Men's Tennis
- Title:
- Assistant Men's Tennis Coach
- Phone:
- 662-325-2896
Jake Jacoby is widely considered one of the top young coaches rising through ranks of collegiate tennis.
Jacoby has been instrumental in Mississippi State’s success on the court and leading the Bulldogs’ recruiting efforts since he joined Matt Roberts’ staff as an assistant coach in June 2019. The Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Championships in each full season that Jacoby has been on staff with two trips to the Round of 16 and top 16 finishes in 2021 and 2023.
In 2023, Jacoby was named the ITA Southern Regional Assistant Coach of the Year after helping lead MSU to a 21-7 overall record. The Bulldogs won nine matches against ranked opponents, including four victories over top 20 foes. One of those ranked wins came against No. 2 South Carolina, which served as the highest-ranked win in program history.
State went on to win the Starkville Regional and reached the Round of 16 in 2023. The Bulldogs finished that year with three ranked singles competitors – Nemanja Malesevic, Ewen Lumsden and Carles Hernandez – as well as a pair of ranked doubles tandems consisting of Hernandez and Malesevic as well as Malesevic and Michal Novansky.
Jacoby assisted in the development of Hernandez, Malesevic and Ewen Lumsden All-SEC performers as well as Petar Jovanovic as a Freshman All-SEC selection. He also helped Lumsden attain ITA Southern Regional Senior Player of the Year and Gregor Ramskogler win Most Improved Senior in the ITA Southern Regional.
In 2022, Jacoby played a part in helping the Bulldogs be ranked as highly as 18th nationally and advancing to the Cambridge Regional at the NCAA Championships. Florian Broska earned first team All-SEC honors while Malesevic was a second team selection. Broska was also named the ITA Southern Region Senior Player of the Year and represented Mississippi State at the NCAA Individual Championships.
Jacoby oversaw ranked singles players in Broska and Malesevic as well as the doubles duo of Broska and Ramskogler, who were ranked as highly as sixth nationally.
During his first full season with the program in 2021, Jacoby aided in the Bulldogs’ top 15 finish and reaching the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships. MSU went 18-10 that season with six ranked victories, including a 4-2 win at No. 10 UCF in the second round of the NCAA Championships.
Jacoby assisted in the development of All-SEC selections Broska and Giovanni Oradini, both of whom also reached the second round of the NCAA Individual Championships in singles. Broska also teamed with Ramskogler at that event and also made it to the second round. Broska, Oradini, Malesevic and Davide Tortora finished the year ranked in singles while Broska and Ramskogler were ranked in doubles. Malesevic was also tabbed the ITA Southern Regional Rookie of the Year.
Jacoby’s initial year with State in 2020 was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the season was permanently halted, the Bulldogs were off to a solid 8-3 start with four shutouts and had already beaten No. 22 Oklahoma during ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Jacoby joined the Bulldogs after one season as an assistant at Charlotte in which he helped the 49ers finish the season ranked seventh in the Carolina Region.
Under Jacoby’s tutelage, 49er Luca Keist was nationally ranked for the majority of the 2018-19 season while finishing the year ranked 109th and earning first-team All-Conference USA singles honors as well as Conference USA All-Academic team honors. Constandinos Christoforou and Keist reached a program-best 18th in the ITA doubles rankings during the season. They earned first-team All-Conference USA doubles honors while being named alternates to the NCAA Doubles Championships.
Prior to his stint in Charlotte, Jacoby was a standout at the University of Iowa from 2014-18. In his collegiate playing career at Iowa, Jacoby finished his Hawkeye career with 128 combined singles and doubles wins, which rank him fifth in Iowa history. He tallied 60 doubles wins, which stands seventh-most in the program’s history, and his 68 singles wins rank ninth in Iowa history.
As a senior in 2018, he was part of a doubles team that won 16 doubles matches, including a career-high seven-match winning streak. He recorded at least 13 doubles wins in each of his four years, while also recording 20 wins twice.
The three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and 2017 ITA Scholar-Athlete graduated from Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in finance in 2018.
Hailing from Roberts’ hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, Jacoby enjoyed a stellar juniors career. He was a five-star recruit who was ranked among the top 75 recruits. A four-time Arkansas state champion, Jacoby competed in the 18’s USTA National Clay Courts Tournament and the National Championships in the summer of 2014. Not only did he excel on the tennis court, but he earned All-State honors on the soccer field as a goalkeeper.
