Paul Goebel
	Hometown: Hendersonville, North Carolina Last College: Middle Tennessee State Position: Head Coach (Eighth Season)

Paul Goebel was named head coach of the men's tennis team prior to the 2004-05 season, after spending the previous five seasons as the program's assistant coach. Goebel has overseen great strides in the men's tennis program, both on the court and in the classroom.

Under Goebel's guidance, the 2010-11 campaign reached unprecedented success, recording a 16-10 mark. The 16 wins is the 8th best win-total in the 62-year history of the program. The Tigers finished 3rd in Conference USA, their highest finish since joining the conference, with a 4-3 record.

The Tigers picked up a win over No. 47 Oklahoma State early in the season and closed with wins against conference-foes UAB and UCF. Memphis earned a national ranking of No. 58 after defeating Tennessee Tech and remained in the rankings for six weeks, reaching as high as No. 53, before dropping out of the rankings on March 8th.

The 2011-12 team assembled by Goebel boasts three players listed in the ATP World Rankings, David O'Leary in singles and Cedric De Zutter and Connor Glennon in doubles. Joe Salisbury in singles and the doubles pairing of David O'Hare and Salisbury open the 2011-12 season ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

Goebel has coached one of the most decorated Tigers in men's tennis, Jorge Vazquez, who became the second Memphis Tiger in the program's history to be named first team All-C-USA in 2008-09. Vazquez joined former-Tiger and current-Lady Tiger head coach Lee Taylor Walker, who was named to the C-USA All-Decade team in 2005. Vazquez peaked at the No. 51 spot in the College Tennis Online rankings during the 2009 season, after earning wins over four players ranked among the Top 125 tennis players in the nation, two of which were Top 50 players. Vazquez finished the season ranked No. 106 in the country.

Former Tiger Amrit Narasimhan is currently playing professionally on the ATP tour. Narasimhan was the 2007 C-USA Newcomer of the Year while playing for Goebel. He also earned All-C-USA Singles Second Team and C-USA All-Academic Team honors while playing for Memphis.

Off of the court, Goebel has continued to yield outstanding performances from his team academically. Goebel's program has earned two C-USA Sport Academic Awards, 2010-11 and 2005-06. The C-USA Sport Academic Award honors each team in a conference-sponsored sport that posts the highest-team GPA. The Tigers have earned ITA All-Academic Team honors in each of Goebel's last six seasons. In fact, the only season that the Goebel-led Tigers have not received the ITA All-Academic Team award was in 2005, Goebel's first season as head coach.

Since Goebel assumed the helm of the men's tennis team, the squad has recorded the highest-cumulative GPA of all Memphis men's teams every single season. Multiple student-athletes have achieved individual awards for their academic achievements during Goebel's tenure.

Benedikt Fischer is the most academically decorated student-athlete in Memphis men's tennis history. Fischer was named CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team in 2009 and Second Team in 2008. He was a three-time C-USA All-Academic Team honoree, a three-time C-USA Academic Medalist and a two-time ITA Scholar Athlete award winner. In 2010, Michael Gaerthoeffner was named Conference USA Men's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year, the lone Tiger to receive the award.

A native of Hendersonville, N.C., Goebel came to Memphis after a stellar career at Middle Tennessee, where he was part of the school's first All-America doubles team which earned him a place in the MTSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. Goebel became the second men's tennis player to be inducted into the Middle Tennessee Hall of Fame. A member of the MTSU team from 1990-1994, Goebel served as the team's captain from 1992-1994 and was a four-time, all-conference player. He was also named the student-athlete of the year in 1994.

Following his collegiate playing career, Goebel served as a student assistant coach in 1995 at Middle Tennessee, while also playing professionally. He graduated from MTSU in 1995.

Goebel moved to Memphis and became a tennis professional at The Racquet Club of Memphis beginning in 1996. At The Racquet Club, Goebel has taught top national and southern-ranked juniors and has coached in a variety of area training centers, zonals and national team events. In 1999, Goebel was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the "Men's 25 and Over" age group.

Goebel and his wife, Shelly, have two sons, Reed and Luke, and a daughter, Isabelle.