Barthel Named GSU's Men?s Tennis Head Coach
ATLANTA-Joerg
Barthel (pronounced YURG BARR-thul), formerly the associate head coach at the
University of Nebraska, has been named the head coach of the Georgia State
University men's tennis program, Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick
announced.
Barthel
has helped build Nebraska into a nationally-ranked program over the last three
seasons. He served as the Cornhuskers' recruiting coordinator and was involved
in all day-to-day operations within the program,
including coaching, facilitating practices, scheduling, planning travel
arrangements and managing the team's budget.
Under
Barthel and head coach Kerry McDermott, Nebraska earned the first two NCAA
berths in school history in 2010 and 2011 and then made its first appearances
in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men's Team Indoor Championship in 2011 and 2012.
The 2010 team attained the highest national ranking in program history at No.
25 in the ITA poll.
"Joerg
is a charismatic young coach with an outstanding ability to recruit," said
Levick. "He is well-connected and highly-respected in the tennis community,
both in the U.S. and abroad. He will build upon the strong tennis foundation we
have at Georgia State and develop a championship-caliber program."
Barthel
recruited seven nationally-ranked players who have formed the backbone of the
Nebraska roster over the last three years, including the doubles team of
Christopher Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim, who were ranked as high as No. 5
in the nation in doubles and earned a berth in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
A
four-year letterwinner at Nebraska (2002-06), Barthel led the team in singles
and doubles victories as a sophomore before battling injuries his junior and
senior seasons.
"I'm
extremely excited to be joining an outstanding athletics program like Georgia
State, and I'd like to thank Cheryl Levick and [Senior Associate Director of
Athletics] Jamie Boggs for this tremendous opportunity," said Barthel.
"The
program is very strong, and I'm eager to get to work to continue the building
process and compete for championships."
He received his undergraduate degree in international studies from
Nebraska in 2006 and was named graduate assistant coach following his
graduation.
A native
of Friedrichsdorf, Germany, Barthel attended high
school at Phillip-Reis-Schule and earned a German national ranking as high as
No. 239.