Tad Berkowitz enters his ninth season as the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats.

A native of Tampa Bay, Fla., Berkowitz joined the program in 2004 and has held numerous national and collegiate coaching positions. He was promoted to the head coaching position in the spring of 2005 after serving as hall-of-famer Bill Wright's assistant.

Berkowitz, 36, was a top collegiate player for the universities of Kentucky and New Mexico, respectively. His previous career in coaching includes stints at both Texas A&M and Alabama.

Berkowitz played collegiate tennis as the No. 5 singles player at Kentucky in 1993, then transferred to New Mexico where he helped lead the Lobos to Western Athletic Conference championships in 1994 and 1995. He earned All-WAC honors three years and won league Player of the Year honors in 1996. Berkowitz competed in the NCAA Championships each of his years in Albuquerque.

While competing professionally after graduation, Berkowitz earned rankings in the top 400 in ATP singles and top 200 in ATP doubles.

Berkowitz began his coaching career in 1999 as an assistant coach at Alabama for three seasons. In his final year he helped the Crimson Tide earn a No. 18 national ranking and a berth in the NCAA Championships.

For the 2001-2002 season, he was the assistant coach for Texas A&M. He then obtained the head coaching position at St. Stephens Tennis Academy in Austin, Texas, and was chosen as a USA Collegiate Summer National Team coach in 2002.

Berkowitz organized Arizona "Kids Day" with the help of Tucson Community Tennis. The event attracted over one thousand kids from the southern Tucson area. He earned his degree in speech communications from New Mexico in 1996. Berkowitz has one daughter, Kolbie Kayleen, born Dec. 13, 2005.

During the 2008-2009 season, Berkowitz was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year & West Region Coach of the Year.