The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant Coach, Women's Tennis
Jeff Nevolo, the former head coach at SMU and previously an ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year at South Carolina, joined the Texas Women’s Tennis program as assistant coach in September 2025.
Nevolo came to the 40 Acres after spending the previous six seasons leading SMU following his hiring as head coach in July 2019. In 2024-25, Nevolo guided the Mustangs in their first season as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, ranking as high as No. 46 nationally during the season and later finishing No. 50.
In the two years prior to that, Nevolo led SMU to consecutive American Athletic Conference championships in 2023 and 2024, and he was named AAC Coach of the Year following both seasons. The second conference title in 2024 was capped with a 4-0 sweep over Memphis, and the Mustangs went on to defeat No. 33 Alabama, 4-3, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to top seeded Oklahoma State. SMU finished with a 14-12 overall record and a 5-1 conference mark. The season also included Taylor Johnson being named AAC Player of the Year, Lana Mavor being selected as AAC Championship Most Outstanding Player, and two AAC All-Conference selections.
In 2022-23, Nevolo led the Mustangs to their first AAC championship, defeating UCF, 4-0, in the finals. SMU competed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and closed with a 16-9 overall record with a perfect 4-0 mark in the AAC, including seven ranked wins. The Mustangs were ranked as high as No. 32 themselves that year by the ITA.
In his third season, Nevolo guided the Mustangs to a 15-9 overall record and a 5-1 conference mark. SMU placed three on the All-AAC team, giving the team three all-conference selections in the same year for the first time since 2009 in Conference USA. Nevolo’s team notched six wins over ITA top-60 teams, while achieving a national ranking as high as No. 36, the team’s highest since 2011.
Nevolo finished his second season with a 21-10 record, as the 2021 team captured the most wins for the program since 2011. Nevolo's squad climbed as high as No. 38 and made it to the AAC semifinals. Jackie Nylander and Hadley Doyle were each named all-conference unanimously.
In his first season of 2019-20, Nevolo led SMU to a 9-5 record (2-1 AAC) before it was shortened due to the pandemic. He guided the team to a 6-0 start, including shutout wins against Colorado, Colorado State and McNeese. SMU made a trip to the prestigious Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, where it defeated Arizona and fell to Alabama by only one point. Nevolo coached the freshman duo of Nylander and Isabella Tcherkes Zade to a 10-3 record and No. 60 ITA ranking. Nylander also finished 10-3 in singles and was named the ITA Texas Region Rookie of the Year.
Nevolo came to SMU from South Carolina, where he was the associate head coach for the women's tennis program from 2014 to 2019, and the 2018 ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year. In his five seasons at USC, the Gamecocks reached at least the NCAA Second Round each season. The 2019 team finished 23-4 on its way to the program's first SEC Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The team had its highest end-of-season mark at No. 5 in the final ITA rankings. Over five seasons, Nevolo helped South Carolina student-athletes earn seven bids to the NCAA Singles Championship and three spots in the NCAA Doubles Championship. In 2019, the duo of Ingrid Martins and Mia Horvit reached the semifinals, matching the best doubles finish in program history. During his tenure, the Gamecocks garnered three singles and two doubles All-America honors. Nevolo was the ITA Carolina Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2018, in addition to earning the national honor.
Before joining the Gamecocks, Nevolo spent the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons as an assistant for the Air Force men's program, and prior to that, he was an assistant for the men's team at Alabama for a year. He started his coaching career at Ball State from 2009-11.
At Air Force, Nevolo was promoted to associate head coach prior to his second season. He then helped the Falcons to their first winning record since 2006, as Air Force finished the season 13-12 and achieved its highest national ranking ever at No. 63 in late February. A 4-3 victory over No. 49 BYU marked Air Force’s first win over a ranked team since 2005. Air Force also won its first regular-season Mountain West dual match since 2003.
In his one season at Alabama, Nevolo helped Crimson Tide student-athletes Jarryd Botha and Ricky Doverspike advance to the round of 16 at the 2012 NCAA Doubles Championships.
Nevolo, a native of Gurnee, Ill., earned a bachelor's in sport administration in 2009 from Ball State. He began his coaching career that fall as a volunteer assistant for the Cardinals before being promoted to assistant coach the following year. During the spring, he helped Ball State capture the Mid-American Conference title for the first time since 2005, which gave the Cardinals an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. He also earned a master's degree in executive development for public service from Ball State in 2011.
Aside from coaching at Ball State, Nevolo was also a tennis teaching professional at The Bridgewater Club in Carmel, Ind., and the Muncie Family YMCA in Muncie, Ind. He and his wife, Diana, were married in July 2013 and have a daughter, Leah and a son, James.
