Andy Brandi
Encyclopedia
Andres V. "Andy" Brandi is a former American college and professional tennis
coach. Brandi was formerly the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis
team of the University of Florida
. He is best known for coaching the Lady Gators tennis team to three National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) national tournament championships in the 1990s.
. He attended Trinity University
in San Antonio, Texas
, where he played for the Trinity Tigers
men's tennis team in NCAA Division I competition. Brandi graduated from Trinity University with a bachelor's degree
in business administration in 1975.
In his early 20s, Brandi trained with the legendary Harry Hopman
.
and Carling Bassett
when they were rising talents. Brandi was also the executive director of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy
in Bradenton, Florida
.
Brandi became the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
in August 1984. From the 1985 season through 2001, he built the Lady Gators tennis program from a strong regional team into a national powerhouse, second only to the national rival Stanford Cardinal
women's tennis team during his time the Gators' head coach. His teams won three NCAA national tournament championships (1992, 1996, 1998), and were the runners-up in five other NCAA tournaments (1988, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999), having reached the NCAA finals eight of his seventeen seasons. Brandi's Lady Gators also won six National Indoor Tennis Championships and fourteen Southeastern Conference
(SEC) championships, and never finished lower than second in the SEC regular season standings.
In one unique career moment, two of Brandi's Lady Gators, Shaun Stafford and Halle Cioffi, played against each other in the individual NCAA singles championship final in 1988. Gators Lisa Raymond
(1992, 1993) and Jill Craybas
(1996) also won individual NCAA singles championships during Brandi's tenure. In NCAA doubles championship play, three Brandi-coached doubles teams won four NCAA doubles championships: Jillian Alexander and Nicole Arendt
in 1991; Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas in 1996 and 1997; and Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff in 2001.
At the time of his resignation from the Gators coaching staff, he had the highest winning percentage (.915) of any coach in NCAA tennis history, and had the fifth highest number of career victories (460) among all NCAA tennis coaches, active and retired. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "honorary letter winner" in 2006.
After leaving the University of Florida, Brandi has worked for IMG Tennis Academies, the Chris Everett Tennis Academy, and the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute. Currently, he is a member of the player development staff and a national coach at the United States Tennis Association
.
's Florida Gators men's tennis
team from 2003 to 2006; Chris Brandi was an assistant coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons
men's tennis team. Brandi's niece, Kristina Brandi
, is a former touring pro who was ranked as high as twenty-seventh in the world.
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
coach. Brandi was formerly the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis
Florida Gators women's tennis
The Florida Gators women's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . They play their home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's...
team of the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. He is best known for coaching the Lady Gators tennis team to three National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) national tournament championships in the 1990s.
Early life and education
Brandi was born in Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. He attended Trinity University
Trinity University (Texas)
Trinity University is a private, independent, primarily undergraduate, university in San Antonio, Texas. Its campus is located in the Monte Vista Historic District and adjacent to Brackenridge Park....
in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, where he played for the Trinity Tigers
Trinity Tigers
The Trinity Tigers is the nickname for the sports teams of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The school mascot is LeeRoy, a Bengal Tiger...
men's tennis team in NCAA Division I competition. Brandi graduated from Trinity University with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in business administration in 1975.
In his early 20s, Brandi trained with the legendary Harry Hopman
Harry Hopman
Henry Christian Hopman, CBE was a world-acclaimed Australian-American tennis player and coach, born in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales, and soon moving to Parramatta, a city adjoining Sydney and now effectively a suburb of the metropolis.Hopman was a student at Rosehill Public Primary school...
.
