Catrina Thompson

Catrina Thompson was hired as the head women's tennis coach in the summer of 2017. Thompson was an assistant at Notre Dame for three years before coming to Minnesota. She helped the team advance to the NCAA tournament each year and coached three different individual NCAA qualifiers. During her tenure at Notre Dame, Thompson coached five All-ACC honorees and contributed to the Irish extending their consecutive NCAA appearances streak to 22 straight seasons.

While at Notre Dame the Irish were honored by the NCAA with the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the award is given to the top performing women's tennis programs in the classroom.

Prior to her coaching stint in South Bend, Thompson was an assistant at Boise State for two seasons. In her second season at Boise State she earned the 2013 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Her student-athletes in Boise collected six All-Mountain West recognitions during her time with the Broncos.

Thompson began her collegiate coaching career in 2010-11 as a volunteer assistant coach for the Ivy League Champion Yale Bulldogs.

As a student-athlete at Notre Dame, Thompson was a three-time All-American playing doubles alongside her twin sister, Christian. With her sister, Thompson racked up a program-record 104 double victories. She won the 2005 Riviera/ITA All-American Doubles Championship and was a finalist in both 2004 and 2006. She was also a two-time Most Outstanding Player at the Big East Championships and served as Notre Dame’s team captain her senior season.

In addition to her achievements as an amateur, Thompson also enjoyed success as a professional player, winning doubles titles at four pro events.

Thompson became the seventh head coach in Gopher women’s tennis history and was the first woman to lead the program since Ellie Peden from 1975-83.