Jurgen De Jager - Associate Head Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Jurgen De Jager

Title:
Associate Head Coach
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Jurgen De Jager is in his third season as the assistant coach of the Cal Poly men's tennis team and his fifth year overall with the program after spending the previous two as a volunteer assistant coach. "Jurgen is one of the most decorated players in program history," Carless said. "He is a winner on and off the court and will have an immediate impact on recruiting, the development of our players and will help elevate the program to new heights."

In 2024, De Jager's second season as a full-time assistant coach, he helped lead the Mustangs to an overall season record of 10-10 and a conference record of 4-2. The Mustangs were 4-3 at home and 4-4 on the road. Under his coaching, 7 players received All-Big West honors this season. De Jager helped coach seven players to Big West honors. Seniors Noah Berry and Joe Leather took First-Team All-Conference in singles, junior Bastiaan Weststrate and senior Colter Smith received First Team All-Big West honors in doubles, freshmen Raz Haviv and Sean Kamyshev took home Big West Honorable Mentions for doubles and senior Fernando Fonseca receive the Big West Honorable Mention in singles. The Mustangs clinched third ranking in Big West standing for the fourth time in the last five years. Over his two seasons as volunteer assistant coach, De Jager helped in the development of players during practices and matches and helped Cal Poly win the Big West regular season title each of those years. De Jager played at Cal Poly from 2011-14 where he was a First Team All-Big West selection in singles in 2014 after going 15-4 in dual matches and was a key part in the Mustangs winning the Big West Championship and making the NCAA Tournament. He ranks second in program history for career singles winning percentage with a career record of 36-14. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in quantitative economics at Cal Poly. "My primary goal as a coach is to grow our players' belief in their ability to beat the best," De Jager said. "In terms of playing ability, there is nothing to choose from our players and the top-ranked schools. Instead, it becomes a question of belief, about mental toughness, about having grit, about knowing you will do anything you possibly can to win. Like Nick (Carless) always told me as a player - winning is an everyday thing. You have to get better every single day to a point where getting better and winning becomes a habit."

De Jager earned his bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in quantitative economics at Cal Poly. After graduating, he lived in New York, Cape Town, South Africa, and Los Angeles where he worked as a Real Estate Analyst.