Minium: Norfolk Sports Club to Honor ODU Women's Tennis Coach Dominic Manilla As State's Best Coach
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Dominic Manilla, the Old Dominion alumnus who has built ODU’s women’s tennis program into one of the nation’s best, will be presented the J. Roy Rodman Award given by the Norfolk Sports Club to its choice as Virginia's best collegiate coach.
He will receive the award at the sports club's 78th jamboree on Wednesday, April 23, at Chartway Arena. Former ODU women’s basketball star Nancy Lieberman will be the featured speaker.
Manilla’s teams have won four consecutive conference championships – two in Conference USA and two in the Sun Belt – and his Monarchs are generally ranked among the top 35 programs in the country.
ODU has made the last five NCAA tournaments, a run that began with an at-large bid in 2019.
An ODU player has been named conference player of the year the last five seasons, and five of the last six years, Manilla has been named conference coach of the year. Five players he coached have participated in the NCAA Singles Tournament, including Sofia Johnson, who ranked as high as No. 7 in the country this spring.
He says the Norfolk Sports Club Award “is the most meaningful coaching award I’ve ever received,” Manilla said. “It’s such a prestigious award and I’m just so grateful and honored.”
The award, named for the late Portsmouth businessman and philanthropist, has a distinguished list of past winners, including then Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett, ODU men’s basketball coaches Paul Webb, Sonny Allen and Jeff Jones and ODU women’s basketball coaches Wendy Larry and Marianne Stanley.
Norfolk Sports Club Vice President Jack Ankerson, who heads the sports club award committee, and Carolyn Crutchfield, ODU’s executive senior associate athletics director, met Manilla at his office to tell him about the award.
“That was really special for Jack and Carolyn to take the time to do that,” he said.
“When she (Crutchfield) called, I was thinking, ‘Oh no, is there a problem?’ But she told me that all is good, and I was overwhelmed when they told me the news.
“For Jack to come here and tell me personally, that was so classy.”
Manilla, 39, is a native of Nelson County, Virginia who cut his teeth playing tennis. His father, Ron Manilla, is a long-time tennis pro in the Charlottesville area and his brother, Josef Manilla is a former college assistant coach.
“He has a distinct pedigree as he comes from tennis royalty,” said Bruce Stewart, ODU’s deputy athletic director and COO who is the administrator for men’s and women’s tennis.
Manilla walked-on at ODU without a scholarship and played for the late Darryl Cummings, the long-time men’s and women’s coach at ODU. He was a young assistant coach at ODU when Cummings announced he would retire.
Cummings advised him to leave ODU to gain more experience.
By then, Manilla had caught the eye of John McEnroe, the fiery former American tennis star who won six Grand Slam singles events. Manilla went to work with McEnroe at his tennis academy on Randall’s Island in New York City.
Part of the interview process with McEnroe was to play a few rounds of tennis with him.
“That was one of the coolest moments of my life,” Manilla said.
But then he received a call from Stewart, who told him he was on a short list of people being considered to replace Cummings. Stewart chaired the selection committee that would hire both the men's and women's tennis coaches.
Grey Folkes and Ricky Stevens, for whom ODU's Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center is named, were on the selection committee. The committee selected Manilla as the new ODU women’s coach.
"Dom was critical because he could connect the dots and was ingrained with the ODU tennis community, as well as past alums," Stewart said. "He had worked and played under Darryl and understood the collegiate tennis landscape.”
Manilla praised Dr. Wood Selig, ODU’s director of athletics, who in his first year at ODU, agreed to put more resources into both the men's and women's programs, including restructuring the program by hiring dedicated coaches for both the men and women.
“Wood and Bruce, they’ve always had my back,” Manilla said. “They’ve provided the resources for us to become successful. Wood has been extremely supportive. I couldn’t ask for better bosses.
"I've always appreciated Bruce's guidance and leadership over the years. His impact, you can’t put into words.
