Email Coach Woodson

Michael Woodson enters his ninth season with the Bears, his fifth as the official head coach of Baylor men’s tennis. Woodson was the named the 10th head coach in program history on May 6, 2021, after previously being named the interim head coach for the 2020-21 season. He was the assistant coach for three seasons for Baylor before being promoted in Dec. 2019.

Woodson also served a stint as the program's interim head coach from May 13 to May 24, 2018, prior to Brian Boland's hire as the Director of Tennis.

Underneath Woodson’s helm, Baylor men’s tennis has reached new heights with four NCAA tournament and three ITA Team Indoor tournament berths, a trip to the NCAA National Championship and ITA National Team Indoor Championship, the first No. 1 overall ranking since 2005, five ITA All-Americans, 22 Big 12 postseason credits and 22 First Team Academic All-Big 12 honorees.

During the 2023-24 season, Woodson guided his program to its 26th-straight NCAA tournament appearance. Additionally, two Bears, Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz earned All-Big 12 honors as both were named Big 12 Second-Team Doubles, while Paroulek was individually featured in singles. Woodson led the duo to impressive heights as the season was highlighted by then-unranked Velcz and Paroulek defeating the No. 1 doubles in the country against Wake Forest in March.

In July 2023, Woodson was elected to be one of 13 coaches serving on the ITA DI Men's Operating Committee, a position he will hold through the 2026 season. He is the men's lone representative from both the Texas Region and Big 12 Conference for the 2023-24 academic year before the conference expands to 16 member institutions July 2024. Woodson is also a member of the DI Texas Regional Committee and the ITA Rules Committee, serving a two-year term.

Woodson led the program to its 25th-consecutive NCAA tournament berth and its 12th-straight ITA Team Indoor Championship appearance in his third year as head coach of the team. The 2022-23 Bears saw Finn Bass win the Texas Regional singles championship in fall play, followed by Tadeas Paroulek and Zsombor Velcz rising to No. 10 in the national doubles rankings in the spring before an appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championships. The Paroulek/Velcz duo earned first team All-Big 12 honors for their efforts and split singles honors with Paroulek on first team and Velcz on second team.

Off the court, the men's tennis squad produced the best term GPA in program history in the 2023 spring semester with a 3.69. The Bears posted four perfect 4.0s and 75% of the team earned personal best term GPA. Christopher Frantzen was also named the 2023 Arthur Ashe Award winner for Leadership and Sportsmanship in the men's ITA DI Texas Region.

In the 2022-23 campaign, Woodson produced three ITA All-Americans and led the team to its third-straight Big 12 tournament title. He earned the ITA Regional Coach of the Year honor for the second-straight year and coached the Regional Senior of the Year, Sven Lah. Under his leadership, Adrian Boitan won the Big 12 Player of the Year, a first for a Bear since the 2016 season.

In his first year at the helm, Woodson led Baylor to a historic season which produced the program's all-time record for wins in a single season (34), as well as trips to the NCAA National Championship and ITA National Team Indoor Championship, and the program's first No. 1 overall ranking since 2005. The Bears also earned a share of the Big 12 regular-season title and won the Big 12 Tournament Championship for their 23rd and 24th all-time league trophies.

Under Woodson, the 2020-21 Bears produced four ITA All-Americans, six All-Big 12 selections, three Big 12 individual champions, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, five Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team representatives, two NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team members and a selection to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship All-Tournament Team.

Additionally, BU had participants reach the semifinals of both the NCAA Singles Championship (Adrian Boitan) and the NCAA Doubles Championship (Constantin Frantzen/Sven Lah) for the first time in program history.

Woodson also saw team captain Constantin Frantzen break the school's all-time record for career doubles victories (112), surpassing the legendary Benjamin Becker.

As the No. 2 overall seed, BU cruised through the NCAA postseason with two sweeps and four wins over ranked opponents, before falling to top-seeded Florida in the title match, the program's third finals appearance all-time.

Woodson and the Bears tallied 18 wins over ranked opponents in 2020-21 and dominated foes in Waco, going 20-2 at the Hurd Tennis Center and Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center. Baylor outscored its opponents 120-19 in its 20 home victories, which included 14 sweeps.

