Josh Goffi - Tournament Tough

Josh Goffi grew up around tennis’ elite watching his father coach the likes of John and Patrick McEnroe, Peter Fleming, and other great players of the game. 

As a young child, he preferred playing soccer until he was 14 years old when he made the decision to switch sports. By 16 years of age, he had wins over more experienced junior players, such as James Blake, at the USTA National Junior Championships. Josh was an ACC Champion, top 10 ranked singles and doubles player in NCAA Division I, and team captain for Clemson University where he earned his Bachelor of Science in financial management in 2001.

Goffi’s coaching career began after spending five years on the ATP Tour (2001-2005) where he won multiple professional singles and doubles titles and had singles and doubles wins over top players, including Stan Wawrinka, Gilles Simon, Janko Tipsarevic and Thomas Berdych. Immediately a prominent recruiter, Goffi honed his coaching skills as an assistant at Arizona State (women’s, 2006-08) and Duke University (2008-10), earning regional Assistant Coach of the Year honors at both.

Earning his first college head coaching position at South Carolina in July 2010, Josh wasted little time cementing his reputation as an elite recruiter with a solid strategic mind and excellent player development skills. In his 13 seasons at USC, he has crafted a culture which has bred success with the Gamecocks earning an NCAA Tournament bid eight times in his tenure. South Carolina has finished each of those in the ITA Top-25, marking the first such stretch in program history. Under Goffi, the Gamecocks have collected five All-American honors, 17 All-SEC selections and the program’s first SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. 

In 2019, Paul Jubb became the first NCAA National Champion and the fourth Gamecock to play at Wimbledon. He also collected the program’s second Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award. In 2021, Daniel Rodrigues reached as high as #1 in the ITA singles rankings and eventually advancing to the final match of the NCAA Singles Championship.

The 2023 season has been a culmination of his 13 year-work by leading his Gamecocks to the number 2 position in the ITA rankings NCAA Division I.