July 6, 2011
NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion University named Dominic Manilla women's tennis head coach, Athletic Director Wood Selig announced on Wednesday.
"I was most impressed with Dom as an assistant tennis coach at ODU upon my arrival last year. He has only enhanced his tennis acumen with his stint at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy Coaching staff," Selig said. "Dom knows the ODU program and has great vision on improving our program to one of the nation's top women's programs in the country. He presented an extremely detailed plan for enhancing our recruiting, competitiveness, scheduling and fundraising that captured the attention and interest of the entire selection committee. We welcome Dom back as our new head women's tennis coach."
Manilla, an ODU Graduate and former men's tennis player, spent last year coaching at the prestigious John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. Manilla was a part of the day-to-day on court training and worked closely with McEnroe, Gilad Bloom (former ATP #56 ranking and Academy Director) and Fritz Buehning (former ATP #21 ranking and Assistant Academy Director).
"I would like to thank Dr. Selig, Bruce Stewart and the entire search committee for the opportunity to return to Old Dominion as the head women's tennis coach. I could not be happier to return to Old Dominion, my alma mater, and the state of Virginia where my family and closest of friends are. I greatly look forward to working with the Athletic Department, especially volunteer coach John Brinkman and our Facility Coordinator, Mary Jordan, in bringing the program to a level that the Hampton Roads tennis community can be proud of," Manilla said. "I would like to thank my parents, Ron and Diana, as well as my brothers and sisters, Danny, Anna, and Joey helping me to achieve my goals as a player and coach. Being the head coach at Old Dominion has been a goal of mine since I stepped foot on campus as a student-athlete for coach Cummings. I am humbled and eager to get to work."
Before joining the McEnroe Academy, Manilla returned to his alma mater for three years as an assistant coach. Manilla joined the Monarchs in the fall of 2007 and helped ODU to a third place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association, and ranking as high as No. 38 during the season, and an appearance in the conference tournament semifinals. The Monarchs reached the semi's again in 2009 and placed the doubles team of Aleksandr Seleznev and Tobias Fanselow in the NCAA Doubles Tournament, with Seleznev qualifying for the singles tournament.
Prior to joining ODU, he was the Tennis Camp Instructor at the Boars Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. Manilla worked with the junior program and traveled to tournaments across the Mid-Atlantic region.
Manilla finished his career at ODU with an 18-15 record and was part of the 2007 team that defeated Virginia Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and finished with an overall ranking of No. 31.
"I feel fortunate to have Dom return to his alma mater. I think he embodies the tangible and intangible qualities that will enable him as a head coach to foster a winning culture within our program," Associate Athletic Director and Committee Chair Bruce Stewart said. "He is a tireless individual that not only has the best interest of our program at heart, but truly bleeds blue and will be an asset to our campus community."