Men's Tennis
Van Cott, Ian

Ian Van Cott
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- vancotti17@ecu.edu
- Phone:
- (252) 737-4720
The 2020-21 season will be Ian Van Cott's fourth as assistant men's tennis coach at ECU after being hired on July 24, 2017.Â
The 2019-20 campaign was shaping up to be one of ECU’s best, as the Pirates had amassed an 11-2 record, including 8-0 at home. However, the season was cut short by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Despite the premature ending, Van Cott has helped the ECU squad continue its upward trajectory. The Pirates saw sophomore Diogo Marques start the fall season 8-0, earning him the AAC Tennis Player of the Month in September and earning the No. 103 ranking in the ITA’s national singles ranking. Marques is the first Pirate to earn a player of the month award since ECU moved to the AAC in 2014 and is just the third Pirate in program history to earn a national singles ranking. Simon Labbe and Agustin Tamagnone also had a successful fall, becoming the first ECU doubles tandem to reach the ITA Carolina Regional Quarterfinals since 2016.
ECU has also now won 13 straight matches at home as well as 28 of its 30 home contests since Van Cott arrived in Greenville.
Van Cott helped ECU finish with a winning record (14-7) during the 2018-19 campaign, including a dominant 8-1 at home. The Pirates jumped out to a 10-1 start, one of the best in school history. Van Cott helped Diogo Marques to one of ECU’s best-ever rookie seasons, with Marques going 19-11 in singles, including 7-5 on court one. Overall, ECU won nearly 60% of its singles matches and 53.7% of its doubles contests under his watch.
During his first season with the Pirates, Van Cott helped guide the team to a record 22 victories. Five players won 18 or more singles matches with three capturing 20 or more victories. ECU players won more than 68 percent of its singles and doubles matches during the 2017-18 campaign.
Prior to joining the Pirates, Van Cott served as a volunteer assistant coach at Princeton for the 2016-17 year. The Tigers posted a 14-12 record while Alex Day and Luke Gamble reached the NCAA Doubles Championship with an automatic bid earning a No. 59 national ranking as the top Ivy League team in the May 4 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.
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He first gained coaching experience working at Sportime Schenectady in Schenectady, N.Y., where he organized tennis camp for over 50 kids ages 5-17. While at Sportime, he worked with some of the top boys and girls in the country, including the No. 6 fourth grade girl in the United States and the No. 5 10-and-under boy in the USTA's Eastern Section.
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Van Cott was a four-year letterwinner at Tulane and posted a 52-46 career singles record playing primarily at the No. 5 and No. 6 spot for the Green Wave. He went 43-20 overall in doubles and 28-19 in dual matches. As a senior, his leadership helped guide Tulane to the NCAA Tournament where the team won its first NCAA match in over 11 years.
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He earned his Bachelor of Science in psychology from Tulane in 2016.
The 2019-20 campaign was shaping up to be one of ECU’s best, as the Pirates had amassed an 11-2 record, including 8-0 at home. However, the season was cut short by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Despite the premature ending, Van Cott has helped the ECU squad continue its upward trajectory. The Pirates saw sophomore Diogo Marques start the fall season 8-0, earning him the AAC Tennis Player of the Month in September and earning the No. 103 ranking in the ITA’s national singles ranking. Marques is the first Pirate to earn a player of the month award since ECU moved to the AAC in 2014 and is just the third Pirate in program history to earn a national singles ranking. Simon Labbe and Agustin Tamagnone also had a successful fall, becoming the first ECU doubles tandem to reach the ITA Carolina Regional Quarterfinals since 2016.
ECU has also now won 13 straight matches at home as well as 28 of its 30 home contests since Van Cott arrived in Greenville.
Van Cott helped ECU finish with a winning record (14-7) during the 2018-19 campaign, including a dominant 8-1 at home. The Pirates jumped out to a 10-1 start, one of the best in school history. Van Cott helped Diogo Marques to one of ECU’s best-ever rookie seasons, with Marques going 19-11 in singles, including 7-5 on court one. Overall, ECU won nearly 60% of its singles matches and 53.7% of its doubles contests under his watch.
During his first season with the Pirates, Van Cott helped guide the team to a record 22 victories. Five players won 18 or more singles matches with three capturing 20 or more victories. ECU players won more than 68 percent of its singles and doubles matches during the 2017-18 campaign.
Prior to joining the Pirates, Van Cott served as a volunteer assistant coach at Princeton for the 2016-17 year. The Tigers posted a 14-12 record while Alex Day and Luke Gamble reached the NCAA Doubles Championship with an automatic bid earning a No. 59 national ranking as the top Ivy League team in the May 4 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.
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He first gained coaching experience working at Sportime Schenectady in Schenectady, N.Y., where he organized tennis camp for over 50 kids ages 5-17. While at Sportime, he worked with some of the top boys and girls in the country, including the No. 6 fourth grade girl in the United States and the No. 5 10-and-under boy in the USTA's Eastern Section.
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Van Cott was a four-year letterwinner at Tulane and posted a 52-46 career singles record playing primarily at the No. 5 and No. 6 spot for the Green Wave. He went 43-20 overall in doubles and 28-19 in dual matches. As a senior, his leadership helped guide Tulane to the NCAA Tournament where the team won its first NCAA match in over 11 years.
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He earned his Bachelor of Science in psychology from Tulane in 2016.