Jeff Childress will assume the Director of Tennis and Assistant Athletic Director position at Catawba College entering the 2004-2005 school year. Childress was the Director of Athletics at Pfeiffer University from 1998-2003. Childress played tennis for four years at Pfeiffer University from 1985-1989. He served as the graduate assistant for the men and women's tennis teams at East Carolina University from 1990-1991. Childress received his MA.Ed from East Carolina in 1995. In 1991 he was named the Director of Tennis and Head Men's tennis coach at Catawba College. In his 7 years as the head coach, he guided the Catawba team to two NCAA II regional tournaments and had an overall record of 26-5 in his last season.  Childress had an overall coaching record at Catawba of 78-70 including a 2-16 and 6-14 records his 1st two years. In December of 2003, Childress was awarded the USTA's Southern Section Community Service Award. Childress is a USTPA certified teaching tennis professional and also is the Director of the Salisbury City Park Tennis program.

The 2004-2005 Catawba women's tennis team had a very successful year. The team set a school record for wins in a season with 18 as well as a school record for wins in a row. The team had two All Conference players including the SAC Freshmen of the Year. Catawba was ranked as high as #6 in the NCAA II Southeast regional rankings. Coach Childress was the recepient of the C.A. Suther Coaches award for Catawba College. He will also serve on the NCAA II Southeast regional coaches committee beginning in 2005.

Childress served as the South Atlantic Committee Chair for men's tennis, served on the NCAA II East Regional committee, served as the CVAC Athletic Director liaison for men and women's tennis and served as the Catawba College Tennis Camp Director for 7 years.  In the last 5 years, Childress has won both the Rowan County and Stanly County singles titles and is a lifetime member of the USTA.  Childress has completed 2 marathons and also enjoys swimming, golf, and biking.

Childress is married to Dr. Donna Childress who will be joining Rowan Diagnostics in September 2004. They have two sons. Michael Thomas 7, and Benjamin 3. The Childress family resides in Salisbury, NC.

“I am very happy and excited to be able to return to coach at Catawba. I feel the tennis programs at Catawba have a tremendous amount of potential. The Johnson Tennis Center is a tremendous asset for both our tennis programs. I look forward to working with the players on our team and starting a few community tennis programs to help them get involved in the community. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to coach at Catawba. I would like to thank Dennis Davidson for giving me this opportunity and to also stay involved in the athletic administration.”