Jan. 14, 2011
SAN DIEGO - Jeff Thomsen, former associate head coach at the University of Miami, has been named an assistant coach for San Diego State men's tennis, head coach Gene Carswell announced.
Thomsen has 10 years of coaching experience, most recently at Miami beginning in 2008, where he served as the associate head coach his final season after serving as an assistant the previous two. He helped coach the Hurricanes to a No. 10 national ranking at the end of the 2010 season.
"We are very excited to bring coach Thomsen to the Aztec tennis family," said Carswell. "He's done a great job on the woman's side working with Laura Vallverdu, the No. 1 NCAA ranked woman, while also helping Miami reach the NCAA quarterfinals in each of the last two years. He believes, as I do, that the sky is the limit for our Aztec men's tennis program. We are looking forward to an extremely productive and exciting year from our squad."
Thomsen, a Newport Beach, Calif. native, brings his guidance to SDSU for the spring season following a 2010 campaign that saw the scarlet and black make improvements in both the singles and doubles game. His philosophy of developing each player's unique playing style will be a welcome addition to the Aztec staff.
At Miami, Thomsen was responsible for organizing practices and assisting with recruiting. One of his first recruits, junior Gabriela Mejia, earned All-America honors at the end of last season. Thomsen was also influential in developing Vallverdu, who advanced to the finals of the 2010 NCAA Singles Championships.
Prior to coaching at Miami, Thomsen served as head coach for one season at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif. There, he quickly turned around a struggling Pirates team and led them to a top-eight finish in the final rankings.
Before his brief tenure at OCC, Thomsen was head boy's varsity coach and head girl's junior varsity coach at Newport Harbor High School. He made the most of his time, turning the school into a dominant tennis program while taking the boy's varsity team to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section playoffs in four of five years. Even more impressive, he guided the girl's team to three undefeated seasons from 2002-2005.
Thomsen is also a highly sought-after personal coach, spending six years as a private instructor in California mentoring professional players as well as nationally-ranked juniors. In February of 2000, Thomsen co-founded the Latin American Sports Camp in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Thomsen played at the collegiate level for Golden West Junior College in Huntington Beach, Calif. After reaching the No. 1 ranking in the state, he received a scholarship from University of Oregon. Thomsen lettered twice as a Duck before graduating in 1999 with a degree in Sociology.