Zieziula named new men’s tennis head coach

Nick Zieziula has joined the Georgia Southern tennis program as men’s head coach, coming to the Eagles from his previous post as an assistant at the University of Central Florida.

Zieziula was a four-year letterwinner at The State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) and has been at UCF for two seasons.

“The dedication and hard work Nick put into being an assistant coach at both Buffalo and the University of Central Florida impressed us as well as his desire to become a Division I head coach,” said Georgia Southern Athletics Director Sam Baker. “We are extremely excited about Nick and what he will bring to our program with his outstanding background as a player and coach. I’m sure our student-athletes will enjoy working with him as we prepare for the 2010-2011 tennis season,” Baker said.

“I would like to thank Sam Baker, Cathy Beene, Jeff Blythe and everyone in Georgia Southern Athletics for giving me this opportunity,” said Zieziula. “The men’s tennis program at Georgia Southern has tremendous potential to be extremely competitive in the conference and compete for championships immediately, which is what drew me to the program. I am honored to have been chosen to lead the team and I look forward to getting to Statesboro to start working with our players.”

In his second season at UCF, Zieziula played an instrumental role in helping the Knights record ample time in the national rankings – ranking as high as No. 61 in early March – and earn the program’s best tournament seed (No. 3) in the Conference USA league tournament.

In both his seasons at UCF, Zieziula oversaw the academic progress of the team’s student-athletes. In 2010, five Knights garnered C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll status and in 2009, four players received academic honor roll recognition.

Before joining the athletics department at Central Florida, Zieziula was the assistant men’s tennis coach at his alma mater for three seasons. Working directly with the head coach, Zieziula played an active role in the recruitment process and day-to-day operations.

Zieziula spent two years at the Village Glen Tennis Club in Williamsville, N.Y., as an assistant High Performance Program Teaching instructor and served as the director of the High Performance Program from October 2007 to June 2008.

At Buffalo, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and minor in anthropology. Zieziula held UB records for career singles wins, career doubles wins and single season singles and doubles wins at the time of graduation. The three-time team captain won the UB men’s tennis Most Outstanding Player award and was named a Second Team Mid-American Conference selection in 2005. He was a member of the All-Mid-American Conference Academic team in 2004 and received the UB Service Excellence Award twice (2003 and 2004) and Coaches Award in 2004.