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Jeff Zinn, who has led Wake Forest into the most successful period in program history, enters his 13th season as the head men's tennis coach.
In November 2008 Zinn set a new Demon Deacon precedent, guiding Steven Forman and Cory Parr to the program's first ever national championship. The doubles team won the ITA's Indoor Championship and acquired the nation's No. 1 ranking. Forman and Parr became the third and fourth student-athletes to reach All-American status under the leadership of Zinn.
Zinn has transformed the Demon Deacon program from a top-75 team to a top-25 team and made Wake Forest a consistent top tier club at the ACC and NCAA levels. Under his guidance, Zinn has guided Wake Forest to eight straight NCAA Tournaments and nine overall appearances.
While Zinn credits his players for the success of the program, it is worth noting how the accomplishments those he recruited and tutored to Wake Forest have piled up.
Deacon individuals have earned All-ACC honors 18 times in Zinn's 13 years at Wake. In contrast, only 12 Deacons had earned all-conference honors in the 42 years prior to his arrival.
All nine of the program's NCAA Tournament appearances have come under Zinn's watch, including eight in a row.
Five times in the last seven years, Wake Forest has finished among the top four of the ACC. The Demon Deacons' 32 conference wins over the last six years are the most ever that the school has won in that time span.
Wake Forest's top five career leaders in singles wins and the top six career leaders in doubles victories all played under Zinn.
In 2006, Zinn coached his first All-American, junior Todd Paul. Paul finished the year ranked in the top 20 and reached the second round of the NCAA Championships. After taking over leadership of the squad in 1997, Zinn 1 led the Demon Deacons to a 14-12 record and the school's first ever NCAA Regional appearance in 1998.
Prior to his tenure at Wake Forest, Jeff Zinn was the head men's and women's coach at Arkansas-Little Rock, where he was named the 1994 Sun Belt Coach of the Year after his team finished second in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. He duplicated that mark and more in both 1995 and 1996 when the Trojans qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Zinn tutored Thomas Andersson, a standout at UALR who was the school's first NCAA singles qualifier when he participated in the 1996 NCAA Championships and later became a Deacon assistant coach.
Named 1992 Sun Belt Coach of the Year for his work with the Trojan women's program, Zinn finished his six-year stint at UALR with a combined men's and women's record of 133-88, including a 79-48 record with the men's program.
Zinn's teams were also successful in the classroom. His program maintained the highest grade point average among the school's 16 varsity teams for four consecutive years. In 1996, the team was awarded with ITA Academic All-American Tennis Team honors.
Prior to his stint at UALR, Zinn was the head coach at Northern Kentucky in 1990. He led the team to a first-place finish in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and tutored one player, Jeff Euwema, as he advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships. He was also named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Coach of the Year that season.
Before his time at NKU, Zinn spent seven years as the Director of Tennis at the West Side Racquet Club in Cincinnati where he personally coached three different high school state champions.
In college, Zinn played number one singles and doubles at Eastern Kentucky and at Cincinnati. Serving as team captain for the Bearcats, Zinn was named the team's MVP as both a junior and senior. He received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Cincinnati in 1984.
Zinn earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Arkansas-Little Rock in 1994 and also worked as an adjunct professor in the Sociology Department, teaching a course titled the Sociology of Sports. Zinn is certified by both the USPTA and the USPTR.
Zinn has twin 20-year old daughters, Kaitlyn and Jaclyn. An avid sports fan, he enjoys watching all Wake Forest sporting events.
