Matt Jednak - Head Coach - Staff Directory - University of North Carolina Athletics

Staff Directory

Matt Jednak

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
Phone:
919-962-5411

Two-time ACC Coach of the Year Matt Jednak completed his sixth season as head coach in 2025.

Carolina had a great showing in the postseason as Eli Lippman won his second career individual Men’s Epee ACC Championships, becoming the fourth fencer in program history to win multiple conference titles. Lippman was the first fencer to achieve this feat since the tournament was brought back in 20215. Lippman was also named Championship MVP and earned All-ACC honors. The Tar Heels sent 24 fencers to regionals. Eight fencers earned All-Region honors, the most under Jednak. Carolina saw four fencers advance to the national championship. Sofia Kovacs notched her third straight All-America honor along with Elden Wood and Peter Bruk. For the second time in his tenure, Jednak saw his second fencer earn ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, with Wood bringing home the honor.

In 2024, he led the men’s team to its first ACC Championship title since 1980 and ninth in program history on Feb. 25, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. It was the first team title as head coach in his career, for which he was named ACC Men’s Fencing Coach of the Year. Freshman Boris Muga was named the MVP for the Championships.

The UNC men hadn’t won a conference title since the ACC Fencing Championship was revived in 2015 with the addition of Notre Dame to the conference. Sophia Kovacs (Epee) and Nicole Milewski (sabre) both won silver medals as individuals at the conference championships, earning All-ACC honors.

The Tar Heels had 25 fencers qualify for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional, with Kovacs and Wood both advancing to the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Kovacs. Wood Elden Sofia Mandour, Muga, and Anna Temiryaev earned All-Region honors. Kovacs, who finished in tenth place in women’s sabre at NCAAs, garnered All-America honors for the second year in a row.

In 2023, five fencers earned All-Region honors as Lippman (Epee) and Kovacs (Sabre) both earned their first career bids to the NCAA Championships, and Kovacs picked up her first All-America honors in women’s sabre.

Lippman won his first career ACC Individual Men’s Epee Championship as a freshman in 2022, as he beat the 2022 ACC Men’s Epee Fencer of the Year 15-10. Carolina sent 21 fencers to regionals, with Henry Shugart, Sophia Mandour, and Sofia Molho earning All-Region honors by the coaches' association. Mandour finished 15th in women’s foil at the NCAAs.

In 2021, for the first time since the ACC Tournament was reinstated, Carolina brought home the MVP honor as Reza Merchant went undefeated against Duke and Boston College, as well as winning the Men’s Individual Epee ACC Championship. The 2021 ACC Championships featured three fencers on the podium, not including the champion, with Rabinowitz (Sabre) and Connor Head (Foil) both runner-up. Alec Mulvaney was the sabre bronze medalist. Rabinowitz, Head, and Merchant were named All-ACC.

Following the conference tournament, Carolina saw eleven fencers punch their tickets to NCAAs. Merchant would wrap up the season as the ACC Men’s Epee Fencer of the Year. Carolina finished sixth as a team, with Rabinowitz, Mulvaney, and Allegra Parker earning All-America honors. Rabinowitz was named the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

In his first season at the helm, Jednak was named the 2020 ACC Women’s Fencing Co-Coach of the Year. The women’s team finished as the runner-up at the ACC Championships. Jednak saw 24 fencers advance to the Atlantic/South Regionals as James Mulligan, Beni Rabinowitz, and Sophia Mandour all earned bids to the NCAA Championships, but did not fence as the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Jednak was named the head coach of the Carolina fencing team on April 4, 2019. A former Tar Heel fencer and assistant coach, he is just the second coach in Tar Heel program history, following Ron Miller, who came to UNC in 1967 and spent 52 years at the UNC helm.

"I am honored to lead a program that means so much to me," Jednak said. "I have so much respect for Coach Miller – he's an icon in the world of fencing – and I look forward to carrying on the proud tradition that he created and fostered at UNC. Carolina Fencing has come to mean success in the classroom, on the strip and in life. I experienced that as a student-athlete and as an assistant coach, and I will work hard to carry that forward for current and future Tar Heels."

A three-year letterwinner as part of the men's epee squad, Jednak completed his North Carolina degree in 2009, graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematical decision sciences. He served as a Carolina assistant coach from 2009-14 and then founded and currently manages his own accounting and tax firm while coaching fencing on the club level.

"Matt's knowledge, experience as a Carolina student-athlete and assistant coach and dedication to providing a great experience for our students make him the ideal person to lead this program,'' UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said. "Carolina Fencing is unique because we've had one extremely successful head coach in its 52-year history – and we need a leader who will embrace the tradition of the program while also finding new ways to move it forward. We are confident Matt is that person, and we are pleased to have him join our phenomenal group of Carolina head coaches."

"Even as a student in our program, Matt embraced the teaching aspect of the team and was always looking for ways to help his teammates improve," Miller said. "He has exceptional interpersonal skills, both communicating one-on-one and running a group, and I think the combination of that and his teaching skills make him a great fit for this position. He has experience across all three weapons, which is fairly rare. He's prepared and I think he'll jump right in and move the program forward.

Miller coached the Tar Heels for 52 seasons and compiled a career record of 1,603-900. He initially retired in the spring of 2018 but stayed on for the 2018-19 season as UNC completed the search and hired a new coach.

"Although I was ready to retire last year, this year allowed different opportunities," Miller said. "We had a large group of incoming freshmen, so to help them adapt to college life and the team program was gratifying, and I also appreciated being able to finish up with this year's seniors.

"One of the main focuses throughout the season was to prepare the program for my successor. I'm so appreciative of the many qualified candidates who took the time to apply for the position, and we're all very pleased that Matt was selected – I hope it will be an easy transition for him."

Jednak coached locally as part of the North Carolina Fencing Development Program and with Apex Fencing Academy, where he worked with several national medal winners.

As a Tar Heel assistant coach he was involved in all aspects of the program, coaching numerous NCAA Championships qualifiers while developing a broad base of experience and a strong coaching philosophy.

"My coaching philosophy develops student-athletes and staff into confident leaders and forges strong bonds with parents and alumni, while my passion and emotional energy create an environment that cultivates the highest levels of success," Jednak said. "This is an unbelievable opportunity for me."