Lopes will enter his fourth season with the Trojans in 2020. His work has primarily been with the team's setters and he has also assisted in recruiting for Little Rock's Team with his efforts providing an expanded roster in 2020. Under his tutelage, Taylor Lindberg earned a Sun Belt Conference Setter of the Week award her senior year (2018) before inking a contract to play professionally in Europe.
 
He came to Little Rock from the University of San Francisco where he was the head coach for the men’s club volleyball team. Lopes helped build the team from the ground up and saw one player earn All-Conference honors while two others received Honorable Mentions.
 
At the same time, Lopes was an associate coach for Sláinte Volleyball Club and helped coach 16-year old boys’ and 14-year old girls’ teams.
 
Lopes was a volunteer assistant coach for San Francisco’s NCAA women’s team for two seasons and helped with recruiting, scouting, logistics and team camps. He started out as the beach volleyball team’s director of operations in January 2015.
 
Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lopes was a setter for Fluminense FC, winning multiple local championships. The sports enthusiast has tied his passion for volleyball into his studies. Prior to graduating with a degree in international relations, Lopes focused his thesis on the politics within the Olympic Games through the history. Lopes earned his undergraduate degree from Brazil's Centro Universitário Curitiba - Unicuritiba. In 2009, Lopes coached the Unicuritiba men's squad to a program-best second place finish at the state championships.

However, his biggest accomplishment took place when he was in charge of the Department for International Affairs of World Youth Day Rio 2013, one of the largest events ever held in Brazil. Being responsible for groups of young people from all over the world and dealing frequently with Roman Curia, Lopes had the opportunity to be in touch with multiple cultures and improve his skill set in areas such as negotiation and conflict resolution. The highest point of his work came when he met and shook hands with Pope Francis. Also at San Fransisco, Lopes was a campus minister leading social justice immersion trips to West Virginia (2015), Poland (2016) and Brazil (2017), a program he developed himself.
 
Lopes earned his master’s degree in international studies in 2015 from the University of San Francisco with a thesis of migration and adjustment of international student athletes. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in international relations in 2012. At Little Rock, he’ll be pursuing a master’s degree in sports management and higher education affairs. Along with his his native language Portuguese, Lopes speaks English, German and Spanish. He is a Level I Coach certified by the South American Volleyball Confederation