Alex Santos was announced as the new head men’s tennis coach on May 31, as made public by Vice President/Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich. Santos spent the last three seasons as the associate head coach for the Miami women’s tennis team and once before from 2009-13 under head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews.
In his first season as head coach for the men’s team, Santos helped the Hurricanes to their first berth back to the NCAA tournament since 2022 and their 30th appearance in program history. The team went 13-11 overall and went undefeated at home to punch their ticket. Also, the team earned two top-25 wins, including No. 16 Clemson. Vittek also helped senior Martin Katz to his first conference honor, earning a spot on the All-ACC Second Team in singles, while leading him to his highest ranking of No. 20 in singles and No. 43 in doubles, and his first qualification to the NCAA Singles Championships in the fall of 2024.
Santos has earned multiple distinctions during his time at Miami, including ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year recognition in his final season, before departing to become the head coach at Pittsburgh. Since returning to Miami, has has twice won ITA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year accolades.
Santos initially came to Miami as a volunteer assistant in 2009-10 and then served as a graduate manager in the fall of 2010 before being elevated to a full-time assistant coaching position in the spring of 2011.
During his four years at Miami, Santos helped the Hurricanes to an 85-24 record that included a 36-8 ledger in ACC play and a 50-5 mark at home. The 85 victories are tied for the sixth-most in any four-year span in program history, with two of the five higher marks featuring three of Santos’ seasons.
The Hurricanes not only won 20-plus matches in all four of Santos’ seasons with the team, but reached the NCAA Elite Eight and finished in the ITA top 10 all four times. Their peak year-end ranking came in 2011 with a seventh-place finish. In 2013, Santos also aided Miami to the program’s first ACC Championship title.
Santos left Miami after the 2013 campaign to become the head coach at Pittsburgh. He served in that capacity for six years, leading the Panthers to their first win over a ranked foe and guiding the program’s first players to earn ITA singles and doubles rankings. Off the court, Pittsburgh posted four consecutive perfect 1,000 Academic Progress Report (APR) scores during his tenure.
In August 2019, Santos accepted a position as the associate head coach at Baylor. In his lone spring with the Bears, he helped lead the team to a 10-2 mark during the abbreviated 2020 campaign.
A native of Oeiras, Portugal, Santos was one of the top-ranked junior players in his homeland. He graduated from Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa in 2005. He has experience working at tennis academies in both Portugal and Spain.