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2003 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
Under the direction of coach Michael Bates, St. Bonaventure is a program firmly established as one of the top in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Now in his 12th year as both men's and women's tennis coach at St. Bonaventure, Bates has been honored as the Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Coach of the Year three times in the past seven seasons. Bates led the Bonnies to Atlantic 10 Conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths in both 2001 and 2003. St. Bonaventure has finished in the top three in the A-10 five out of the past six years. In 2001, both the A-10 title and NCAA appearance were firsts for the program. St. Bonaventure won 19 matches, one shy of the school record. In 2003, St. Bonaventure downed top-seeded Richmond in the A-10's title match and played at the University of Texas in the NCAA Tournament. Among the many standout players Bates has mentored at St. Bonaventure was 2005 graduate Mario Arce, who was twice named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and is the program's all-time leader in singles wins. Bates is also a leader in college tennis, appointed a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Committee beginning in September 2001. Bates was the assistant men's and women's coach at the University of Pennsylvania for two years before coming to St. Bonaventure. At Penn, he helped guide the men to a national ranking and the women to a second-place Ivy League finish. He began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, Slippery Rock University, for two years. Bates taught professionally in Boston before joining the staff at Penn. Bates was a four-year letterwinner at Slippery Rock and was captain as a senior in 1987. He holds the fourth-best all-time record at the school and helped lead The Rock to a school-record 12 straight team wins. Bates and his wife, Kris, reside in Olean with their son, Thomas, who was born in May 2005, and their daughter, Karolyn. |
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