Jim Thompson

Virginia Tech head coach Jim Thompson has known nothing but success during his coaching career. Thompson, in his 14th year at Tech, has led the Hokies to the NCAA Tournament eight times, including the last four seasons. In his first season, Thompson’s Hokies advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history, and recorded a 22-7 worksheet.

In 2011, the Hokies advanced to the Round of 32 and finished the season ranked No. 35 after facing 20 teams ranked in the final poll of the season, including four matches against top-12 opponents. During the 2010 season, the Hokies battled their way through a rugged national schedule featuring 18 matches against ranked opposition. Tech ended the season with a No. 24 national ranking after advancing to the NCAA Second Round. Thompson’s success during his tenure in Blacksburg includes a record of 205-134 and eight NCAA Tournament  appearances.

Thompson, the 2010 Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, has received several regional and national honors during his tenure. In Dec., 2009, he was one of 10 sectional winners of USTA/ITA Community Outreach Award for the Mid-Atlantic Section. Thompson previously was named the 2003 Northeast Region Coach of the Year as well as the 2003 BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year. In 2000, he was selected to coach the Mid-Atlantic team in the Junior Davis Cup Competition.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Thompson has served on the ITA Rules Committee and has been a member of the ITA Operating Committee.  Currently, Thompson serves as the Chairman of the ITA Atlantic Region.

Thompson joined the Hokies after spending four years as the director of tennis and head coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He guided the UTC women’s team to the Southern Conference Championship in 1997 and was named coach of the year. In 1998, he led the men’s team to the conference championship.

During a four-year stint as the head women’s coach at Anderson College in South Carolina, Thompson built a nationally recognized program which climbed as high as third in the nation. He was named Region X Coach of the Year in 1991, 1993 and 1994.

Prior to his time at Anderson, Thompson served as the assistant women’s coach at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Working under Karen Gaiser, Thompson gained his first experience with managing a nationally recognized tennis program.

Before entering coaching, Thompson competed successfully and earned ATP points on the professional circuit throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and North Africa.

As a collegiate player, Thompson held the number one position on the Davidson College men’s tennis team from 1986 to 1988 and was captain in 1987 and 1988. In 1987, he won the Southern Conference Indoor Championships and was twice awarded the Southern Conference Sportsmanship award. During the summer of 1987, Thompson won the USTA National Championships in Augusta, Ga., in both singles and doubles and finished runner-up in the National Championships in Virginia Beach, Va. Thompson’s success as a player continued after college as he achieved a Southern No. 2 sectional ranking in 1993 in the 25-and-over age division.

Thompson has been married for 14 years to his wife B’easy and they have a 14-year-old daughter, Sophia, a 9-year-old son, Frank, and a 6-year-old daughter, Ginsey.

Terry Ann Woods

Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods, now in her 10th year at the helm for the Hokies, became the seventh women’s tennis coach at Virginia Tech on September 8, 2003.

Last year, Zawacki-Woods guided the team to a 14-12 finish. The squad knocked off three nationally-ranked teams throughout the year, including then-No. 16 Duke in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Tech has had 11 nationally-ranked players in her tenure, 20 ITA Scholar-Athletes, 26 players named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll and six selected to the All-ACC Academic Women’s Tennis team. The Hokies were named as an ITA All-Academic team for the tenth time in the program’s history and the fifth time under the direction of Zawacki-Woods.

Zawacki-Woods served on the ITA Operating Committee and was a NCAA Women’s Tennis Chair. She also served as the ITA Atlantic Region Chair.

In Tech’s brief ACC history, the Hokies have had six players named to the All-conference team. Tech finished last season seeing Illinca Stoica ranked nationally in singles action, while her and her doubles counterpart Kelly Williford were among those ranked in the Atlantic Region. The Hokies concluded the 2010-11 season with Yasmin Hamza nationally ranked in singles, while Martha Blakely earned an Atlantic Region ranking. Hamza/Holly Johnson were also ranked nationally and in the Atlantic Region in doubles. The Tech women’s tennis team was also the recipient of the 2007 ACC Sportsmanship Award.

Martha Blakely was named to the Capital One Academic All-America District III At-Large First team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, after being a third team selection last year. Yazmin Hamza was the Atlantic region recipient of the ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship.

Zawacki-Woods currently serves on the NCAA Women’s Tennis Committee and the ITA Operations Committee.

Prior to coming to Tech, Zawacki-Woods served as head coach at Charlotte for three years. In 2001, her first year at Charlotte, the 49ers received the program’s first-ever national ranking of No. 59 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.

Before assuming her position at Charlotte, Zawacki-Woods served as an assistant coach at Michigan for three years, helping the Wolverines to a second place finish in the Big Ten Conference in 1998 in addition to producing two Big Ten Sportswomen of the Year.

As a player, Zawacki-Woods was a two-time All-American at Wake Forest and was named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Team. She was the first tennis player at Wake Forest to be named All-ACC for four years and the first to compete in the NCAA singles tournament. As the top player for the Demon Deacons all four years, Zawacki-Woods was named the 1993 Southeast Region Rookie of the Year and the 1996 Southeast Senior of the Year. She was the first Wake Forest player to be nationally-ranked all four years, achieving a top ranking of sixth in the nation. Zawacki-Woods led the Demon Deacons to three ACC finals and three top 15 finishes nationally.

Following her collegiate career, Zawacki-Woods turned professional and faced some of the top players in the world, including Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and Chanda Rubin.

A native of Union, N.J., Zawacki-Woods lives in Christiansburg with her daughter Kirsten.