury bug during the season, and finished with a 4-14 record in Sunshine State Conference play. Palacio's team picked up two conference wins over Barry, and added SSC wins over Saint Leo and Lynn University.

In 2015-16 Palacio led the Sailfish to unprecedented heights, winning 13 games en route to the program's first .500 season since becmoing an NCAA D2 school. The 'Fish had winning streaks of five and four games each during their historic season and also earned a win over No. 12 Nova Southeastern at home in January. Palacio guided the Sailfish to their first winning season at home (7-5) in his tenure and the first time having at least a .500 record in Rubin Arena since the 2008-09 season. The team was propelled by the midseason addition of Janelle Cannon who led the team in scoring average, rebounding average, total blocks and total assists.

PBA continued its ascent into the South Region ranks in Coach Palacio's third season at the helm, once again improving on their win total from the year before to see the Sailfish win nine games during the year. Included in those nine wins were victories over NCAA postseason teams Colorado Christian University and Nova Southeastern University, who made it to the Elite Eight. 

A strong recruiting class led Palacio and PBA to a new level in the 2013-14 campaign, improving on their win total from the previous year while seeing some historic play on the court from individuals. The development of Kasie Parker became vital to the teams' success, with the shooting guard breaking the record for total points in a season (516) and points per game (19.8). Parker was joined on the Independents Collegiate Athletic Association First Team by fellow senior Jaz Green.

The Sailfish experienced some expected growing pains in Palacio’s first season on the bench in 2012-13 as he took on a program with a very young and inexperienced roster. The season was highlighted by sweeping the season series with Saint Leo University as well as defeating Lynn University who earned the Sunshine State Conference championship in 2012-13.

Coach Palacio also oversaw the continued development of senior Ashley Dolberry who would go on to become the program’s all-time leading scorer and first-ever Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American.

An accomplished and well-respected coach at various prep levels, Palacio was most recently the head coach at Lake Worth Christian School where he led his Defenders squad to a FHSAA State Championship and a No. 1-state ranking during the 2008-09 season.

His LWCS teams made the state playoffs five consecutive seasons during his tenure which culminated with the state title run in 2008-09. During this time he saw 11 of his players be named to the All-Area listing while assisting in the development and maturation of numerous future collegiate players.

For his efforts at Lake Worth Christian, Palacio was named Coach of the Year by both the Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel newspapers while leading the program to their first-ever No. 1 ranking in numerous publications.

Coach Palacio gained a firm grasp on the collegiate recruiting scene by operating a number of elite travel programs over the past 10 years that have developed some of the top girls’ basketball talent in Palm Beach County. Most recently as 2010 Coach Palacio established the D1 Elite Girl's exposure program where he traveled the country with his team.

A father of four, Palacio is married to another PBA alumnus in Tara "Curtis" Palacio.

PALACIO'S CAREER NUMBERS