“I would jump through fire for that guy.”
“I told Bruce, if I’m going to coach at ODU, we’re not just going to be good. We’re going to be great," Manilla added
“I’m pleased with what we’ve done. We’ve worked hard. But I feel like we can get better, that we can and will do more.”
ODU’s program is envy of most mid-major schools, and mid-major, is a term he doesn’t like. “We feel like we’ve proven we are a power program,” he said.
Manilla, now in his 14th season, is 210-94 at ODU and a lot of those victories have come against Power 4 schools. Since 2017-18, ODU has won 29 matches against Power 4 schools, including victories over Baylor, Notre Dame, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, LSU, Iowa State, Missouri, Wisconsin, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Florida State, and Kansas.
The Monarchs defeated South Carolina the last two years in the NCAA Tournament and also defeated Arkansas, 4-2, in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Virginia Beach businessman Brad Hobbs, a Virginia Tech graduate and booster, met Manilla’s father when his kids were training in Charlottesville.
“He asked me, ‘Do you know my son?’ I didn’t but then I met Dom and began to watch what he’s doing with ODU,” Hobbs said.
“I’ve since become very involved with ODU tennis. Over the years, I’ve donated about $150,000 to the program and that’s because of Dom. He’s an incredible fundraiser. He’s so passionate about his program and his girls.
“To have a Top 35 program year after year at ODU is quite an achievement. And it’s all Dom. People don’t understand how hard it is to do that year after year. People don’t understand what he goes up against.
“He’s goes toe to toe with the biggest programs in the country and holds his own. He’s just an amazing coach.”
His teams have been just as successful in the classroom. Every scholarship tennis player Manilla signed has graduated and generally, his team is among the most successful on campus academically.
Women’s tennis had the best grade-point-average among ODU’s 18 athletics teams in 2023-24.
Manilla has also developed a close relationship with men’s coach Dominik Mueller, whose program has won the last two Sun Belt titles and has also had great success against Power 4 programs.
Mueller’s team is ranked 59th nationally, just behind North Carolina and ahead of Northwestern and Notre Dame.
“Dominik and I work together well,” Manilla said. “We feed off each other’s success.”
ODU’s Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center, a 74,000 square foot center with eight indoor and 12 outdoor courts, has helped both the men’s and women’s programs compete at the highest level.
Few mid-major programs have such outstanding tennis facilities.
"I look at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Facility as a center of champions," Stewart said. "People who've been to watch our men and women play say it's the best place to watch high-level tennis in the Hampton Roads area."
Manilla hit a home run seven years ago when he hired Yana Sokolenko, who is the associate head coach and a brilliant recruiter.
A native of Minsk, Belarus, Sokolenko speaks fluent Russian and Spanish and four of ODU’s eight players are native Russian speakers.
Sokolenko is also a great coach. She was formerly the head coach at Miami of Ohio, where she won two MAC titles in her three seasons, and was the associate head coach at VCU for three seasons.
“Dom and Yana, that’s the dynamic duo right there,” Stewart said. “They complement each other very well. And she is a great mentor for these young ladies."
“Yana has been instrumental in our success in recruiting great players from overseas," Manilla aded. "Having someone who grew up close to where you grew up, someone who speaks your language, that means a lot.”
“The thing that makes Dom good,” Stewart added, “is how much he cares and is emotionally invested. When you go to any senior day match, and he speaks about his players, you immediately know why he has garnered so much success.
"He knows his student-athletes on a much deeper level than their mere rankings and he’s got a genuine care and concern about their overall well being.”
Manilla is thankful not only for the support he's received from athletics administrators, but also from ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.
"Dr. Hemphill has been kind enough to have our entire team and the men's teams over to his house after we won Sun Belt championships," Manilla said.
"How many women's tennis teams get that kind of support from their college president? Everyone in our athletics department feels valued and we're so grateful for that."
Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram