Carl Neufeld
SMU men's tennis coach Carl Neufeld has moved in to the Top-10 in career wins among active coaches following another successful season (2011) for the Mustangs. Neufeld now boasts 508 career wins in his 27 years as a head coach. He picked up his 500th career victory with a 6-1 win over Columbia on March 15, 2011.
Neufeld annually produces some of the top student-athletes in the country. In 18 seasons at SMU, Neufeld has coached 13 athletes to ITA national end-of-season rankings, including No. 9 Ignacio Hiriogyen in 1999 and No. 7 Genius Chidzikwe in 2001. He has also led seven doubles pairings to end-of-season rankings, including No. 3 Dustin Mauck and Keith Pollak in 1999 and No. 2 Jon Wallmark and Johan Brunstrom in 2001
Neufeld led SMU to arguably its finest season ever in 2000-01, as two Mustangs won national titles while the team reached the Final Four at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1986. The team reached the Final Four by defeating second-ranked UCLA. The accomplishment earned him his second WAC Coach of the Year honor.
After an 11-year absence from the NCAA Team Championships, Neufeld led SMU to the pinnacle of collegiate tennis in 1998 with its 11th appearance in the team championships. In only its second year in the WAC, SMU tore through opponents and registered a 21-5 record, the school's first 20-win campaign since 1987, not to mention an undefeated 9-0 mark against conference opponents and the school's first conference title since 1987.
In 1997, the Mustangs returned to NCAA postseason action for the first time in 10 years. Three players notched at least 20 singles wins, including current assistant coach Ignacio Hirigoyen, who became the first Mustang to win 30 singles matches in a season.
Neufeld was appointed to the NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis Committee for a three-year term starting in 2006. The committee is compiled of administrators and coaches from men's and women's tennis programs throughout the nation. The committee is in charge of all championships and selection of teams as well as general information, rules and regulations for tennis programs.
Taking an aggressive approach to SMU and the Dallas tennis community, Neufeld was the driving force behind bringing the ITA Indoor Collegiate Championships to Dallas in 1994. Neufeld was also the tournament director for the championships all 10 years that it was held in Dallas. Due in part to Neufeld's efforts, Texas is emerging as one of the best tennis-playing regions in the country.
Neufeld came to the Hilltop after serving four years as the assistant coach at Southern California, where he helped guide the Trojans to three consecutive Pac-10 titles and two NCAA Championships in 1991 and 1993. The Trojans' national title in 1991 was their first in 15 years and they won three straight Pac- 10 championships for the first time since 1966-68. While at USC, he coached nine NCAA All-Americans whose professional wins include Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, the French Open, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.
Prior to coming to SMU, Neufeld was active in the Los Angeles tennis community. He served a variety of positions, which focused on raising funds for tennis programs for underprivileged children.
Before starting at Southern Cal in 1990, Neufeld was the head tennis coach at Northern Illinois for nine seasons (1980-89). In 1980 at age 22, Neufeld was the youngest head tennis coach in the nation. During his stint in Dekalb, he became the winningest coach in NIU history with a 181-104 record (.635). On his path to the wins record, Neufeld defeated schools from major conference such as the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10, highlighted by three wins over perennial national power Notre Dame. His last four teams at Northern all won 20 or more dual matches and combined for a 112-42 (.727) record.
