Men’s Tennis: Louisiana Names Luc Godin as New Men’™s Tennis Head Coach

Godin served as Associate Head Coach for Ragin’ Cajuns from 2017-20

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Men’s Tennis has officially named Luc Godin as the program’s 10th head coach, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Bryan Maggard announced on Monday.

Godin, who spent the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach at Tyler Junior College, served as Associate Head Coach for the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s program from 2017-20.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Luc back to Louisiana to lead our Men’s Tennis program," Maggard said. "He brings a wealth of coaching and recruiting experience and has proven that he can win at every level. Luc has strong ties to the Lafayette tennis community, which will help us continue to advance the program."

While at Tyler, he was primarily responsible for on-court coaching, using data analytics to breakdown matches and writing scouting reports for the team. During the 2020-21 season, the team posted a perfect 13-0 record, including a 7-0 mark away from home.

Godin coached 11 All-Americans, two National Player of the Year recipients and helped the team win five national team championships while on staff at Tyler.

In his first stint with the Ragin’ Cajuns’ men’s program, he helped lead the team to three winning seasons, including a 21-10 mark during the 2018-19 campaign. The team’s win total that year marked the most victories in a single season since 2012.

Godin played an integral role in recruiting a top-20 recruiting class ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. That year, the team went on to boast a 13-3 record.

With his guidance, five players earned All-Sun Belt Conference accolades.

On top of his coaching duties with the Ragin’ Cajuns, which included on-court instruction and team management, he was an adjunct instructor for the University’s Department of Kinesiology, teaching Theory of Coaching, Organization & Administration in Sport as well as Intro to Wellness.

"To say that I am excited about coming back to Lafayette is an understatement," Godin said. "I want to thank President Savoie and Dr. Maggard for the opportunity to lead the Men’s Tennis program. We have an excellent group returning, and having the chance to connect with them over the last few days has been great. Next week we will be on the court working."

Prior to arriving in Lafayette, he spent three seasons as the women’s assistant coach at the University of Arkansas. A runner-up for the 2016 NCAA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year award, he helped guide the Razorbacks to their 14th all-time NCAA Championship appearance in 2016-17 and saw them rise from No. 60 to No. 15 in the NCAA rankings during his tenure.

Godin was instrumental in helping Yuliya Lysa to All-SEC First Team honors and freshman Ana Oparenovic to All-Freshman acclaim during the 2016 season. In all, six players qualified for individual postseason nationals and six out of the 24 starters he coached earned a national ranking.

He got his first taste of SEC play as an assistant women’s coach at Auburn University (2011-13), where he helped achieve one of the biggest turnarounds in the history of the NCAA by taking the unranked Tigers to a No. 13 national ranking in one season.

Godin also has previous head coaching experience at both Northwestern State (2010-11) and Drury University (2009-10).

At Northwestern State, his program secured a berth in the Southland Conference finals after going 17-7 on the year behind four All-Conference selections. Martina Rubesova led the way for the team, becoming the program’s first ranked player in more than 15 years.

While at Drury, Godin saw the Panthers jump from No. 42 in the nation to No. 16 after going 17-5 overall and 5-0 in conference play. His team toppled six ranked opponents on its way to a spot in the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen.

Godin was responsible for recruiting Andy Blair, who received GLVC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year honors and ranked in the top 20 nationally while part of the Drury program.

Before breaking into the college coaching scene, he worked as the Director of Tennis at the ATP Center (Club Med Resort). In that role, he ran all operations from administrative duties to court maintenance to training and continued education.

A native of Petit-Rocher, New Brunswick, Canada, Godin was a ranked junior player in Canada and competed in multiple future, satellite and semi-professional tournaments in North America before turning to coaching full-time in 1998.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in General Studies, Exercise Science, at University of the Ozarks in 2006 before earning his master’s degree in Health and Human Performance from Northwestern State University in 2009.