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Manuel Diaz, Head Coach
WINNINGEST In SEC COACH history
MANUEL DIAZ
34th SEASON
Manuel Diaz’s numbers speak for themselves -He has won 28 Southeastern Conference Championships in 33 seasons at the helm of the Georgia men’s tennis program. The Hall of Fame coach, who followed the ‘greatest Bulldog of them all’ and one of the founding fathers of modern collegiate tennis, Dan Magill, has become a name synonymous with the sport. Diaz won his 709th all-time match during the shortened 2019-20 season, passing his mentor Magill for the most wins in SEC history (now at 726 career wins).
Diaz is also the recipient of the 2020 Coach Dan Magill Impact Award — an honor given annually by the State of Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame. The 2021-22 campaign marks the 34th season as head coach for Diaz, who has led Georgia to six national championships - four NCAA titles (1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008) and two ITA National Indoor titles (2006 and 2007). He is one of only three active coaches with multiple NCAA titles and, since becoming head coach in 1988, Diaz has guided the Bulldogs to 28 SEC titles (18 regular season crowns and 10 tournament championships). The 2018-19 season brought his 700th win, putting him just six victories away from matching the SEC-record of legendary head coach Dan Magill’s 706 career wins. Diaz owns a 700-170 record — an 80-percent win percentage and average of 23 wins per year. The Bulldogs have ended the season ranked in the top-five nationally 19 times under Diaz and finished in the top-10 26 times and the top-25 in 29 of his years as head coach. The 2016-17 SEC regular season title gave the program its fifth-straight SEC championship for the first time since 1971-75. Diaz, the 2017 SEC Coach of the Year, guided the Bulldogs to their second consecutive NCAA semifinals and 24th overall. Under his leadership, the top-ranked duo of Jan Zielinski and Robert Loeb earned All-America status after advancing all the way to the 2017 NCAA Doubles Championship match. Under his leadership, the Bulldogs finished with a perfect SEC record in 2015-16, becoming the first Georgia team to achieve an unblemished SEC record since the 2007 NCAA Championship squad went 32-0. In 2013, his 25th season at the helm, Diaz led UGA into the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in eight years. He coached his 700th Georgia match Diaz’s Bulldogs swept both the SEC regular season and tournament crowns for the seventh time in school history. On March 10, 2013, Diaz moved into second place on the all-time SEC wins list behind only his mentor Dan Magill. Diaz led the Bulldogs to their second consecutive NCAA Championship in 2008. The sixth NCAA team championship title in school history, Diaz has accounted for four of them as the head coach (1999, 2001, 2007, 2008), and he was also an assistant coach under Magill on both of the other winning squads (1985, ‘87). In addition to his four NCAA Championships, Diaz’s teams have reached the NCAA finals seven other times: 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2006. In the last 10 seasons, Diaz has coached his team to a remarkable 237-55 record that includes a National Championship season in 2008. Georgia was also undefeated (32-0) in 2007 and 30-1 in 2006, with its lone loss coming in the NCAA final. From April 23, 2005, to March 19, 2010, Diaz coached the Dogs to 71 straight wins at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, the second-longest home winning streak in program history. Diaz led Georgia to 11 consecutive national top-five finishes from 1989 to ‘99, a feat no other school in the country can match. Diaz’s Bulldogs won the program’s first-ever triple crown of tennis in 2001, as the team won its second national title in three years, while Matias Boeker won he NCAA singles crown and teamed with Travis Parrot for the doubles championship. It was only the third time since 1977 that such a feat had been accomplished. A six-time SEC Coach of the Year (1989, 1995, 2001, 2006, 2007 and 2017), Diaz has seen seen 37 players earn a combined 73 All-America honors. With Diaz at the helm, five Bulldogs have been four-year All-Americans: Al Parker (1988-91), Mike Sell (1992-95), Jamie Laschinger (1993-96), Steven Baldas (1995-98), Bo Hodge (2001-04) and most recently John Isner (200407).
Diaz was selected as the Wilson/ITA National Coach-of-the Year in 1995, 2001 and 2007. For his outstanding contribution to tennis in his home country of Puerto Rico, Diaz was inducted into the Puerto Rican Tennis Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2000, he was inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame of Georgia Hall of Fame. Most recently in 2017, Diaz was among four athletes and coaches conducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Diaz is married to the former Suzanne Rondeau of Toronto, Canada. They have three sons: Manuel III, Eric and Alex. Alex was on the men’s tennis team and graduated from Georgia in the spring of 2021.
CAREER COACHING RECORD
• 34th season; 726-177 career record • Four NCAA Championships (1999, 2001, 2007, 2008) • One of only two active coaches with multiple NCAA titles • Led Georgia to its first ITA Team Indoor National Championship in 2006, then went back-to-back, winning another in 2007 • Three-time ITA National Coach of the Year (1995, 2001, 2007) • Seven-time ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year (1991, 1992, 1995, 2001, 2006, 2012, 2014) • Six-time SEC Coach of the Year (1989, 1995, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2017) • 37 players have received a combined 73 All-America honors • Five four-time All-Americans • 18 SEC regular-season titles, 10 SEC Tournament titles (28 total) • Finished the season ranked in the Top-5 20 times; finished Top-10 in 26 seasons and Top-25 in all 31 • Appeared in NCAA Championship match 11 times (1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008) • Seven individual singles National Champions • Three individual doubles National Champions • 110 All-SEC selections • Seven four-time All-SEC honorees • Four Academic All-Americans • 53 Academic All-SEC accolades • 15 SEC Scholar-Athlete Award winners • Three Clayton-Wilhite Scholar-Athlete Award winners • Three Joel Eaves Award winners • Assistant coach under Dan Magill from 1982-84 • Promoted to Associate Head Coach in 1985 • Became head coach for 1988-89 season upon Magill’s retirement • 2017 Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Inductee • 2020 Coach Dan Magill Impact Award
726
CAREER WINS
College (University of Georgia, 1972-75)
• Two-time All-American (1974-75) • Three-time All-SEC selection (1973-75) • Four-straight SEC team titles • Seven SEC individual titles: -No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles in 1972 -No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles in 1973 -No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles in 1974 -No. 1 doubles in 1975 • Two-time winner of Southern Collegiate Championships in singles in 1973-74 • Southern Collegiate Doubles champion in 1973 • Co-Captain of 1975 team that went 20-4 and won SEC title
Professional
• Played professionally in the U.S., Europe and South America after college • Recorded four wins against players ranked in the ATP Top 50 • Team Tennis in Germany, 1980-81 • Teaching Pro in Atlanta 1978-81 and in Puerto Rico from 1981-82 • Puerto Rican Davis Cup Captain from 1992 to 1997
Personal
• Married to the former Suzanne Rondeau of Toronto, Canada • They have three sons: Manuel III, Eric and Alex • Born March 16, 1953, in San Juan, Puerto Rico • Graduated from Sacred Heart Academy, 1971
Year Record Final Ranking SEC Finish NCAA Finish
