Goodwin named assistant coach for men's tennis
One of the brightest young minds in college tennis and a Southeastern Conference veteran is joining the Mississippi State men's tennis staff, as Andrew Goodwin was named State's new men's tennis assistant coach, MSU head coach Matt Roberts announced last Thursday [Sept. 28].
Goodwin was named State's new assistant coach after Matt Walters accepted the assistant coaching position at Central Florida.
"We are really excited to have Andrew on board," Roberts said. "We really believe in him. He's a great coach who can help our program continue its success and movement in the right direction. We feel like his character and values fit right in with our program's core beliefs and philosophy. We're excited to begin working with him moving forward through our upcoming tournaments."
Goodwin comes to Starkville after spending a season as a volunteer assistant on Coach Adam Steinburg's staff at the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbor, he helped guide a squad that finished 23-7 overall and 9-2 in Big Ten play in 2016-17 while the team also finished the campaign ranked 25th nationally.
Upon completing his collegiate playing career at Alabama during the 2014-15 season, Goodwin served as an undergraduate assistant for the Crimson Tide in the fall of 2015 and then as a volunteer coach for the spring 2016 campaign.
In addition to his stints in Tuscaloosa and Ann Arbor, Goodwin has served with the USTA in a pair of roles. In summer 2016, he worked with USTA Player Development, where he learned under numerous national coaches and assisted with the USTA Collegiate Team. In June 2017, he had the opportunity to work with the USTA Collegiate National Team coaching top American college players on the ITF Futures circuit.
Goodwin began his collegiate tennis career at Southern Miss, playing two seasons before transferring to Alabama.
He kicked off his freshman season at USM with a bang, holding a 22-7 overall singles record, 19-3 in dual matches, highlighted by a pair of eight-match win streaks. As a sophomore, he built on that success, leading the Golden Eagles in singles and doubles wins with 25 and 19, respectively. In dual match play, he compiled a 16-7 mark in singles and went 11-9 in doubles with 10 of those victories coming at the No. 1 position.
With the Crimson Tide, Goodwin quickly established himself as one of the team's best players and earned the team's Tenacity Award for his outstanding work ethic as a senior. In his two seasons in Tuscaloosa, he compiled a 30-24 record, including a 12-6 ledger at the No. 6 spot. In his junior season, he won 13 singles matches and 11 in doubles.
In the classroom, Goodwin also excelled, being twice named to the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll during his time in Hattiesburg. He was also a recipient of a Conference USA Academic Medal, awarded to student-athletes with GPAs of 3.75 or higher and was named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete. At Alabama, Goodwin continued his off-court success as a member of the 2014 and 2015 SEC Academic Honor Roll as well as a member of the 2015 SEC Community Service Team.
As a player after college, Goodwin teamed up with Vikram Hundal to win the doubles crown at the U.S. Open National Playoffs Southern Sectional Qualifying Tournament in June 2016.
Goodwin is the son of Scott and Sara Goodwin and has two sisters, Geales and Grace. The Alpharetta, Ga., native graduated from Alabama in December 2015 with a degree in finance and economics.
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