Andres V. Brandi (born c. 1952) is an American college and professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

coach. He is currently co-head coach of the

LSU Tigers tennis The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

team with his son, Chris Brandi. Brandi was formerly the coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team and lead them to three

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athlete, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic sports, ...

(NCAA) national tournament championships in the 1990s.

Early life and education

Brandi was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ju ...

.Paul Jenkins,
Gators hire new women's tennis coach
" ''The Gainesville Sun'', pp. 1D & 4D (August 22, 1984). Retrieved June 16, 2011. He attended Trinity University in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, where he played for the

Trinity Tigers The Trinity Tigers is the nickname for the sports teams of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). The school mascot is LeeRoy, a Bengal tiger ...

men's tennis team in NCAA Division I competition. Brandi graduated from Trinity University with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1975. In his early 20s, Brandi trained with the legendary Harry Hopman.

Coaching career

Brandi was a touring pro for several years after graduating from college, but quickly discovered his true calling was refining the technique and improving the play of other up-and-coming professional tennis players. Notably, he coached Kathy Rinaldi and

Carling Bassett Carling Kathrin Bassett-Seguso (born 9 October 1967) is a former Canadian professional tennis player. Bassett is the daughter of John F. Bassett and Susan Carling, and the granddaughter of media baron John Bassett and politician and brewery e ...

when they were rising talents. Brandi was also the executive director of IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

. Brandi became the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida in August 1984.GatorZone.com, Women's Tennis History, 2001 Roster
Andy Brandi
. Retrieved June 11, 2011. From the 1985 season through 2001, he built the Lady Gators tennis program from a strong regional team into a national powerhouse, second only to the national rival

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

women's tennis team during his time the Gators' head coach. His teams won three NCAA national tournament championships (1992, 1996, 1998), and were the runners-up in five other NCAA tournaments (1988, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999), having reached the NCAA finals in eight of his seventeen seasons. Brandi's Lady Gators also won six National Indoor Tennis Championships and fourteen

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) championships, and never finished lower than second in the SEC regular season standings. In one unique career moment, two of Brandi's Lady Gators, Shaun Stafford and Halle Cioffi, played against each other in the individual NCAA singles championship final in 1988. Gators Lisa Raymond (1992, 1993) and

Jill Craybas Jill N. Craybas (born July 4, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player. From the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open, Craybas competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slam main draws; her best result coming in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships ...

(1996) also won individual NCAA singles championships during Brandi's tenure. In NCAA doubles championship play, three Brandi-coached doubles teams won four NCAA doubles championships: Jillian Alexander and Nicole Arendt in 1991;

Dawn Buth Dawn Alexis Buth (born May 29, 1976) is an American former college and professional tennis player. As a collegiate player, she played for the University of Florida and won two national doubles championships. As a professional, she played on the ...

and

Stephanie Nickitas Stephanie Nickitas (born 1977) is a former professional and college tennis player from the United States. Biography Nickitas trained as a junior at the Saddlebrook Academy near Tampa, Florida. She played Junior Fed Cup tennis for the United Stat ...

in 1996 and 1997; and Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff in 2001. At the time of his resignation from the Gators coaching staff, he had the highest winning percentage (.915) of any coach in NCAA tennis history, and had the fifth highest number of career victories (460) among all NCAA tennis coaches, active and retired. Women's Tennis Coach Andy Brandi Resigns
," GatorZone.com (May 29, 2001). Retrieved June 18, 2011. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "honorary letter winner" in 2006. After leaving the University of Florida, Brandi has worked for IMG Academy, the Chris Everett Tennis Academy, and the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute. Currently, he is a member of the player development staff and a national coach at the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

. On June 13, 2017, Andy Brandi and Chris Brandi were named co-head coaches for the LSU Tigers tennis team.

Coaching Record

Tennis family

Brandi and his wife Nancy have one son, Chris, who played for coach Andy Jackson's Florida Gators men's tennis team from 2003 to 2006. Chris Brandi was previously an assistant coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's tennis team before becoming co-head coach for the men's tennis team at LSU with his father. Andy Brandi's niece, Kristina Brandi, is a former touring pro who was ranked as high as twenty-seventh in the world.

References

External links