Less than three weeks after IU dismissed former men’s tennis coach Randy Bloemendaal for NCAA and Department of Athletics violations, IU has found its replacement in Jeremy Wurtzman.
IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass announced Wurtzman’s hiring as the 15th head coach in IU men’s tennis program history Wednesday.
Wurtzman, a native of Rochester, N.Y., is a former Ohio State player and spent last year as an associate head coach at Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to a 16-13 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
“I feel very fortunate and honored to lead this team,” Wurtzman said in an IU release. “I think Indiana is an elite academic and athletic institution and I look forward to continuing the tradition it has. Having played in the Big Ten, it has always been a dream of mine to be a head coach in the Big Ten and I’m eager to get started and build this program in the years to come.”
Wurtzman, 31, was named the 2013 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after guiding Denver to an 18-4 record, including an 8-0 record in conference play.
Prior to coaching at Denver, Wurtzman spent the 2008-09 season as an assistant at his alma mater, Ohio State. During the year, he helped the Buckeyes to the Big Ten regular season championship, the Big Ten Tournament title and an NCAA finals appearance.
He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Denver for two seasons. Denver was 31-14 during his time there and qualified for its first-ever NCAA Tournament ?appearance.
As a college player at Ohio State, Wurtzman finished his playing career with an overall record of 132-45 in singles and 86-49 in doubles. He was Ohio State’s first tennis player to win an Intercollegiate Tennis Association individual championship.
In 2004, Wurtzman was named an All-American, the 2004 ITA/Farnsworth National Senior Player of the Year and Midwest Region IV Senior Player of the Year. He was a three-time All-Big Ten selection.
Wurtzman followed his collegiate career with a successful professional career on the ATP World Tour. He won nine pro circuit doubles titles and was a three-time pro circuit singles finalist, at one point cracking the top-30 in the American professional singles ranking.
“Jeremy is one of the best tennis players the Big Ten has ever produced, possesses strong recruiting ties to this region and across the country, has a phenomenal track record of player and team development and is widely respected for his strength of character and commitment to IU excellence,” Glass said.
“We could not be happier to have Jeremy Wurtzman ?at IU.”
Sam Beishuizen
