COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Mountain West announces Utah State’s Aaron Paajanen as the 2026 Mountain West Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year, as selected by the league’s eight head coaches. He is the Aggies’ third men’s tennis coach to earn the honor and first since 2018.
Paajanen led Utah State to a 19-5 record this year, the most wins in his seven seasons at the helm. That included an undefeated run through the Mountain West regular season and conference tournament as the Aggies swept both titles in the same season for the third time in program history and first time since 2019. Overall, the Aggies collected their fifth regular-season title and third tournament title all-time.
During the 2026 campaign, Paajanen had four different players earn the Mountain West Player of the Week award, including the last three consecutive weeks of the season, while three went on to earn All-MW Singles honors. The Aggies’ top two doubles pairs also picked up a league-high two spots on the All-MW Doubles Team.
After earning in the Conference’s automatic bid, Paajanen’s Aggies will be making its third-ever team appearance in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship this week with an opening-round match at No. 9 Oklahoma on Friday, May 1.
