University of Minnesota head tennis coach Lois Arterberry announced today that Venkat Manne has been hired as a volunteer coach. Manne, a Wayzata, Minn., native, will make his collegiate coaching debut with the Golden Gophers this fall.
“We are happy to have Venkat join the team,” Arterberry said. “We believe in the value added to the program, with his roots right here in Minnesota. Venkat is well-connected in this area, which is a huge asset to our program from a community and recruiting standpoint. We appreciate who he is as a person and the diversity of his background. As a former collegiate player, Venkat knows what being in a student athlete’s shoes is like. We are excited for the energy he brings to the team and we look forward to building this program further.”
Manne brings years of experience to the ‘U’. Before his Minnesota tenure, Manne served as the director of tennis operations for the Athletic Institute of Excellence in Hopkins, Minn., where he led day-to-day tennis operations and worked with high-performance tennis coaches. Manne was also a tennis pro for the city of Minnetonka from 2018-24 where he was responsible for planning, organizing and managing tennis programs in the area.
Manne also served as an assistant tennis coach for the Edina High School boys’ varsity tennis program from 2021-24. At Edina, Manne helped coach the team to a state championship in 2021 and acted as head coach to the junior varsity boys’ tennis program.
Competing on the North Dakota club tennis team from 2015-17, Manne was a three-time captain and served as club president for two years. In December 2017, Manne earned a bachelor of business administration and management degree from North Dakota. He won a state tennis title with Wayzata High School in 2013.
“I teach tennis because it is genuinely the one thing in this world I love, and I want to share that passion with the people I teach,” Manne said.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