Coaching career
Brandi was a touring pro for several years after graduating from college, but quickly discovered his true calling was refining the technique and improving the play of other up-and-coming professional tennis players. Notably, he coached Kathy RinaldiKathy Rinaldi
Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel is a former professional American tennis player, who retired in September 1997. She won three singles and two doubles titles during her career on the WTA Tour, and reached the semifinals of the 1985 Wimbledon Championships.-Career:Rinaldi reached her highest career ranking on...
and Carling Bassett
Carling Bassett-Seguso
Carling Kathrin Bassett-Seguso is a former Canadian professional tennis player. Bassett is the daughter of John F. Bassett and Susan Carling, and the granddaughter of media baron John Bassett and politician and brewery executive John Carling.-Tennis career:In 1981, Bassett won the Canadian junior...
when they were rising talents. Brandi was also the executive director of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy
Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy
The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy is located in Bradenton, Florida, and was founded in 1978 by Nick Bollettieri as a full-time tennis boarding school that combines intensive tennis training with an academic curriculum....
in Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's 2007 population to be 53,471. Bradenton is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833...
.
Brandi became the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
in August 1984. From the 1985 season through 2001, he built the Lady Gators tennis program from a strong regional team into a national powerhouse, second only to the national rival Stanford Cardinal
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.-Nickname and mascot history:Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams...
women's tennis team during his time the Gators' head coach. His teams won three NCAA national tournament championships (1992, 1996, 1998), and were the runners-up in five other NCAA tournaments (1988, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999), having reached the NCAA finals eight of his seventeen seasons. Brandi's Lady Gators also won six National Indoor Tennis Championships and fourteen Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) championships, and never finished lower than second in the SEC regular season standings.
In one unique career moment, two of Brandi's Lady Gators, Shaun Stafford and Halle Cioffi, played against each other in the individual NCAA singles championship final in 1988. Gators Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
(1992, 1993) and Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas
- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
(1996) also won individual NCAA singles championships during Brandi's tenure. In NCAA doubles championship play, three Brandi-coached doubles teams won four NCAA doubles championships: Jillian Alexander and Nicole Arendt
Nicole Arendt
Nicole J. Arendt is an American professional tennis player. Arendt won sixteen doubles titles in her career. The left-hander reached her highest singles ranking on the WTA Tour on June 16, 1997, when she was ranked forty-ninth in the world...
in 1991; Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas in 1996 and 1997; and Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff in 2001.
At the time of his resignation from the Gators coaching staff, he had the highest winning percentage (.915) of any coach in NCAA tennis history, and had the fifth highest number of career victories (460) among all NCAA tennis coaches, active and retired. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "honorary letter winner" in 2006.
After leaving the University of Florida, Brandi has worked for IMG Tennis Academies, the Chris Everett Tennis Academy, and the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute. Currently, he is a member of the player development staff and a national coach at the United States Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
.
Tennis family
Brandi and his wife Nancy have one son, Chris, who played for coach Andy JacksonAndy Jackson
Andrew Steven Jackson is a Scottish-born Irish association football player, currently playing for Greenock Morton.Jackson made his league debut on 14 August 2004, in St. Johnstone's 3–1 defeat to Queen of the South at McDiarmid Park...
's Florida Gators men's tennis
Florida Gators men's tennis
The Florida Gators men's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . The team hosts its home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's Gainesville,...
team from 2003 to 2006; Chris Brandi was an assistant coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Originally, Wake Forest's athletic teams were known as the Fighting Baptists, due to its association with the Baptist Convention...
men's tennis team. Brandi's niece, Kristina Brandi
Kristina Brandi
Kristina Brandi is a Puerto Rican tennis player.-Early years:Brandi was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she became interested in the sport of tennis at an early age. She made her professional debut in 1995 when she was 17 years old.-USTA Circuit:In 2003, Brandi won the most titles...
, is a former touring pro who was ranked as high as twenty-seventh in the world.
See also
- Florida GatorsFlorida GatorsThe Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
- History of the University of FloridaHistory of the University of FloridaThe history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
- List of Florida Gators tennis players
- University Athletic AssociationUniversity of Florida Athletic AssociationThe University Athletic Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida...
External links
- Andy Brandi – Official University of Florida profile at GatorZone.com.