Ricardo Rubio
• 2008 ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year
• Three-time ITA South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year (2002, 2006, 2008)
The 2011-12 campaign will mark Ricardo Rubio's 10th season on the men's tennis coaching staff at The University of Texas. Rubio served as an assistant coach during his first nine seasons at UT before being promoted to associate head coach in 2011.
During his time with the men's tennis program, Rubio has helped lead the Longhorns to the NCAA championship match (2008) and to additional NCAA semifinals appearances in 2006 and 2009. Rubio has teamed up with head coach Michael Center to lead the Horns to three Big 12 regular season championships (2006, 2008, 2010) and two Big 12 tournament titles (2006, 2010). Rubio and Center have led Texas to the NCAA round of 16 or better in five of the last six seasons.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) selected Rubio as its National Men's Assistant Coach of the Year in May of 2008 after Rubio helped the Horns reach the 2008 NCAA Championship match against Georgia and joined head coach Michael Center to lead UT to a 25-6 overall record and a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title. Rubio helped Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico to All-America doubles honors and mentored sophomore Dimitar Kutrovsky on his way to All-America singles honors.
Rubio was tabbed the ITA South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2006 after he helped lead the Longhorns to the NCAA semifinals. Rubio also was tabbed the ITA South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2003, when he teamed up with Center to lead the Longhorns to the NCAA Round of 16.
"I've had a great relationship with Coach Center for a long time and coaching at Texas has been and continues to be a phenomenal opportunity," says Rubio. "This school has so much tradition in its tennis program and it's wonderful to be involved with a program that has a chance to compete for a National Championship every year."
Rubio, who hails from Cadiz, Spain, has ties to the state of Texas dating back to the age of 14. As a freshman in high school, Rubio moved to New Braunfels, Texas, to attend the Joe Newcombe Tennis Academy. After an illustrious high school career, Rubio was offered a scholarship at TCU, where he went on to post a career singles mark of 115-49 en route to helping TCU to three Southwest Conference team titles and three trips to the NCAA Tournament (1989, 1991 and '92).
Rubio was named the Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year in 1989 and captured three individual conference championships during his career at No. 4 and No. 6 singles. A baseline player and clay court specialist, Rubio reached a peak singles ranking of No. 44 by the ITCA during his senior year, while also being ranked as high as No. 42 in Spain during that time.
After TCU, Rubio competed on the ATP Tour from 1993-97, earning top rankings of No. 252 in doubles and No. 383 in singles.
"Ricardo continues to add a lot to our program with his experience, both as a player and coach," Center said. "I consider him one of the top assistant coaches in the nation. He is a tremendous asset to The University of Texas."
Rubio married the former Meleah Matthews in July 2009. The native Spaniard became a United States citizen in February of 2011.
