Armando Espinosa - Tennis Coach - Iowa State University Athletics

Armando Espinosa

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
espinosa@iastate.edu
Phone:
(515) 294-2053

Armando Espinosa coached at Iowa State for 11 seasons, including 10 seasons as the school’s ninth head coach from 2009-18. Espinosa finished his tenure at Iowa State following the 2017-18 season, the same year that he became the school’s all-time wins leader (96). The Cyclones were 96-144 in his 10 seasons leading the program.

Espinosa arrived at ISU for the 2007-08 season when he served as an assistant coach under Michelle Conlon. In 2008-09, Espinosa was the interim head coach before being promoted to head coach at the conclusion of the season.

Espinosa tutored many of the top players in Iowa State history, with five of the top-10 Cyclones in career wins having played for the Mexico City, Mexico native. He coached two of the three players in school history that have earned All-Big 12 honors as well in Erin Karonis and Liza Buss.

Samantha Budai concluded her career second all-time in overall career wins (145), third in singles wins (65) and first in doubles wins (80). Budai also became the first Cyclone to earn a national ranking, earning a No. 100 ranking as a senior in 2017.

Espinosa coached the Cyclones to back-to-back winning seasons in 2016 and 2017, the first time since the programs infancy that had been accomplished.

Under Espinosa's leadership, the Cyclones snapped a number of long streaks.

In his first season, he coached the Cyclones to their first Big 12 Conference dual meet win in seven seasons and followed that with a pair of wins in 2009-10. The Cyclones won four conference road matches under Espinosa after not winning one in the previous 11 seasons.

In 2011-12, Espinosa led the Cyclones past Kansas for the first time in 30 years by the largest win margin of a conference match in school history under the seven-point scoring system, which was adopted in 2001.

He also led the Cyclones to a school-record five consecutive wins against West Virginia.

Espinosa coached Erin Karonis to a number of honors and an outstanding career as ISU's No. 1 singles player. In 2008-09, Karonis became the first Cyclone in ISU tennis history to be named the Big 12 Player of the Week, after earning wins over Colorado and Missouri in the final week of the regular season. She also was named to the All-Big 12 First Team.

Meaghan Cassens, who graduated in 2015, has the fourth most overall wins in school history (133). Cassens posted the second most career singles wins (74) under the direction of Espinosa.

Budai and Cassens are joined by Ksenia Pronina, Annabella Bonadonna and Maria Fernanda Macedo as having played for Espinosa and ranking among the school’s top-10 in overall wins.

Liza Wischer (101) and Karonis (100) are 13th and 14th, respectively, at Iowa State in total wins. Karonis broke the school record for most career conference singles wins with 15, while Wischer was second with 14 solo victories.

Espinosa's teams also set high standards in the classroom. Thirty-five different times, Iowa State student-athletes earned academic All-Big 12 recognition under the direction of Espinosa.

Espinosa spent his first season at Iowa State serving as an assistant coach to Conlon. He was promoted to associate head coach in July of 2007, before taking over as the interim head coach shortly after.

He came to Ames after serving as the assistant coach at the University of Oregon during the 2005-06 season.

Prior to his time at Oregon, Espinosa served as the assistant coach at Marquette from 2003 to 2005, and Wichita State during the 2002-03 season. While at Wichita State, Espinosa helped lead the team to a 2003 Missouri Valley Conference Championship. Espinosa also served as the volunteer assistant at Arizona State in 2000.

During his collegiate career at Drury University, Espinosa played number one and three singles and number one doubles. During his senior campaign, Espinosa was ranked second in the nation. He was a two-year Division II NCAA All-American and a two-year Academic All-American.

Espinosa and his wife, Jodi, were married in 2012. They have a daughter, Harper.

Coaching Career
2009-18 Iowa State University, Head Coach
2008-09 Iowa State University, Interim Head Coach
2007-08 Iowa State University, Assistant and Associate Head Coach
2005-06 University of Oregon, Assistant Coach
2003-05 Marquette University, Assistant Coach
2002-03 Wichita State University, Assistant Coach
2000-02 Arizona State University, Volunteer Assistant Coach