Jeff Kutac enters his third season as the head coach of the Kennesaw State women's tennis team. He came to Kennesaw after two-plus seasons as the Elite Tennis Program Director at the Highland Park Independent School District in Texas.
After a stellar first season at KSU, Kutac continued his success into the 2012 season. The Owls posted their second-consecutive winning season with a 14-8 mark, including a 6-3 record in the Atlantic Sun Conference, and advanced to their third-straight A-Sun tournament. Once again, Kutac had several student-athletes named All A-Sun, including first-teamers senior Vera Shkundina, a unanimous selction, junior Alexandra Apostu and freshman Virginie Stein and All-Freshman Team honoree Jana Hueckinghaus. Along with these accolades, Stein earned the the school's first-ever A-Sun Freshman of the Year honor.
In his first season at the helm Kutac led the Owls to its best season in program history in 2011. The Black and Gold set program records for most overall and conference wins in a single season with 18 and seven, respectively. Overall, Kennesaw State finished the season with a record of 18-6, 7-3 A-Sun, and qualified for the A-Sun Tournament for the second straight year. Kutac also helped develop three players into All-A-Sun honorees as junior Vera Shkundina was named to the first team, junior Morgan Carney was named to the second team and freshman Alexandra Apostu earned All-Freshman honors.
Coach Kutac has a wealth of collegiate coaching experience that he brings to Kennesaw State. Prior to being the program director at Highland Park he was the assistant men’s tennis coach at Texas Christian University from 2006-08. In his time in Fort Worth he was involved in all aspects of the program, and in his final season in 2008 he helped lead the Horned Frogs to a 20-8 record, which got them ranked as high as 34th in the nation.
His last head coaching job was from 2004-06 when he coached the men’s tennis team at Monmouth University in the Northeast Conference. Kutac was also a head coach at Florida Southern College from 2002-04 and DePaul University from 2001-02.
He has also coached at several high profile academies and country clubs including the Martin Downs Country Club in Palm City, Fla. in 2000-01 and the Baskin Tennis Academy in Atlanta, Ga. from 1997-98.
Besides working at the Baskin Tennis Academy coach Kutac has worked in the Peach State before as he was an assistant women’s tennis coach at Georgia Tech in 1998-99, and he was a independent tennis professional in the greater Atlanta area from 1991-93.
Kutac received his undergraduate degree in political science from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1991 and received a master’s degree in counseling and guidance services from Clemson University in 1996. He currently resides in Kennesaw, Ga.
