Erik Burton comes to Nevada from Western New Mexico University where he has coached the Mustangs' men's and women's tennis teams since 2006.
"I am thrilled to be Nevada's men's tennis coach and will hit the ground floor running to take Wolf Pack men's tennis to the new heights and promote the excellent opportunities that the University of Nevada has to offer premier student-athletes," Burton said.
His men's teams won the 2010 and 2011 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and advanced to the NCAA championships in both years. In 2010-11, WNMU advanced to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament and was ranked No. 28 in the country and No. 1 in the Central Region. WNMU was ranked inside the top 30 among Division II teams during each of Burton's last three seasons.
He was named the RMAC Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2011, while this season, his student-athletes also won the RMAC Player and Freshman of the Year awards. He saw four of his student-athletes earn first-team all-conference singles honors and two doubles teams earn first-team honors in 2010-11. While at WNMU, Burton coached Yair Banuelos to an RMAC Player of the Year honor in 2010 and repeated the award with Emanuel Mensah in 2011.
His teams have also garnered ITA All-Academic and RMAC All-Academic honors, while Burton has served as chair of the ITA/Wilson Central Region national ranking committee since 2008. During his tenure at WNMU, Burton had a total of 22 male and 19 female student-athletes earn academic honors. Last season Burton coached Henning Thrien, the 2011 RMAC Men's Academic Player of the Year.
"We are very excited to have Erik take the helm of our men's tennis program," Nevada Director of Athletics Cary Groth said. "He has experienced championship, postseason and
academic success at Western New Mexico, and we are confident he will bring those achievements to Nevada and take the Wolf Pack men's tennis program to the next level."
Prior to WNMU, Erik served as a volunteer assistant coach for the women's tennis team at the University of New Mexico from 2002-04, helping the Lobos to the 2004 Mountain West Conference championship.
He also worked as a coach at the Tennis Club of Albuquerque, N.M., and the Gainey Ranch Estate Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
A 1997 graduate of Western New Mexico with a degree in sociology, Burton played three years of collegiate tennis at WNMU. Born in Clovis, N.M., he grew up between his hometown and Farwell, Texas.
