Belmont University Vice President, Director of Athletics Scott Corley selected Jeff Cero to lead the men's tennis program on Feb. 5, 2024.
Cero spent four seasons (2019-23) as head men’s tennis coach at George Fox University in Newburg, Oregon. He led George Fox to unparalleled success, including three consecutive Northwest Conference championships, three-straight NCAA Championship appearances and a national quarterfinal finish in 2021.
Under Cero’s leadership, George Fox won 24 consecutive Northwest Conference matches as his student-athletes garnered 12 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American awards.
He was named 2021 Wilson ITA West Region Coach of the Year and was a 2021 ITA National Coach of the Year finalist. Tabbed Northwest Conference Coach of the Year in both 2022 and 2023, Cero was honored by the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) for his efforts as the director of George Fox’s multi-use facility.
A perfect 6-0 in conference tournament matches and 3-3 in the NCAA Division III Championship, Cero’s George Fox Bruins won 44 dual matches from 2019-23.
In addition to leading the men’s tennis program at George Fox, Cero ran the junior and adult programs for the greater Newberg/Sherwood/McMinnville, Oregon, area as director of the indoor tennis complex. Cero was the associate head coach at George Fox during the Bruins’ 2018-19 campaign.
Prior to George Fox, Cero served as head coach for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Pacific Northwest National Girls 18U and Boys and Girls 16U Zonals teams where he coached numerous top-ranked juniors and NCAA Division I nationally-ranked players.
Cero was the men’s and women’s tennis head coach at Colorado Christian University where his women’s team set the school record for most wins in a single season. He began his coaching career as a junior tennis coach at the acclaimed IMG Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where he worked with several top 400 International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior players, including two eventual NCAA singles champions.
A native of Beaverton, Oregon, Cero was a four-year letter winner and team captain at Portland State University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in business administration from Portland State in 2011.
A youth pastor and church youth director for a combined five years, Cero also received a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry from Ames Christian University in 2011. He is the author of Letters of the Great Divide: God, Death and Eternity.
