|
Howard Joffe enters his fifth season as an assistant coach for the USC women's tennis team. Even in his young career, Joffe has already grabbed the attention of coaches nationwide thanks to help in driving the Women of Troy through their long string of NCAA appearances. After the 2004 season, he was honored as the 2004 ITA West Regional Assistant Coach of the Year after helping lead the Women of Troy to consecutive top-10 finishes. In his first two seasons at USC, Joffe's teams have finished No. 5 and No. 8, respectively, advancing to the NCAA Quarterfinals and Round of 16. Prior to coming to USC, Joffe, 34, spent the previous three years as a tennis pro at the Quail Run Racquet Club in Dayton, Ohio, and served as the director of tennis in 2000 and 2001. Though this is first collegiate coaching position, he is not without experience at the Division I level. As an undergraduate, Joffe spent three seasons at Pepperdine (1990-92), where he earned ITA All-American singles accolades in 1992. He not only captured the West Coast Conference Singles Championship that season, but also reached the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship in Athens, Ga. Joffe also led the Waves to three consecutive West Coast Conference titles. His Pepperdine coach in 1990 was current USC women's tennis head coach Richard Gallien. Following his time in Malibu, Joffe played professional tennis for three years and attained an ATP tour ranking (top 450) in both singles and doubles. In his first year on the tour, he was the top-rated South African in the ATP. During this time he competed in satellite and challenger events and ATP tour events such as the Stella Artois at the Queens Club in London and the South African Open. In 1995, he returned to his native Johannesburg, South Africa, where he coached privately for five years (1995-99) and created the Joffe-Wheeler Tennis Academy. Joffe graduated from King David High in Johannesburg in 1989. He was the No. 2 ranked junior tennis player in South Africa in 18-and-unders and was selected to compete as a member of South Africa's junior tennis team as a senior. In 1989 he competed at the Maccabi Games in Tel Aviv, Israel, winning a gold medal in singles and a silver medal in doubles. Joffe was born on Oct. 24, 1971, in Johannesburg. |
|||||||||||||||
