Brandon Wagner

University of Texas at Austin

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A former collegiate and professional coach who has been an NCAA team champion and All-American as a player, Brandon Wagner has been named Assistant Men’s Tennis Coach at Texas, head coach Bruce Berque announced Friday.

"I am thrilled that Brandon will be joining our coaching staff at Texas," Berque said. "Brandon’s reputation in the coaching community is as good as it gets, and for good reason. He has had great success as a player, and also both as a college coach and a personal coach to elite juniors and professionals. His work ethic, experience, and passion for the sport will bring tremendous value to our program, and we couldn’t be happier to welcome Brandon and his family to the 40 acres."

During his coaching career, Wagner has served as an ATP/WTA Tour coach and an assistant coach at the University of South Florida and University of Georgia. As a player he earned All-America honors at Georgia in 2002 and was a member of the Bulldogs’ 2001 National Championship team.

"I am very excited and blessed to join the Longhorn family and to work with a program with such strong tradition," Wagner said. "I’d like to thank Bruce Berque and Chris Del Conte for this amazing opportunity. I am looking forward to working with Bruce and learning from one of the best coaches in the country."

Having recently been a professional circuit touring coach, Wagner developed American superstar John Isner, helping him climb nearly 100 spots into the top 80 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. He also coached WTA top-40 players Olga Govortsova, Ajla Tomljanovic and Melanie Oudin. In addition, Wagner groomed several junior players who reached the top five of the USTA national rankings.

“I’ve known Brandon Wagner for 15 years now, and we spent time together at Georgia where he was a tremendous help to our team and to me, personally,” Isner said. “When I was finished at UGA, Brandon was my first professional coach. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge, and he’s one of the hardest-working guys I know. Most importantly, he’s so well-respected in tennis circles. I know Brandon and his family are excited about this next stage of their lives.”

Wagner served as an assistant coach at South Florida from 2012-15 where he helped guide the Bulls to back-to-back American Athletic Conference championships, as well as consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and 2015.

In 2015, USF reached the NCAA tournament round of 16 for the first time in school history and finished ranked No. 16, its highest final ranking in program history, and the highest in the state of Florida that year. During the 2014 season, the Bulls climbed from No. 74 to No. 23 in the rankings, and Wagner was named Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

As a player at Georgia, Wagner helped lead his team to the NCAA Championship finals in two-straight years in 2001 and 2002, including the 2001 National Championship. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 NCAA singles tournament en route to his All-America honors. He also posted a career-high collegiate singles ranking of No. 6 that year.

Following college, Wagner played professionally for a short time, ranking as high as No. 441 and winning two tournament titles, while training with notable players such as Andy Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish, and Bob and Mike Bryan.

Wagner returned to Georgia as a volunteer assistant coach from 2003-04 after earning his bachelor’s degree from there in speech communication. He was also a member of the Dean’s Honor Roll at UGA.

Wagner and his wife, Karyna, have two children – a son, Braven, and a daughter, Brielle, who are 4-year-old twins.