SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Ushering in a new era of Santa Clara men's tennis, Head Coach Derek Mills has reloaded his coaching staff, bringing in Niall Angus, a former student-athlete at Texas A&M University and coach at the junior level, to help assist with all aspects of the program.
"It's an awesome opportunity," said Angus. "The excitement is kind of pent up. (I'm) ready for the season to get going and (ready to) direct this team and help aid Coach Mills best we can to get the Santa Clara team right where we want it to be on the map."
Sharing aligned philosophies, Mills is ready to work together with Angus to build Santa Clara into a conference and national power.
"I am so excited to add Niall to my staff," said Mills. "He has the pedigree to be a great college coach and I know he shares my vision of getting our team back in the NCAA tournament and competing for WCC titles."
Angus hails from London, England but has most recently spent his time stateside in the Lone Star State. This past year, Angus ventured to the junior level where he coached young players in Houston, Texas, teaching them the art of the game and helping them improve their skill sets to the level of achieving collegiate scholarships.
"I really like getting into that close kind of grassroots level and being able to grow players," said Angus. "It's something I really enjoy seeing, (seeing) guys improve, seeing guys get to their potential. It was a different track but it was a more fundamental and technical track that enabled me to develop my coaching skills a lot more in able to best assist the junior levels who are trying to make it to college."
Prior to that coaching experience, Angus spent five years at Texas A&M, four as a highly-ranked men's tennis player and one as a volunteer coach. Providing mentorship from the sidelines during the 2013-14 season, Angus helped steer the Aggies to a 25-7 record, a season-high ranking of No. 8 in the nation and a tournament championship in the highly-competitive Southeastern Conference. He also aided in the maturation of the Texas A&M doubles pairing of Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow, a duo that went on to be named the No. 1 pairing in the country that season.
On the court as a student-athlete, Angus etched his name in the record books, receiving a school-high singles ranking of No. 6 in the nation during his time at College Station. In 2011-12, Angus captured singles titles at the UTSA Invitational Championship and Big XII Tournament Championship. The following year, he captained the Aggies to an appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, an end result that Angus achieved three out of the four years during his time as an Aggie.
"Playing with those guys and winning championships and that kind of thing gives you that perspective of what it takes, how much it takes to be the best in the country," said Angus.
Across the pond competing at the junior level, Angus reached a junior high national ranking of No. 4 in his home country, solidified a ranking of No. 51 in the Junior ITF World Rankings and captured a number of ATP men's singles and doubles points as a blossoming player. He also played in three out of four junior grand slams and competed at storied Wimbledon twice during his early playing days.
