Head Coach Zubin Engineer

Zubin Engineer
Head Coach

*2019-20 season ended early due to COVID-19

Zubin Engineer has completed his seventh season at the helm of the Southern Miss men's tennis program, having been announced as the head coach in October 2013. His overall record entering the 2019-20 campaign is 99-52 with six winning seasons and a .656 percentage.

Engineer is on the ITA Southern Regional Coaches Committee. During his seven years at Southern Miss, he was instrumental in recruiting highly-qualified student-athletes from across the globe from Europe, Asia and the Americas. He played a large role in recruiting ITF Junior World No. 79 from Thailand who played in the U.S. Open Junior Event. He also brought in one of the top recruits in the nation from India, who was No. 658 in the ATP. Through the years, several top nationally-ranked players from Ecuador, Morocco, Chinese Taipei and India were part of the men's tennis roster.

The 2019-20 winning season was halted with an 8-5 record due to the coronavirus pandemic. The young Golden Eagle squad showed plenty of grit in each outing and shut out its lone C-USA foe, UAB, 4-0. At the ITA Southern Regionals, Matthieu Peres had an outstanding win against SEC opponent Diego Chavarria from Auburn.

The 2018-19 season was highlighted by wins against UNC Greensboro and Appalachian State during a spring break swing.

The 2017-18 season ended with a 19-4 record, making for a 40-9 record the previous two seasons. It also included a win over two-time defending C-USA Champion Rice, the first in program history, as the team swept its three matches of the C-USA West Division Showcase with other victories against UTSA and UAB. Wen-Po Tseng (doubles, singles) and Chung-Han Tsai (doubles) earned All-Conference USA recognition as well. Tseng's 15-0 singles performance created history by breaking a 37-year-old school record, and he also earned C-USA Player of the Week recognition.

The team's 21-5 record in the 2016-17 season was not only the winningest of his tenure, but also the second best record in Southern Miss history. Along with the successful record, sophomore Jorman Reyes set two school records with two 11-match win streaks. Reyes now sits at No. 2 in Golden Eagles history and finished the season 22-2 overall. Key victories came against UL Lafayette and George Mason as well as C-USA foes UTSA and UAB.

The Golden Eagles posted 12 shutouts that season, four of which came on the road. Chao-Yu Huang finished his career with the Golden Eagles with a 68-27 record. Huang and doubles partner, Wen-Po Tseng dominated on court 2 with 18 wins and concluded the season with seven-straight wins.

The Golden Eagles rounded up their season at the C-USA Championships and made it to the semifinals for the first time since 2009. The Golden Eagles beat FAU 4-3 to make it to the semis, their third C-USA win of the season. After the 21-win season, Engineer posts a fourth consecutive winning season with a 64-34 record (.653) and finishes with the APR 992.

The 2015-16 season saw Jorman Reyes, Daniel Merker and Tarun Sarut earn C-USA Player of the Week honors as the team went 16-9. The successful season saw a win against nationally-ranked South Alabama as well as key conference wins against FAU, UTSA and UAB. The Golden Eagles also defeated DePaul, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Lamar. Engineer's third season with Southern finished with a 16-9 overall record. The team went 3-0 to begin the season with wins against Florida A&M, Jacksonville State and Alcorn State.

Along with the athletic performances, Engineer's team excelled in the classroom. Six of the seven players made 3.5 or higher including Mikhail Esipov who earned a 4.0 and was named the Southern Miss President's Honor Roll for this accomplishment.

During the 2015-16 season, five of Engineer's players finished with a winning season. Huang and Tseng had the most successful season for the doubles teams with a 20-7 record. Both singles and doubles teams ended with a winning season for a second season in a row.

His second season in charge (2014-15), Engineer improved his team's record earning four more wins than the previous year. The 15-9 season had five players earning a double-digit win season in singles play. The Golden Eagles earned big wins against Arizona, SIU, Bucknell and Boston University led by Alex Doleac who was also named to the C-USA All-Academic team.

In his first season, Engineer's team finished with a 12-11 record as four players notched double digit wins in singles. Senior Paulo Alvarado earned C-USA Athlete of the Week during the regular season for his outstanding performance.

