Paul Kostin
After 22 years at the helm of the VCU men's tennis program, Paul Kostin hasn't changed much.
Ever since he joined the Rams back in 1991, Kostin has been focused on winning and making his student-athletes better in all aspects of life.
Now entering his 23rd season, the Sweden native has done plenty of both with plenty of wins on the court (nearly 1,000 during his career) and plenty of former student-athletes with big time success after VCU (Boris Kodjoe - actor, model/Frank Moster - tennis pro).
Under Kostin's guidance, VCU has reached the NCAA Tournament in 19 of the past 20 seasons and ranked among the top 25 Division I teams a total of 17 times. He has coached eight All-Americans, including last year when Alexis Heugas and Antoine Baroz reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Men's Doubles tournament.
Just four years into his tenure with the Rams, Kostin saw his squad in 1994 reach the Sweet 16. That was only a sign of things to come.
Six years later, the 2000 squad became the only VCU team to ever play for a national championship. The unseeded Rams strung together five consecutive victories, including wins over three of the nation’s top 13 ranked programs, to set up a showdown with Stanford for the national title. VCU advanced to the “Sweet 16” with a victory over #13 Mississippi continued its Cinderella story by upsetting fourth-ranked Illinois in the quarterfinal round. The Rams reached the title match with a thrilling 4-3 victory over powerhouse Tennessee in the Final Four and received a final ranking of #9 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
