Princeton University Athletics
Men's Fencing
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- zdudas@princeton.edu
- Alma Mater:
- Juhasz Gyula '92
Zoltan Dudas is in his 21st year as head coach of the Princeton men’s and women’s fencing teams in 2026-27. In every season in which Princeton has competed at the NCAA Championships during his tenure, the Tigers have earned a top-10 national finish. From 2011-17, Princeton was the only program in the nation to finish in the top four at the NCAA Championships each year. Through the 2026 championships, Princeton has finished in the top four in either the men’s or women’s standings in 12 of the 14 NCAA Championships in which it has competed under Dudas.
Princeton’s climb under Dudas began with 10th-place NCAA finishes in 2007 and 2008, followed by an eighth-place finish in 2009, sixth in 2010, fourth in 2011, second in 2012 and the program’s first combined men’s/women’s NCAA championship in 2013. That national title helped Dudas earn 2013 U.S. Fencing Coaches Association Collegiate Varsity Fencing Coach of the Year honors. Princeton followed with a runner-up finish in 2014, making the Tigers the only program to finish in the top two at the NCAA Championships in each season from 2012-14.
Under Dudas, Princeton qualified the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA Championships every year from 2010-14, returned to the full 12 in 2016 and again qualified the maximum number in every NCAA Championship in which Princeton competed from 2020-23. The 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ivy League did not compete during the 2020-21 season.
During Dudas’s tenure, Princeton has produced 134 All-America honors from 195 NCAA qualifiers. His fencers have won seven NCAA individual championships, beginning with Jonathan Yergler ’13 in men’s épée in 2012. Eliza Stone ’13 became Princeton’s first women’s saber NCAA champion in 2013, and Anna Van Brummen ’17 became the program’s first women’s épée NCAA champion in 2017. In 2018, Princeton had two NCAA individual champions in the same season for the first time, with Kasia Nixon winning épée and Maia Chamberlain winning saber. Maia Weintraub became Princeton’s first women’s foil NCAA champion under Dudas in 2022, and Tristan Szapary ’24 became the most recent Tiger NCAA champion by winning men’s épée in 2024.
Princeton’s women won five straight Ivy League titles from 2010-14 and returned to the top of the league in 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The men’s team captured Ivy League championships in 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2024 and 2025. The women won 32 consecutive Ivy League matches from 2009-15 and 52 consecutive dual matches overall from 2013-15.
Dudas shared the Ivy League’s inaugural women’s fencing Coach of the Year award in 2015 and earned the honor again in 2016, 2017, 2022 and 2023. He added the Ivy League men’s fencing Coach of the Year award in 2025.
Through the 2025-26 season, Dudas owns a 388-126 dual-meet record with the Princeton men and a 451-108 record with the Princeton women. Both programs have set single-season wins records during his tenure. The Princeton women’s 15 winningest seasons all-time have come under Dudas, while 17 of the men’s 18 winningest seasons have come during his time as head coach. The women set a program record and completed their first undefeated season at 31-0 in 2013-14, then went unbeaten again at 30-0 in 2021-22. The men set a program record with 27 wins in 2023-24.
At the Olympic level, Dudas served as a U.S. épée coach at the 2016 Games, where Princeton fencer Katharine Holmes competed, and Susannah Scanlan ’14 helped the U.S. épée team win bronze in London in 2012. Dudas returned to the Olympics as a coach for the Tokyo Games in 2021.
A native of Hungary, Dudas came to Princeton from Notre Dame, where he spent five years as an assistant coach. He helped Notre Dame win combined NCAA team championships in 2003 and 2005 and finish fourth at the 2006 NCAA Championships in his final season. Working primarily with foil and épée competitors, he helped Irish fencers earn 29 All-America honors and 34 NCAA Championship appearances in those weapons. He also coached at Escrime du Lac, where his fencers won three national titles.
A 1992 graduate of Juhasz Gyula College in Hungary, Dudas came to the United States in 2000 after 10 years as a physical education teacher and fencing coach in Hungary. At Szechenyi Istvan High School, the handball team he coached won the 1999 National Handball Championship among more than 250 teams, and he coached fencing at Szegedi Postas Sport Club from 1985-99. In the U.S., he coached at the Saturn Fencing Center in Cleveland from 2000-01 before moving to the Notre Dame area, where he served as a consultant to the Irish program in 2002 while directing the Indiana Fencing Academy in Mishawaka, Ind.
| Year | Men Overall | Women Overall | Men Ivy | Women Ivy | NCAA Finish | NCAA Participants | All-Americans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-07 | 9-5 | 9-6 | 3-2, 3rd | 2-4, 4th | 10th | 7 | 1 |
| 2007-08 | 11-5 | 8-6 | 2-3, 4th | 2-4, 4th | 10th | 6 | 3 |
| 2008-09 | 17-3 | 16-6 | 3-2, 3rd | 4-2, 3rd | 8th | 8 | 4 |
| 2009-10 | 21-3 | 27-3 | 5-0, 1st | 6-0, 1st | 6th | 12 | 6 |
| 2010-11 | 17-7 | 24-3 | 2-3, 4th | 6-0, 1st | 4th | 12 | 7 |
| 2011-12 | 23-2 | 23-3 | 5-0, 1st | 6-0, 1st | 2nd | 12 | 9 |
| 2012-13 | 19-5 | 29-2 | 3-2, 2nd | 6-0, 1st | 1st | 12 | 10 |
| 2013-14 | 18-11 | 31-0 | 3-2, 3rd | 6-0, 1st | 2nd | 12 | 9 |
| 2014-15 | 21-10 | 25-7 | 3-2, 3rd | 4-2, 2nd | 4th | 11 | 10 |
| 2015-16 | 22-10 | 26-6 | 4-1, 1st | 5-1, 1st | 3rd | 12 | 8 |
| 2016-17 | 23-7 | 31-2 | 4-1, 1st | 6-0, 1st | 4th | 11 | 7 |
| 2017-18 | 17-7 | 19-7 | 2-3, 4th | 5-1, 2nd | 7th | 9 | 5 |
| 2018-19 | 21-7 | 16-15 | 2-3, 4th | 5-1, 2nd | 9th | 6 | 5 |
| 2019-20 | 24-7 | 25-7 | 3-2, 3rd | 4-2, 2nd | None* | 12* | 12 |
| 2020-21 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | ||||||
| 2021-22 | 18-8 | 30-0 | 1-3, 4th | 6-0, 1st | 4th | 12 | 7 |
| 2022-23 | 26-3 | 30-3 | 2-2, 3rd | 6-0, 1st | 2nd | 12 | 11 |
| 2023-24 | 27-4 | 20-10 | 3-1, 1st | 5-1, 1st | 4th | 11 | 6 |
| 2024-25 | 26-6 | 27-7-1 | 4-0, 1st | 4-2, 3rd | 4th | 10 | 8 |
| 2025-26 | 14-8 | 18-7 | 2-2, 3rd | 4-2, 3rd | 9th (men), 3rd (women) | 8 | 6 |
| Totals | 388-126 | 451-108 | 56-34, 6 Ivy titles | 92-22, 10 Ivy titles | 195* | 134 | |
* The 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NCAA participants were selected and All-America honors were awarded for that season.
