AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn women's tennis has added coaching veteran Mat Iandolo to the staff as an assistant coach, head coach Caroline Lilley announced on Wednesday. Iandolo has served as a head women's tennis coach at the collegiate level for over 30 years with stops at Purdue, Utah and Butler. He has coached seven All-Americans as well as five WTA Top-300 players during his career.
"When Coach Lilley was a young assistant, we ran into each other often on the recruiting trail," said Iandolo. "It was at that point that a friendship was formed based on the massive amount of respect I had not only for what she was doing but for how she was doing it. I knew it was only a matter of time before she was a head coach at the highest level. I cannot think of anywhere I would rather be at this stage of my career than working alongside her and Coach Falcon at Auburn in the heart of the SEC."
"Welcoming Mat to the Auburn Family is a milestone for our program," said Coach Lilley. "He is a developer and someone who has extensive head coaching experience at the highest level of collegiate tennis. His support and mentorship over my career as a coach has been invaluable."
Iandolo has spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Butler University where he led the Bulldogs to a quarterfinal appearance in the Big East Tournament, the furthest in program history, in 2021.
Iandolo accepted the head coaching job at Utah prior to the 2007-08 season. In his 12 seasons with the Utes, Iandolo led the team to 148 dual match victories and produced 21 All-conference selections between the Mountain West and Pac-12. Utah finished inside the ITA Top-25 in six seasons with him at the helm and the team earned NCAA Tournament bids in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Prior to his time in Salt Lake City, Iandolo took over the program at Purdue in 1991 where he was honored with Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 1998 after leading the team to a 14-win season and a final ITA ranking of 44th. Purdue also had 10 first team All-Big Ten honorees as well as five NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure.
Iandolo, a 1983 graduate of Weber State University, began his coaching career as an assistant for the women's programs at Kentucky, UCLA and California as well as the men's team at San Diego State.
"I want to thank John Cohen for affording us the opportunity to grow our staff as we continue to build our brand," Lilley continued. "Mat is a heck of a coach and is an even better human being. His vision is his motor and his passion is his fuel. We are blessed to be part of the next chapter of his career."
Iandolo will join head coach Caroline Lilley and associate head coach Megan Falcon on the Auburn coaching staff.