Dominic Manilla

In his eighth season at Old Dominion, Dominic Manilla continues to deliver success to the Women’s Tennis Program. In the 2018-19 season, Manilla brought the program to its highest ever ranking of No. 19 in the ITA National Rankings. He has been awarded ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, VaSID State Coach of the Year, and secured wins over national powerhouses such as Virginia, Tennessee, Baylor, William and Mary, VCU and West Virginia.

Since his arrival, Manilla has guided a multitude of player’s to All-Conference 1st and 2nd team honors and national rankings. In addition, Manilla signed the highest rated recruit in program history, Borislava Botusharova. She was named the No. 6 ranked Newcomer/Freshman in the NCAA and was named the recipient of the 2015 ITA Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year.

In addition to his success on the court, Manilla’s teams have excelled in the classroom. Each year since 2014, over half his team has been awarded the highest academic achievements and has been honored numerous times as an 2017-18 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team.

"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 a 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).

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.

Dominic grew up in a tennis family as his father, Ron Manilla, is an ATP and WTA Tournament Director as well as a PTR International Master Professional and US Special Olympic National Coach. Dominic's brother, Josef Manilla, is the Assistant Coach of the Men’s Tennis Team at the University of Iowa.

"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."