A seven-time NCAA conference championship coach, René Vidal enters his 4th season as head coach of NIU men’s tennis after a record-setting 2025-26 campaign.
2025-26 Highlights
- MAC Tournament Runner-up, first time since 2019.
- Fifth-ever MAC Championship appearance.
- 18-8 record, most wins in a single season since 2021 (21 wins) and tied for the third most wins in a season since 1995.
- 12 home wins, most in a single season since 2021 and fourth most since 2010.
- First win over Western Michigan since 2015, first time beating WMU twice in one season.
- First time since 2021 NIU has had two players record 18 or more singles wins in dual season, fifth since 2009.
- Iker Gaztambide Arrastia's 20 wins are the most in a dual season since 2013 (Frederic Cadieux, 21)
- Seventh time ever NIU has had multiple players named to All-MAC First Team (2024, 2021, 2018, 2014, 2013, 2008).
- Ten MAC Player of the Week honors, most by any team in 2026 and most from NIU since 2005.
- Iker Gaztambide Arrastia - MAC Singles Player of the Year, First Team All-MAC.
- Third-ever MAC Player of the Year, first since 2008
- First NIU player to earn back-to-back First Team All-MAC honors since 2018-19, fifth since 2006
- 163 career victories, 6th most in program history
- 88 singles wins, 10th most
- 75 doubles wins, 7th most
- Nikola Puntaric - First Team All-MAC
- MAC Indoors Singles Championship
- Back Draw Co-Champion at the ITA Conference Masters
Vidal took over the Huskies in the middle of the 2024 season and the team immediately won five straight duals. His first win was on Feb. 16 against Youngstown State. Vidal won 11 of his first 12 duals and the Huskies went 12-3 overall under Vidal.
René Vidal, who has helped lead four NCAA tennis programs to seven conference championships, was named head coach of the Northern Illinois University men’s tennis program on February 7, 2024.
NIU earned a second-place finish in the regular season MAC standings and qualified for the MAC Tournament. Three Huskies earned MAC honors after the season with Saul Berdullas earning MAC Freshman of the Year while Cheng En Tsai and Mikael Vollbach were named First Team All-MAC.
Prior to NIU, Vidal served as head men’s and women’s tennis coach at McKendree University beginning in the fall of 2020. In 2022, he led the McKendree men’s team to its first Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Championship, a school best 21-3 dual meet record, and a program best Top 25 (No. 22) final ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The Bearcats advanced to the NCAA Regionals Round of 32 for the first time as Vidal earned GLVC Coach of the Year honors.
Under Vidal’s leadership, the McKendree team made three consecutive appearances (2021, 2022, 2023) in the GLVC Championships, while the women’s team qualified for the conference championship for the first time in 10 years in 2023.
Prior to leading the McKendree programs, Vidal spent two years as assistant men’s tennis coach at Washington University in St. Louis. During that time, he helped guide the Bears to a No. 9 ITA final ranking and its 13th straight NCAA Division III Elite Eight appearance.
A native of New York City, Vidal is a former nationally ranked junior player; he graduated from Florida International University with a bachelor’s degree in public administration in 1993 and earned a master’s degree in sports administration from St. Thomas University (Miami, Fla.) in 2004.
Vidal has three sons: Angelo (Kenyon College ’22), Manny (Goucher College ’25) — both tennis student-athletes at their respective schools — and Alex (Mizzou ’28).
Vidal resides in Geneva, Illinois.
What Leaders Say About René Vidal
“René Vidal is a guy who has been in the trenches and has much to pass on.”
—Bobby Bayliss, University of Notre Dame Men’s Tennis
“René Vidal is the consummate professional.”
—Andy Brandi, University of Florida 3-time national championship women’s coach
“René is a straight-shooter … an excellent communicator.”
—Tim Cass, General Manager at USTA National Campus
“Coach Vidal prepared for us to perform when the moment arrived.”
—Leo Frederico, 2022 GLVC Champion and Player of the Year, McKendree ’23
“René Vidal is one of America’s top coaches … a winner in every way.”
—Dick Gould, Stanford University 17-time national championship men’s coach
“René helped my game grow mentally and physically.”
—Jesse Levine, ATP Singles Career High #69
“René’s ability to instill discipline, work ethic, and a winning mentality in his athletes is truly commendable.”
—Greg Patton, Boise State Men’s Tennis
“Everyone needs a coach like René Vidal.”
—Radha Vishnubhotla, Washington University in St. Louis, ’19 tennis student-athlete
