Nick Crowell
In his tenth year on staff at Florida State, assistant coach Nick Crowell continues to prove that he is one of the elite assistants in the country. While earning All-American honors in doubles play for the Longhorns, Crowell played for FSU head coach, Dwayne Hultquist, who was an assistant coach at the time. Since Crowell's arrival, Florida State has reached the NCAA Championships every season and shattered several team records.
During the 2011-12 season he helped coach Florida State's second doubles tandem to achieve All-American status in Vahid Mirzadeh and Connor Smith.
Over the last three summers Crowell has coached the Florida USTA Junior Under18 team and in 2010 his team won the National Team Championship at the University of Illinois. This marked the first time since 1983 that the Florida team has won this prestigious tournament. His team's performance over the #1 and #3 ranked teams was described as one of the greatest upsets in 25 years. His coaching ability made good players believe they were great and for his efforts was named the USTA Florida Junior Coach of the Year.
A doubles specialist in college, Crowell helped mold several new Seminole duos in 2009. In a matter of months Crowell helped turn Jean-Yves Aubone and Vahid Mirzadeh into a top 20 ranked team who upset the No. 1-ranked duo in the country from Wake Forest. The pair also earned a trip to the NCAA Doubles Championships in College Station, Texas. Crowell also helped guide Drew Bailey and Maciek Sykut to 23 victories in 2008-09 including an upset win against the fourth-ranked team from Virginia.
In addition to his coaching duties, Crowell runs the Seminole High Performance tennis camps which help mold young players into champions.
After another successful campaign in 2008, Crowell was elevated to the associate coach position at FSU. In 2008 he took the duo of Jean-Yves Aubone and Clint Bowles who had never played together and turned them into Florida State's all-time record holders for double's victories in a single season (28). The pair also advanced to the second round of the NCAA doubles tournament falling one win shy of All-American honors.
In May 2006, Crowell was named the ITA Mideast Region Men's Tennis Assistant Coach of the Year and became a finalist for the national award.
The 2006 season found the Seminoles concluding the year with a 18-12 record with arguably the hardest strength of schedule in the nation. Florida State's 18 wins tied as the second-most number of program victories in the last 16 seasons. FSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship and made the school's first four-peat appearance in the Big Dance since its run of five consecutive trips from 1994-98. Crowell was a big factor in the success of Ytai Abougzir, who became the first Seminole in 12 seasons to qualify for both the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship.
In 2005, Hultquist and Crowell led the Seminoles to a Cinderella-run that included a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in school history. Florida State also finished with its highest-ever national ranking at No. 13 and stamped in the record book its first 20-plus win season since 1985.
After a few months off, the pair of Seminole coaches hit the ground running in the fall of 2005 and led their troop to an impressive fall campaign. For the Seminoles efforts, Florida State not only earned the school's first invitation to the 2006 USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship, but also garnered a respectable preseason ranking of No. 11 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
In his first year with the Seminoles during the 2004 season, FSU reached heights it hadn't seen since the mid 1990's. The Tribe's second trip to the national summit was their first back-to-back appearance since the 1997-98 campaigns and they ended the 2004 year ranked for the 11th season in a row with a 10-13 record.
Since graduating from Texas in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in sports management, Crowell has been playing professionally on the Challenger and FUTURES tours. He reached the semifinals in doubles play at the Seascape Challenger (Aptos, Calif.) and the Challenger of Dallas. Unfortunately, an injury cut his career short and he became a teaching pro at Holly Tree Country Club in Tyler, Texas.
Early in his career at Texas, Crowell established himself as one of the top doubles players in the country. During his freshman season, he teamed up with Paul Martin to advance to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw at the NCAA Tournament, earning him his first All-American honor. That season he also earned the Big 12 Conference and ITA Region VI Freshman of the Year awards. His rookie of the year accolade from the league would be the first of many for Crowell. Starting his sophomore year, he earned all-conference honors his last three seasons in singles and doubles.
Finishing his career just as he started it, Crowell captured his second All-American honor during his senior season as he and playing partner Michael Blue advanced to the round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament. Earlier in the season, the two paired up to win the doubles title at the ITA National Indoor Tournament.
With nearly 100 doubles victories during his tenure with the Longhorns, Crowell ranks third in school history with 98 triumphs. His 29 doubles wins with Martin during 1997 still ranks in the top five. Sparked by a 35-win season in 1997, he ranks 15th on the all-time singles list.
A native of Amarillo, Texas, Crowell is married to the former Lindsey Smith of Tallahassee and has a daughter Brooklyn (2) and son Cash (born November 2011).
