Matt Brothers enters his third season as the head coach of the DePaul men’s tennis team. He joined the DePaul Athletic staff in August of 2007 and has already made a positive impact on the program.
During the 2008-09 season, the Blue Demons capped off a fairytale run in the BIG EAST Conference Championship with a program-best second place finish. Entering the tournament as the No. 5 seed, the team first eliminated the fourth-seeded Marquette before upsetting the No. 23-ranked team in the nation and top-seeded Louisville for the second year in a row. Jose Moncada was a unanimous selection for the BIG EAST All-Conference team. Coach Brothers added another 17 wins to bring his DePaul career record to 33-20.
DePaul entered the ITA rankings on March 24 after defeating then-No. 43 SMU by a score of 5-2. They would reach a program-best ranking of No. 50 while ending the season at No. 74 and No. 11 in the Midwest Region. Austin Doerner and Ben Hartman spent six weeks on the national doubles poll, and reached as high as No. 38.
The 2007-08 campaign saw the team make vast improvements in Brother’s first year at the helm. The young Blue Demon squad improved upon their sixth place BIG EAST finish from a year ago, to upset No. 38 Louisville in the consolation finals to take third. In addition, Moncada and Alasdair Graetz were named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament team. Coach Brothers ended his first season with a 16-10 dual record.
Additionally, five student-athletes including Doerner, Graetz, Vanja Grgec, Hartman, and Bartosz Jozwiak were awarded BIG EAST All-Academic Team honors.
Brothers came to DePaul after spending five seasons as the assistant coach of the University of Iowa men’s tennis program. He made an immediate impact with the Hawkeyes, helping them achieve both individual and team national rankings four out of five years. Brothers also helped mentor three-time Big Ten Conference standout Stuart Waters in his transition to professional tennis, where he earned ATP rankings in both singles and doubles.
While at Iowa, Brothers also gained invaluable experience under head coach and 27-year veteran of the Big Ten, Steve Houghton.
“From Steve, I learned what college tennis is truly about; not just making our student-athletes better tennis players, but making them better citizens and helping to provide them with an overall successful and memorable university experience.”
It is this tradition of excellence, both on and off the court, that Brothers intends to install in the DePaul program.
Prior to coaching at Iowa, Brothers traveled throughout the United States and Europe for four years, competing in professional futures, satellites and challengers. It was during this time that he learned the discipline and intensity necessary to compete at the highest levels of the game.
Brothers got his first taste of collegiate coaching while at Marquette University, where he served as a graduate assistant while finishing his degree in 1997. As a collegiate player, Brothers was a team leader both on and off the court. While playing No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles for Marquette, he served as team captain, helped his team earn a top-10 ITA regional ranking and was honored with the Senior Leadership Award.
Before transferring to Marquette in his junior year, Brothers played No. 1 singles and doubles at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where, as a freshman, he was awarded the Mid Continent Conference “Rookie” of the year award and was picked first team all-conference both freshman and sophomore years.
Matt resides in Chicago with his wife Jennifer and their dog Max.
