Chad Skorupka

Chad Skorupka was appointed the San José State University women’s tennis head coach in July 2015 and has established himself as one of the program's most successful head coaches since the program's inception.

The two-time Mountain West Coach of the Year (2017, 2021) directed the Spartans to MW Championships during the 2017 and 2021 seasons, the first two for the program since joining the conference in 2013. The Spartans also made appearances in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships those two seasons, the second and third times the program has played in the tournament.

The 2021 team had one of the most successful seasons in school history. Highlights include:
•Finished 63^rd in the national poll, tying the 2012 team for the best ranking in school history
•Sixth in the Northwest regional rankings
•Finished 15-2 overall, 8-1 MW record & NCAA Tournament appearance
•Mountain West honors included Irena Muradyan, MW Freshman of the Year; Muradyan & Alba Pedrero Galindo, All-MW in singles; and Savannah Sendar & Lara Marco Mas All-MW in doubles.

In his first two seasons as the Spartans' head coach, the doubles team of Sybille Gauvain and Marie Klocker finished each season nationally ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (#96 in 2016 and #64 in 2017) and Gauvain was a nationally-ranked singles player (#89 in 2017). Gauvain and Klocker were All-Mountain West in singles and doubles in 2016 and 2017. Spartan players received four more all-conference women's tennis awards since 2018.

Academically, San José State has earned ITA All-Academic Team awards for maintaining a cumulative grade-point average as a team of at least 3.20 on a 4.00 scale in each of his six seasons as a head coach. The Spartans now have a streak of 10 consecutive years as a team ITA Academic Award winner. San Jose State also picked up 30 ITA Scholar-Athlete Awards. His players also received 37 Academic All-Mountain West and 26 Mountain West Scholar-Athlete awards during his tenure as head coach.

He first joined the San José State coaching staff in 2012 as the volunteer assistant and was named the assistant coach in 2013.

The 2013 Spartans won the San José State’s first conference championship in the sport capturing the Western Athletic Conference Championship, played in the university’s first NCAA Women’s Championship and finished the season in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) national rankings at #63.

In his three seasons as a San José State assistant, the Spartans’ 45 dual-match victories are the most in any three-year period at the school since 1984 through 1986. The 2013 team ranked #63 and the 2015 squad ranked #73 in the final ITA rankings are San Jose State’s first two nationally-ranked teams.

A NCAA Division I head coach with a 170-125 win-loss record and seven NCAA Championship appearances in 14 years, he was the head coach at Wake Forest University for five seasons (2006-10) and Yale University (2002-05) for four. At Wake Forest, his teams advanced to the NCAA Championships four consecutive years (2006-09). At Yale, his Bulldogs teams were listed in the final ITA rankings in 2003 (No. 53) and 2004 (No. 70) and he was named the 2004 ITA East Region Coach of the Year.

After finishing his playing career at Penn State, Skorupka stayed on as an assistant coach with the Nittany Lions from 1997-99. In 1998, he was named ITA East Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

Skorupka moved to Wake Forest as an assistant coach for the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 campaigns. In two his seasons, the Demon Deacons compiled a 42-12 record, advanced at least to the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships and were ranked as high as No. 5 during the 2000 season.

Skorupka received his bachelor's degree in international politics from Penn State in 1994 and earned a master's degree in counseling education from Penn State in 1999.

As a player, Skorupka was a four-year starter on the Nittany Lions men's tennis team and was part of a doubles team that won the Rolex Region I title in 1993. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 12 in doubles in the fall of 1993. Skorupka served as a team captain during the 1993-94 season and also received the school's senior award for athletic excellence.

Skorupka and his wife, Debra, and their son, Riley, reside in Portola Valley, Calif.