The Golden Eagles also won their first round match in the Conference USA Championship with a 4-3 win over Old Dominion to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010.

Engineer holds 20 years of coaching experience at the collegiate, Davis Cup, Federation Cup, National and International levels before his time at Southern Miss. Engineer has trained at the highest of level including multiple national teams and three Davis Cup teams.

Engineer holds 20 years of coaching experience at the Collegiate, Davis Cup, Federation Cup, National and International levels before his time at Southern Miss. Engineer has trained at the highest level including multiple national teams and three Davis Cup teams. Engineer's international coaching experience has stretched to four continents while training and traveling with elite athletes.

Engineer began his coaching career in 1991 in India with Britannia Amritraj Tennis (B.A.T) under Vijay Amritraj, where he was part of a program that produced a Junior Wimbledon player and a Junior U.S. Open champion as well as multiple Davis Cup players and Indian national champions. Vikrant Chadha, a member of the B.A.T team, was a member of India's Davis Cup team and went on to play for Ole Miss and was only the 13th All-American in Ole Miss Tennis history. Chadha was instrumental in taking the Ole Miss team to two NCAA Final Four appearances.

From 1991-2002, he held several administrative and coaching positions with elite clubs and academies in India, Thailand and Malaysia.

In 2003, Engineer co-founded The Tennis Academy of Asia (TTAA) in Thailand, Asia's largest international tennis academy, where he served as both head coach, academy director and ITF traveling team coach until 2008.

During his tenure with The Tennis Academy of Asia (TTAA) in Thailand, he recruited players from 35 countries to train year-round at the 14-court residential facility. He trained the Davis Cup teams of both Malaysia and Sri Lanka as well as produced an Asian Junior Girls champion, a world No. 26 ranked player from New Zealand and developed many elite players who won ITF events. Engineer's academy hosted prestigious international events like Junior Fed Cup and six ITF junior, pro circuit events and ITF Worldwide Coaches Workshop. For several years, Karunuday Singh trained at the tennis academy and went on to achieve an ITF No. 94 World Junior Ranking. Singh went on to play at the No. 1 position for Georgia and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the NCAA singles individual rankings. Singh also made the singles semifinals at the All-American Championships.

In 1998, Engineer was instrumental in playing a key role in preparing the Thailand national team for the Asian Games and South East Asian Games. The team won the first-ever Asian Games Gold Medal and four Southeast Asian Games medal. Paradorn Srichaphan, a member of the Thailand national team won the Asian Games Gold medal and went on to achieve the status of Asia's highest ranked tennis player in history when he reached the World No. 9 ranking on the ATP Tour in 2003, and Danai Udomchoke, who achieved World Top-100 status on the ATP tour in 2007.

In 2009, Engineer made the transition to the American College scene when he became head men's and women's tennis coach at Loyola University New Orleans, where he led the effort of the school to field both a men's and women's tennis program for the first time since 1997. Engineer's women's tennis team began competing in 2009 and the men's team in 2010.

During his tenure, Loyola's men received the NAIA 5 Star Team Champions of Character National Award in 2011 out of 258 teams and nine of his student athletes maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher. His student-athletes have won numerous awards such as NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athlete Award, SSAC individual Champions of Character Awards, SSAC Freshman of the Year, NAIA honorable mention All-American. Coach Engineer is also a certified professional by the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) and an International Tennis Federation (ITF) Advanced Level II certified coach. He has attended the USPTA Worldwide Coaches Conference and four ITF coaches' workshops.

Engineer earned his Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree in Psychology with a Magna Cum Laude GPA of 3.86 from Loyola University New Orleans. He received the outstanding scholar award from the College of Social Sciences and was inducted as a member of the Jesuit Honor Society.

Engineer also earned his Master of Science Degree with Honors in Sport Management in 2016 with a 3.93 GPA.

Engineer's wife, Piyanart Engineer, is from Thailand and is in her third year as the women's tennis assistant coach. During her tenure, she has been instrumental in the women's program achieving three consecutive winning seasons. She previously served at the University of New Orleans on the men's and women's staff since 2008.