Kean University

Jodi Valenti returns for her 19th season overall with the tennis program and 13th as the head coach in 2025-26.

Coach Valenti Highlights

Winningest Coach in Program History

NJAC Tournament Appearance- 2020-21, 2024-25

NJAC Coach of the Year – 2015

Two All-NJAC Singles Selection

Six NJAC Player of the Week Selections

Seven NJAC Rookie of the Week Selections

Shruti Nadkarni Named Kean University Valedictorian in 2015

In 2024-25, Valenti guided the Cougars to 11 wins for the second time in her career and reached the NJAC Tournament for the second time in six seasons. 

In 2023-24, Grace Del Pino became the first All-NJAC singles selection since 2013.

In 2019-20 Valenti guided the Cougars to 11 wins, the most under her tenure as head coach and the most since 2010. She also became the winningest coach in program history in a 6-3 victory over Brooklyn on Oct. 12th. 

In 2018-19, Valenti posted a season best 10 wins, surpassing her nine victories in 2017. 

In 2017, Valenti recorded the most victories (9) since she took over the program in 2013. 

Valenti was named the NAJC Coach of the Year in 2015. The Cougars won eight matches despite being picked to finish fifth in the league standings. Perhaps even more impressively, senior Shruti Nadkarni earned the distinction of being the Kean University Valedictorian at the school’s 2016 graduation, a feat that is unprecedented for a Kean student-athlete. 

In her second season at the helm of the program, she led the Cougars to an 8-5 record.

Valenti was elevated to the head coaching position prior to the 2013 season. That year's team finished with six wins and boasted a First-Team All-NJAC selection.

A four year player for the Cougars, Valenti still holds the record for wins in a season with 20 (including tournament play) in singles competition.

Valenti received her Bachelor of Arts degree in health and physical education from Kean University in 2003 and her Master of Arts degree in Educational Adminstration from Kean in 2009.  She is currently a physical education teacher at James Madison Elementary School in Bergen County, N.J. and a tennis specialist at TGA of Bergen County. In the spring, Valenti is an assistant softball coach at Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi, N.J., which has won seven NJSIAA State Championships.

*-Season Shortened due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Updated 6-23-25