The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has welcomed West Nott as the new head coach for the Women’s Tennis Team.
Nott, who spent 10 years as the associate head coach at the University of Southern California is bringing his own style to the Rio Grande Valley.
“I know their previous coach and I know she did a great job,” Nott said. “So, I think I’m just going to continue on to what she’s been doing, except … do things a little bit more unique to my own style.”
Nott trained in different environments, having been born in the Marshall Islands and then moving to Michigan.
He was consistently ranked in the nation’s Top 10 for his age group and became No. 1 in the Midwest Section after winning the U.S. National Indoor Junior Championships in 1998 while in high school, according to usctrojans.com.
“I didn’t plan on it,” Nott said of his achievements. “I would just dream of just trying to fall in love with the game and it just kind of naturally happened.”
He obtained an athletic scholarship from the University of Florida and played tennis there for one year before transferring to the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004.
In just three seasons at Georgia Tech, Nott rose to No. 5 on the all-time career singles wins list and reached No. 2 all-time in single-season doubles wins, according to usctrojans.com.
Nott finished his career fifth in program history in wins while posting the second most doubles victories in a single season. After college, he volunteered at the University of Washington for the men’s tennis program before catching a “lucky break” to work for the University of Southern California as an assistant coach.
Throughout his time at USC, Nott guided the Trojans to four Pac-12 Team Championships (2009, 2012, 2013, and 2015) while reaching the Final Four in the NCAA Team Championships in 2012 and 2015. He has also coached five national champions, including Maria Sanchez, who now plays professionally for the United States.
Nott also helped USC reach No. 1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings in 2015 and went on to set a program record of 25 consecutive wins in Pac-12 play, which led to his ITA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year award.
“It’s been a long journey,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot. I got a lucky break working at USC and I just capitalized on it, working for 10 years and it was just a great different set of experiences to lead me to where I am here today.”
Nott keeps demonstrating his passion for the game, as he continues to compete as a member of the Pacific Oceania team, where he took the victory in the deciding singles match against Pakistan at the 2006 Davis Cup.
He has high hopes for this season and the team.
After four of the nine members of the team graduated last spring, UTRGV has started the season with only five members. One is a junior and the rest are sophomores.
“I think it’s going to be a learning experience for all of us,” Nott said. “We have a really young team. But I’m just gonna try to focus on the day-to-day aspects of the job and, again, the score is just going to naturally take care of itself over time.”
Having trained many players, he has helped them develop their true potential not only on but also off the tennis court.
Nott’s leadership and knowledge have left a mark on the game, and now he’s trying to do the same for UTRGV by building the brand and promoting the tennis program.
“I think, maybe, if we’re gonna attract some of the top kids just in this local region within the United States then, you know, it can help grow the program,” he said.
