GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Former Florida women's tennis coach Andy Brandi, whose teams compiled a .914 winning percentage over 17 seasons and won three national championships, has died. He was 72.
The Gators said Brandi died Thursday in Boca Raton following an illness.
Under Brandi’s direction, Florida won 14 Southeastern Conference regular-season titles and 10 conference tournament crowns and captured national titles in 1992, ’96 and ’98.
“Simply put, Andy Brandi was a winner in every sense of the word,” former Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said. “He was one of my all-time favorite coaches here.”
Brandi retired in 2001 with a win-loss record of 460-43. He was inductee into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.
He came out of retirement in 2017 to join his son as co-head coach for the LSU men’s team, a post he held for five seasons.
Brandi was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1952 and attended Trinity College in San Antonio, Texas, where he played on the men’s tennis team and turned to coaching after graduating with a business degree.
He was executive director at the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton when Florida hired him at age 33.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and son Chris.
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The Associated Press
