Bio entering 2023-24 season.
Nicolas Vinel enters his tenth season on the Mesa as a part of the women’s tennis coaching staff under head coach Peter Mattera. Vinel spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant head coach before spending three as an assistant coach before he was promoted to associate head coach ahead of the 2019-20 season.
Since Vinel started his current role as associate head coach four years ago, San Diego State has produced 13 All-Mountain West players and six Mountain West Players of the Week. The Scarlet and Black have also excelled in the classroom, earning 28 academic All-Mountain West honors, ten Mountain West Scholar-Athletes and been named an ITA All-Academic team all four seasons. The Aztecs also won the 2022 Mountain West Tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament. It was the first league tournament title since 2003 and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013.
In his role, Vinel assists in all aspects of running the San Diego State women’s tennis program – both on-court and off-court.
Off the court, Vinel plays a key role in scheduling, recruiting, and monitoring academics. Vinel considers one of the most fulfilling parts of his job to be his ability to offer players guidance through their entire experience as student-athletes.
On the court, he is extremely involved with practices, assisting with one-on-one drills and with on-court coaching during matches. Vinel played an integral role in helping SDSU reach the Mountain West Conference Final in 2018, the Aztecs’ first appearance in that final since 2013.
Prior to his arrival to San Diego State, Vinel spent several years coaching elite players in the South of France. There, he worked and traveled with the country’s top Europeans junior players as well as some athletes ranked in the top 100 world ATP/WTA rankings.
A native of France, Vinel began his American collegiate career as a player at Virginia Commonwealth University. In his first season, he earned the Colonial Athletic Association “Freshman of the Year” award, helping lead his team to win the CAA conference championship with a 19-8 record.
Vinel then transferred to Santa Clara University where he ultimately became captain of the highest-ranked tennis team in school history. During his senior year, he led the Broncos to the second round of the NCAA Division I tournament following their victory against No. 15 Texas. Vinel graduated from SCU in 2012 with a degree in Economics.
The French native is married to the former Kacie Wagner and enjoys sports, music, the beach and hanging out with friends. His favorite athlete is LeBron James.