WKU named Jonatan Berhane its Head Women's Tennis Coach, Director of Athletics Todd Stewart announced July 10, 2014. In his first year as the head coach of the WKU tennis team, Berhane led the Lady Toppers to a 7-10 record, including the program's first win in Conference USA against Florida Atlantic. In his first year he coached two players to a win in the Conference USA Championship against Middle Tennessee, the first WKU singles wins in a conference tournament since 2001.
Â
Berhane earned Conference USA Coach of the Year after three short years with the team, capping off the historic 2017 season in which he led the Lady Toppers to an overall record of 13-6. With 13 victories the squad tied for the sixth-most wins in school history. Berhane also coached the team to the first victory over rival Middle Tennessee since 1989, a 5-0 victory on Feb. 4. The squad advanced through the Conference USA tournament all the way to WKU’s first-ever semifinals match in women’s tennis. WKU’s .706 regular season winning percentage was the best of Berhane’s career and highest since the Lady Toppers’ 2001 campaign.Â
In Berhane's second year on The Hill in 2016, the Lady Toppers improved their record to 9-6 - the first time WKU has had a winning season since 2012. He churned out his first C-USA All-Conference player in junior Andreanna Christopoulou who posted an 11-3 singles record and 10-2 doubles record.
Berhane came to WKU after one season as an assistant coach for the 2014 Horizon League champion Youngstown State squad. Berhane joined the YSU program in January 2014 after two seasons at East Tennessee State, and he helped make an immediate impact with the Penguins.
Before arriving at YSU, Berhane spent two seasons as an assistant coach at East Tennessee State. ETSU won the regular-season championship in 2013, beating two ranked opponents, and many of the student-athletes Berhane helped recruit powered ETSU to the 2014 conference tournament title.
His other coaching experiences include the New York Shelter Island Camp, and at the Monaco Athletic in Denver, Colo.
Berhane came to ETSU after graduating from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewistown, Idaho. In his time at LCSC, Berhane was ranked a top-15 NAIA singles player and was also ranked in the top-10 in doubles. During his senior year, Berhane was given the honor of being selected as the Warriors team captain.
In August of 2009, Berhane was honored with the Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship. The award recognizes one outstanding male and female player from each level of competition for exhibiting outstanding sportsmanship and leadership, as well as scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements. Berhane was honored during a special ceremony in New York during the U.S. Open.
Before transferring to LCSC, Berhane attended Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va., helping his team to a top-five NAIA ranking.
A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Berhane achieved a No. 10 Swedish ranking and was a finalist for the Swedish Championship Doubles. He earned his MBA and master's degree in sport management at ETSU. Berhane speaks four languages - Swedish, English, Tigrinya and Norwegian. Berhane and his wife, Eden, live in Bowling Green with their daughter Zoë.
