Jeff Zinn is heading into his 11th year as the head coach of the Penn State Men’s Tennis program. Coach Zinn is 144-111 at Penn State and 524-370 in 30 years of coaching. Zinn was named to the top ten most winningest coaches in Division 1 Men’s Tennis. Zinn was also awarded ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year during the 2018-19 Season.
Last season, Coach Zinn, along with Associate Head Coach Paul Tobin, posted a 7-10 overall record. Under Coach Zinn’s leadership, fifth-year senior Christian Lakoseljac received Second Team All-Big Ten, collecting his fourth All-Big Ten award in the process. Lakoseljac also earned Penn Stats’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. At home, the Nittany Lions won five matches played in University Park posting an impressive 5-1 record. Coach Zinn’s team found success in the classroom, as well. Nine players were named to the Academic All-Conference team.
SEASON CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
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Achieved a Duel Match Record of 118-69 (%)
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Achieved a Duel Match Home Record of 70-14 (%)
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Achieved #4 NCAA Tournament Appearances (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019)
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Achieved #3 NCAA Tournament Rd of 32 Appearances (2014, 2016, 2019)
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Finished #3 BIG TEN Conference Ranking (2014, 2016 and 2019)
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Achieved #39 BIG TEN Conference Wins
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Set record for most dual match wins in a season (22) in 2014 and 2016
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Qualified for ITA National Indoor Team Championships sweet 16 in 2015
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Achieved #41 ITA National Ranked Team Wins
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Highest ITA National Ranking: 2014: #23, 2015: #16, 2016: #21, 2017: #44, 2018: #44, 2019: #30
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Highest Singles ITA National Ranking: #23, #25, #39, #32, #45, #52, #80, #88, #91, #99, #101
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Highest Doubles ITA National Rankings: #1, #18, #19, #29, #30, #55, #56, #60, #66
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Biggest Upsets: 2014: #16 Illinois, # 28 Northwestern, 2015: #19 Kentucky, #20 South Florida , #23 Princeton, #31 Michigan , 2016: #15 Illinois , #25 Columbia , 2017: #31 Minnesota , 2019: #16 Michigan, #32 Minnesota
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Achieved #35 Academic ALL-BIG TEN Athletes
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Achieved #8 ALL-BIG Conference Players
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Led 2 Singles & 2 Doubles Team in the NCAA Tournament (2014 and 2019)
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Ranked top 10 recruiting class by TRN in 2016-17
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Recruited 13 top 125 ITF WORLD JR
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Recruited 9 Top 1200 ATP players
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Recruited 16 (5) Star US Recruits
Zinn came to Penn State after spending 15 seasons with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Zinn’s career record speaks for itself, as he posted a superb 231-157 record while at Wake Forest, including a 78-62 record in the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference. The Demon Deacons made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including a streak of 11 consecutive seasons. Before Zinn’s arrival, Wake Forest had never made the NCAA Tournament.
Zinn is credited with pushing the Wake Forest team from a perennial top-75 squad to a top-25 team. He also transformed the Demon Deacons into a top tier club in the ACC and NCAA. Under Zinn’s guidance, Wake Forest finished among the top four in the ACC seven times in his last 11 years there. The Deacons reached at least the semifinals of the ACC Championships for four straight years from 2007 to 2010, the longest such streak in the school’s rich tennis history.
In 2011, while at Wake Forest, Zinn notched his 11th straight winning season. He led the Demon Deacons to 10 wins against nationally ranked opponents, including a 4-0 win over No. 30 Wisconsin to open the season and a 4-0 victory against No. 46 Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
In 2008, Zinn led two players to the school’s first-ever individual NCAA Championship as the duo claimed the NCAA’s Division I doubles title and became first-team All-Americans. During Zinn’s 15 years at Wake, his players collected 23 All-ACC honors. The school had only 12 all-conference players in the 42 years prior to his arrival.
The 1984 Cincinnati graduate continued his head coaching career as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Arkansas-Little Rock, where he was named the 1994 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and led Arkansas-Little Rock to the NCAA tournament in 1995 and 1996. He was also the 1992 Sun Belt Coach of the Year for his work with the Arkansas-Little Rock women’s team. He coached in Little Rock for six seasons, amassing a combined 133-88 record, including a 79-48 mark with the men.
The 1984 graduate continued his head coaching career as head men’s and women’s tennis coaches at Arkansas-Little Rock, where he was named the 1994 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and led Arkansas-Little Rock to the NCAA Tournament in 1995 and 1996. He coached Little Rock for six seasons, amassing a combined 133-88 record, including a 79-48 mark with the men.
Zinn’s collegiate coaching career began at Northern Kentucky where he coached for one year (1990). In just one season, he led Northern Kentucky to a conference championship, earning conference Coach of the Year honors. Prior to his season at Northern Kentucky, he spent seven years as the Director of Tennis at the West Side Racquet Club in Cincinnati.
An outstanding collegiate player himself, Zinn played number one singles and doubles at Eastern Kentucky and Cincinnati. Serving as the Bearcat captain, he was also named the team’s Most Valuable Player as both a junior and senior. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in `84. Zinn then went on to earn his master’s degree in public administration from Arkansas-Little Rock in 1994 and worked as an adjunct professor in the sociology department. He is certified by both the USPTA and the USPTR.