Under Woodson's watch, the Bears also excelled in the classroom, earning six ITA Scholar-Athlete awards as well as ITA All-Academic Team distinction. Additionally, Charlie Broom and Nick Stachowiak were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the efforts both on and off the court. Furthermore, six Bears earned a spot on the 2021 Academic All-Big 12 Team.

Woodson was named the Texas Region's ITA Wilson Coach of the Year for 2020-21, while Izak van der Merwe was also honored as the region's top assistant.

Despite the 2020 season being cut short, Woodson and the Bears recorded a 13-3 record and a perfect 10-0 mark in Waco.

In 2019, Woodson helped Baylor reach its 13th NCAA quarterfinal appearance and earn the program's ninth Big 12 postseason title. Individually, he mentored ITA Doubles All-Americans and All-Big 12 honorees Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah and saw them post the second-most wins in BU history with a 28-7 record. He also saw Adrian Boitan go 16-4 on the singles court and earn Big 12 Freshman of the Year, ITA Regional Rookie of the Year and Big 12 Championship MOP honors. Woodson also guided Matias Soto to his first career All-Big 12 singles honors with an 18-5 spring record.

During the 2017-18 season, Woodson helped guide Baylor to its 21^st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and a 21-10 overall record without a senior on the roster. Woodson mentored three All-Big 12 honorees in Sven Lah, Roy Smith and Will Little. Lah and Smith finished their freshman seasons with an impressive 17-2 doubles record and earned first team and all-tournament recognition. Little compiled a 17-9 overall singles record and his second straight All-Big 12 honor while earning his first all-tournament award.

In his first season in Waco, Woodson contributed immediately as BU advanced to its 17th Sweet 16 appearance in the last 19 years. He helped coach senior Max Tchoutakian to a 15-3 singles record and guided Johannes Schretter and Jimmy Bendeck to an 11-3 doubles record. During the summer, he served as the USTA National Collegiate Team coach.

Prior to coming to Waco, Woodson had been a member of the Valparaiso men’s tennis coaching staff since the 2012-13 season, after concluding a three-year career on the court for the Crusaders. In May 2015, Woodson was promoted to associate head coach and went on to help Valpo set a school record for wins (22-6), claim conference regular season and tournament titles and earn the program’s first-ever NCAA Championship appearance.

In his four years as a Crusader assistant, Woodson’s teams racked up a 73-34 record. He had five players earn first team All-Horizon League accolades and three more card second-team honors. Nineteen times Valparaiso players won conference Player of the Week honors under Woodson. Individually, Woodson helped Jeffrey Schorsch become the winningest singles player in school history and win back-to-back Horizon League Player of the Year honors. He also guided Charlie Ernhardt to break the all-time doubles win record at Valpo. Meanwhile, Woodson’s student-athletes also secured a pair of league Freshman of the Year awards during his Valpo tenure.

During his playing career with the Crusaders, Woodson was a three-year starter who split time between No. 5 and 6 singles, while appearing at No. 2 and 3 doubles for the Brown and Gold. For his senior season, Woodson was named a team captain for the Crusaders. Woodson was recognized with the Bill Steinbrecher Sportsmanship Award and the athletic department’s Laurel Award, which honors the graduating senior student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average.

Woodson graduated from Valparaiso in May of 2012 as a triple major in biology, chemistry and exercise science. He also earned a master’s degree in sport administration from Valpo in December of 2013.

He married his wife, Vanessa, in July 2017. The couple has two children, Jordyn and Kiley.

Name	Title	Phone	Email Address	Alma Mater
Michael Woodson	Head Coach	3484	Michael_Woodson@Baylor.edu	Valparaiso, 2012
Izak van der Merwe	Associate Head Coach	3460	Izak_VanderMerwe@Baylor.edu	Old Dominion, 2005

Name	Title	Phone	Email Address	Alma Mater
Jacqui Haddock	Director \| Tennis Operations	4659	Jacqui_Haddock@Baylor.edu
Quintan Van Wijk	Student Assistant Coach		quintan_vanwijk1@baylor.edu

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