The 2024-25 season is the third for Geoff Hernandez as assistant coach on the Vanderbilt men’s tennis staff.
During his tenure at Vandy, Hernandez has helped coach two doubles teams to earn ITA national recognition, as well as SEC Freshman of the Year Danil Panarin to a career-high singles ranking of No. 46. During the 2023-24 season, the Commodores posted an overall record of 13-13 and also earned an NCAA Tournament invite, ending the season ranked 42nd nationally.
He joined the program after eight years with Lipscomb’s men tennis program, including the last five as the Bisons head coach. During that time Hernandez guided Lipscomb to the first two winning seasons in program history, highlighted by a 9-1 mark and a ranking as high as No. 65 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association ratings in 2020 before the campaign was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
His efforts helped the duo of Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena become the first Bisons to ever play in the doubles final of the ITA Regional Championship, falling in the title match 11-9 in a third-set tiebreaker. The two—who had been named the ASUN Conference Doubles Team of the Year the previous spring—then received an at-large bid to the ITA National Fall Championship, making them the first in program history to compete at the event.
The Bisons followed up by going 9-7 the next spring, including a 4-2 mark in ASUN competition as they advanced to the semifinals of the league tournament with a 4-0 victory over North Alabama. Lipscomb also posted a 3-3 conference record in 2018, his first as the program’s head coach. In addition to Chaw teaming with two different partners to be named the ASUN Pair of the Year, four individuals received first- and second-team all-conference recognition over a four-year stretch under his direction.
Hernandez’ efforts also helped Lipscomb advance to the finals of the league tournament for the first time in school history his final season as an assistant.
The top-ranked junior in British Columbia in 16’s and 18’s—climbing as high as No. 2 in Canada at the 16-and-under level— during his prep career, Hernandez was the top-ranked 18-and-under junior in the USTA Pacific Northwest region. A four-year letterwinner playing primarily at both the No. 1 and 2 slots in singles and doubles at Portland, he received his degree in public relations from the school in 2012 after serving as a team captain his senior year when the Pilots earned the school’s best-ever ranking of 45th in the nation according to the ITA.
Hernandez competed on the ITF Futures following graduation and has also served as a coach at the EHIT tennis club in East Hampton, New York, the West Hills Racquet and Fitness Club in Portland, Oregon, and the Brentwood Swim & Tennis Club.