Ivan Fernandez was named the head coach for UTEP tennis on June 5, 2017.
In seven seasons in the Sun City, Fernandez has provided stability to the program while also laying the foundation for long-term success. The fruits of his labor are showing, with most recently the Miners securing a 4-0 triumph against Sam Houston on April 18, 2024, to secure their first win at the Conference USA Championships since 2009. That effort culminated a seven-victory campaign, including outclassing I-10 rival NM State, 4-3, on "Senior Day" on April 14.
Individually, he mentored the doubles tandem of Carlotta Mencaglia and Hanna Telzynska to earning All-CUSA doubles second-team honors. It marked the first Miner duo to secure all-league accolades in doubles since 2001. He also guided Telzynska into becoming the initial UTEP tennis player to land on the CUSA All-Freshman team (first awarded in 2017).
The Miners have compiled 43 victories in Fernandez's seven years at the helm, including 28 triumphs at home. One of those home efforts was a 5-2 defeat of UTSA on Feb. 22, 2019, to secure the program’s first league dual-match win in three years. Furthermore it marked the biggest margin of victory against a conference opponent since 2014. UTEP has continued to be more competitive in league action since that point,
The Miners ended the Covid-affected 2021 regular season with a winning percentage of at least .500 for the first time since 2015-16. Furthermore, for the first time since at least 1990-91 UTEP closed out the regular season with three straight wins. Prior records are incomplete.
The Orange and Blue racked up eight victories in 2022, their most in six years. The Miners had some special moments in 2023, including knocking off UAB on the road, 4-3, on March 19 for their first league triumph in hostile territory since 2016. Carlotta Mencaglia became the first player in seven years to secure a CUSA Athlete of the Week award.
Kirsten Prelle was the first Miner to secure All C-USA singles accolades in three years. She finished the 2018-19 season with a combined record of 39-15 (22-8 in singles, 17-7 in doubles) while playing No. 1 singles and doubles as a freshman.
The program has also taken care of business in the classroom, boasting the top GPA in the athletic department four straight years. UTEP was named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team the past nine seasons, and also boasted the best GPA among all CUSA women's tennis programs in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. Furthermore, Veronika Lebisova became the third CUSA women's tennis athlete to land on the league's All-Academic Team in three straight years.
Fernandez came to UTEP after 12 years with NM State, including serving as the head coach from 2010-17. He led the Aggies to four straight berths in the in the Western Athletic Conference championship match (2014-17). The team won its first league crown in 2015 to make the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. NM State also won the regular-season crown in 2016.
He mentored 18 All-WAC honorees, including a pair of WAC Players of the Year (Ashvarya Shrivastav-2016 and Rimpledeep Kaur-2017). NM State also had its first nationally-ranked doubles tandem in 2010.
NM State piled up 42 Academic All-WAC selections. The program also received a Public Recognition Award from the NCAA in May 2017 for posting a perfect 1,000 multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR). He also served as director of the NM State Tennis Center, which hosted the WAC Championship three times during his tenure as head coach.
He previously was a volunteer men’s and women’s assistant coach at NM State (2000-03), a women’s assistant coach at FIU (2003-04) and a men’s assistant coach at East Tennessee State (2004-05) prior to returning to Las Cruces. The Buccaneers won the 2005 Southern Conference Championship with a 13-0 record and secured an NCAA Tournament bid. Fernandez was a tennis professional in Las Cruces from 1999-2003.
Fernandez has taught tennis since 1990.
A Puerto Rico native, Fernandez received his bachelor of arts degree in psychology from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, in 1996. His wife’s name is Lausanne.
