Rich Bonfiglio enters his second season as an assistant coach for the Columbia men’s tennis program, having joined the staff in July 2019.
Despite a shortened campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lions saw tremendous success in Bonfiglio's first season on Morningside Heights in 2019-20. Bonfiglio played a significant role in Jack Lin and Jackie Tang being named the program's first-ever Doubles All-Americans after coaching the duo to Columbia's first ITA All-American Championships doubles title and a program-record No. 3 Oracle/ITA doubles ranking.
Compiling a 7-3 dual match record in 2020, the Lions continued to solidify themselves as a national contender, opening the season with back-to-back top-20 victories over No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 16 Tennessee as part of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend to secure its third-consecutive trip and fifth in six seasons to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Although the season was abbreviated, Columbia finished the season ranked No. 14 nationally. Two Lions nabbed regional awards as Tang was named ITA Northeast Senior Player of the Year and Alex Kotzen was recognized as ITA Northeast Rookie of the Year.
The accolades continued as Bonfiglio helped bring in the No. 4 recruiting class in the nation in 2020, marking the program's highest-ranked recruiting class in program history.
A native of Bronxville, New York, Bonfiglio brings more than a decade of experience in the world of collegiate tennis. Before joining the Lions, he spent three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of San Diego, where he was named 2018 tasc Performance ITA Assistant Coach of the Year for the Southwest region.
“Rich is a great addition to the Columbia program,” Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men's Tennis Howard Endelman said. “His energy and enthusiasm light up a room. I think every current and future member of the Columbia Tennis family will love Rich because of his character, values and commitment to the program. We are always looking for the right people to join us on our mission, and Rich is a great fit to help make the scholar-athlete experience for a tennis player at Columbia the best anywhere.”
Bonfiglio joined Endelman ‘87CC in his inaugural season at the helm after officially assuming the head coaching position July 1, 2019. Endelman served as associate head coach for the past nine years, helping Columbia ascend the national ranks. The Lions have won six-straight Ivy League titles, reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in four of the last six seasons, and finished the 2019 campaign ranked No. 16 nationally.
In his three seasons at San Diego, Bonfiglio helped lead the Toreros to three-straight West Coast Conference Tournament titles, two regular season WCC championships and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament twice. In his final season with the program in 2019, USD finished in the ITA Top 25 for just the second time in program history, advancing to the NCAA Round of 32 for the second consecutive year. To cap off the year, August Holmgren and Joel Gamerov became the program’s first-ever doubles All-Americans, while Bonfiglio also helped guide Gui Osorio to WCC Player of the Year honors in 2019.
"I'm extremely excited to begin working at Columbia University,” said Bonfiglio. “I would like to thank Coach Endelman and everyone in the Columbia Athletics department for this amazing opportunity to work at such a prestigious academic and athletic institution. I'm looking forward to helping Coach Endelman continue Columbia's rich tennis tradition in the Ivy League and on the national stage. Go Lions!"
Prior to his stint at San Diego, Bonfiglio got his coaching start at his alma mater, Trinity College, where he served as an assistant coach from 2011-2014. He spent the 2014-15 campaign as an assistant men’s and women’s coach at Ithaca College. At Ithaca, he helped the men’s team to a runner-up finish in in the Empire 8 Conference while the women’s squad won the league and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bonfiglio spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant men’s coach at Amherst College, helping lead the Mammoths to a No. 7 national ranking in Division III and helping land the top-ranked recruiting class. The season saw two players named All-America selections.
After beginning his collegiate playing career at Middlebury College, Bonfiglio transferred to Trinity where he helped the Bantams finish in the top-20 of NCAA Division III in back-to-back seasons from 2009-11.
Bonfiglio graduated from Trinity College with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and law in 2011, before continuing on to earn his master’s degree from Trinity in public policy in 2014.
