Jesse Medvene-Collins spent six seasons at William & Mary and was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2014-15 campaign. He helped lead the program to five CAA Championships and earned ITA Atlantic Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors in both 2015 and 2017.
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Over his six seasons, the program reached a number of milestones. Medvene-Collins has coached five CAA Players of the Year, three CAA Rookies of the Year, 24 ITA Scholar-Athletes, 21 All-CAA singles players and nine All-CAA pairs in doubles at W&M. Three singles players and two doubles teams have represented the Tribe at the NCAA Individual Championships during that stretch. The Green and Gold tallied a mark of 86-56 in his six seasons on staff.
The Tribe finished four of Medvene-Collins’ six seasons inside the national top 50. The Green and Gold capped the 2016 campaign at 18-7 overall with a national ranking of No. 39, it’s highest since the 2008 campaign. The Green and Gold was ranked No. 49 nationally in 2015 at 16-7 overall, while coming in at No. 44 with a 17-6 mark in Medvene-Collins’ first season in 2012-13. In 2018, W&M tallied a 17-10 ledger and finished ranked No. 45 nationally.
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The Tribe has enjoyed some memorable wins during his tenure. W&M tallied four top-30 wins. In 2013, Medvene-Collins helped guide W&M to impressive regular season wins over No. 19 Ole Miss and No. 30 South Carolina. In 2016, the Green and Gold knocked off then-No. 28 South Carolina, who went on to go 9-4 in the SEC, host an NCAA Regional and finished the year at No. 17 nationally. The Green and Gold handed No. 19 Wake Forest a 4-3 loss in 2018. Over his six seasons, the Tribe recorded 19 wins over nationally-ranked opponents and 20 vs. Power Five Conference teams.
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Medvene-Collins possesses more than 10 years of collegiate tennis coaching experience, including assistant stops at Dartmouth, Wake Forest, Redlands and Iowa prior to coming to Williamsburg. Medvene-Collins spent the two seasons under the direction of Katie Dougherty in the Big Ten at the University of Iowa before joining the Tribe staff.Â
His responsibilities at Iowa included assisting with recruiting, budget oversight, player development, practice management, match scheduling, fund-raising and team travel. During the 2012 season, Iowa was ranked as high as No. 58 nationally and earned upset wins over No. 36 DePaul and No. 48 Penn State. The Hawkeyes finished the 2012 campaign at No. 10 in the ITA Central Region. In 2011, Medvene-Collins assisted in the recruitment of the No. 18 class in the country to Iowa. During his tenure with the Hawkeyes, he also assisted with the development of four-time All-Big Ten selection Sonja Molnar, who was a unanimous all-league choice in 2011 and 2012. She was ranked as high as No. 96 in 2011 and No. 66 in 2012. He also saw an Iowa doubles team reach the NCAA Doubles Championship event for just the fourth time in 2011.
In 2012, he was named the Intersectional coach for the Missouri Valley Section Team at the USTA National Team Boys 18 Championships. Medvene-Collins achieved Level 1 certification in the RPT Europe Spanish Player Development Course in 2012. He is also a USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association) Teaching Professional.
Prior to his time in Iowa City, Medvene-Collins was the head women's tennis coach at Mills College in Oakland, Calif. He led the Cyclones to a victory over the No. 7-ranked team in the West Region during his lone season, marking the highest-ranked win in program history.
A native of Washington D.C., Medvene-Collins started his collegiate coaching career as an assistant with stops at Dartmouth (2003-05), Wake Forest (2005-07) and his alma mater the University of Redlands (2007-09). During his two seasons at Dartmouth, he helped the Big Green to an overall record of 26-16 and national rankings of No. 71 in 2004 and No. 65 in 2005. He also assisted in the development of a top-100 nationally-ranked singles player in Jayme Ahmend, a two-time first-team All-Ivy League selection. In 2005, Dartmouth earned an ITA All-Academic team award, compiling a cumulative grade point average above 3.2.
While serving as an assistant coach for the Demon Deacons, he helped guide Wake Forest to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2006 and 2007 to go along with national top 25 rankings. After being ranked as high as No. 14 nationally in 2006, the Deacs finished the year at No. 22, before capping off the 2007 campaign at No. 20 nationally. He assisted with the development of 2006 NCAA Singles Championship participant Alex Hirsch, who finished the year ranked No. 43 nationally. Wake Forest had three nationally ranked singles players and two nationally ranked doubles teams at the conclusion of the 2007 season.
As an assistant at Redlands, he helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back conference championships in 2008 and 2009. Redlands was ranked among the top 25 nationally in Division III during his tenure and finished the 2009 campaign with a program-best national ranking of No. 8. During his time with the Bulldogs, he assisted in the development of three nationally ranked players.
Medvene-Collins earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Redlands in 2002 before returning to earn his master's degree in higher education in 2009. As a four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs, he earned all-conference honors during each of his final three seasons. The Bulldogs participated in the NCAA Division III Tournament during each of his four seasons and finished his sophomore campaign at No. 4 nationally.
