GREG BARNETT
Sports Assistant
Per Nilsson, the Waves assistant coach for the past five seasons, has left Pepperdine to take the head coaching position for his alma mater Mississippi State.
During his five years at Pepperdine, Nilsson has been vital to the rise of the men’s tennis program on the national level. The Waves were 119-38 while Nilsson was on staff and also extended their streak of West Coast Conference titles to an astounding 17 straight.
While Nilsson is leaving a top tier tennis program, he is heading to a program that he helped raise to the top in the early 1990’s. Nilsson was part of a Mississippi State team that reached the NCAA round of 16 four straight years, and the Bulldogs reached the national semifinal in his senior year of 1994.
Nilsson said he is going to try to get his Bulldogs back to the level of the 1990’s, “I know what can be done here,” said Nilsson. “We’re going to try to get back on top.”
Although he is leaving Pepperdine for a head coaching job, Nilsson isn’t all smiles about leaving Malibu.
“The hardest part about leaving is Adam,” Nilsson said. “We came to Pepperdine together five years ago and he’s like a brother to me.”
Head Coach Adam Steinberg has the same feelings.
“He had a great experience as an undergraduate there,” Steinberg said. “If there was one dream job for him, that would be his, and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Steinberg has replaced Nilsson with Jay Udwadia, who has been the head coach at Fresno State University for the past three seasons. Udwadia played his college tennis at Arkansas where he was a four-year letter winner and also was the team’s captain his senior year.
08-27-2007