Mat Iandolo
Mat Iandolo is entering his sixth season as head coach of the University of Utah women's tennis program. In 2010-11 Iandolo was named the Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season after leading the Utes to back-to-back conference titles and NCAA Championship appearances. With a 16-10 overall record, including a 7-1 mark in MWC play, Utah made its second straight trip to the NCAA tournament after earning the MWC's automatic bid by winning the conference tournament championship. Iandolo also placed four players on the all-MWC team for the first time since Utah joined the conference.
Iandolo has built a 70-51 record in his first four seasons at Utah. He has also produced at least three All-MWC selections each year, including 2011 MWC Women's Tennis Player of the Year Anastasia Putilina and 2008 MWC Freshman of the Year Evgenia Kryuchkova. Additionally, Iandolo's program has shown a strong commitment to academics with 23 players earning Academic All-MWC honors over four years, including five in 2010-11. In addition, Iandolo received Utah's 2009-10 Don B. Reddish Coach of the Year award.
In his inaugural season at the helm, the Utes finished the 2007-08 season ranked No. 54, earning their first national rating in the year's final poll since the 2004 campaign, and finished the 2008-09 season ranked No. 63.
An experienced coach, Iandolo has been working with collegiate players for more than 25 years, since his graduation from Weber State in 1983. He came to Utah prior to the 2007-08 season after spending 16 years at Purdue.
"I came to the University of Utah because of Harry James," Iandolo said of the former Utah coach. "He is one of my coaching idols. I am very proud to be a tennis coach at his university."
After taking on the Purdue program in 1991, Iandolo started building it from the ground up. Purdue totaled just nine wins in Iandolo's first three seasons, but made a major turnaround in 1995, winning 14 overall matches and six Big Ten contests en route to a fourth-place conference finish. Purdue had never finished higher than fifth (1982) in the Big Ten prior to Iandolo's appointment.
In 1998, the Boilermakers enjoyed their most successful year under Iandolo, winning 14 overall matches while posting a program-best 8-2 record in Big Ten play, good enough for a second-place regular-season finish. During the 1998 spring season, Purdue collected two upsets over Top 30-ranked opponents, won matches against Northwestern and Indiana for the first time ever, and earned a final national ranking of 44th.
For his efforts in that memorable season, Iandolo garnered Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. Iandolo guided the Boilermakers to another winning campaign and yet another NCAA Championship appearance in 2003. Iandolo again was honored for his work in leading Purdue to a 6-4 Big Ten record, as he received Big Ten Coach of the Year recognition at season's end. In 2006, the Boilermakers made the NCAA regional finals and posted a big win over No. 17 Harvard along the way.
Iandolo's Purdue players collected Academic All-Big Ten laurels 62 times.
