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Wayne State University Athletics

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Slava Zingerman

UPDATED March 27, 2022

In June of 2021, Wayne State University Director of Athletics Rob Fournier announced the selection of Viacheslav "Slava" Zingerman as head men's and women's fencing coach replacing Jerzy Radz, who retired in December of 2020 after nearly 30 years with the program.

In his first year as the head coach at Wayne State, seven of his student athletes (three on the men's team and four on the women's squad) earned Academic All-GLIAC recognition.  He guided Ahmed Elsayed to the NCAA Championships in the epee.

Zingerman became the sixth head coach of the fencing program in its 90-year history joining Bela de Tuscan (1932-1957), Istvan Danosi (1957-1982), Aladar Kogler (1982-1983), Gil Pezza (1983-1991) and Jerzy Radz (1991-2020).

"I have hired a number of coaches who should someday be in the Hall of Fame, but never hired one who is already in the Hall of Fame," remarked Fournier.  "Slava has significantly enriched the proud history of fencing at Wayne State with three Division I individual national titles and one Second Team All-American finish.  Those experiences as a student athlete, and his own remarkable life journey, make him uniquely qualified to continue, and to advance, the rich heritage of Wayne State fencing."

"First of all, I would like to thank President Wilson, Mr. Fournier and the search committee for having the confidence in me to become the next head fencing coach at Wayne State," commented Zingerman.  "It is an honor to return to my alma mater and become the sixth head coach in the storied history of Wayne State fencing.  I look forward to continuing on the successes I had as a student-athlete and help the next generation of WSU student-athletes succeed both academically and athletically."

A 2016 inductee into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame, as a student-athlete Zingerman became only the second person in NCAA men's epee history to win three consecutive NCAA titles since the NCAA began competition in 1941 as he won the gold medal in 2007, 2008 and 2009 (Risto Hurme of New York University was the first in 1973-74-75).  Zingerman left WSU as a four-time All-American (First Team in 2007-08-09 and Second Team in 2010) and as the all-time epee wins leader in school history.  He compiled a 69-29 record during his four years at the NCAA Championships, along with a 247-54 overall mark.  Academically, he was a three-time member of the honor roll.

After earning a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from WSU in 2011, Zingerman spent the next five-plus years in New York working for the Manhattan Fencing Center as well as the New York Fencing Academy.  During the 2016-17 academic year, he served as an assistant coach at Duke University prior to spending the last four years (August 2017-Spring 2021) at the Academy of Fencing Masters in Campbell, Calif.

In his lone season with the Blue Devils, Zingerman guided both Bryn Hammarberg  and Camille Esnault to All-American accolades.

A member of USA Fencing, he has coached numerous medalists during summer nationals competition.

Prior to WSU, Zingerman was a member of the Israeli National Team (epee) from 2000-09, rising to a world junior ranking of No. 3.

He and his wife, Viktoriya, are the proud parents of two boys, Michael and Logan.

 
Year Men's and Women's Combined Finish National Champions
2021-22 25th NA
2022-23 19th NA


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