Western Michigan men’s tennis coach Dave Morin is beginning his 10th season in charge of the Bronco men’s tennis program. In the previous nine seasons Morin has turned the Broncos into a conference and regional power with success on the court and in the classroom.
Morin’s tenure has been highlighted by three regular season Mid-American Conference championships (1999, 2000, 2004) and three MAC Tournament championships that led to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999, 2001 and 2004. En route to those accomplishments, the Broncos have encountered the type of individual and team success often associated with Western Michigan’s proud tradition.
The 2004-05 season included a runner-up finish in the regular season and an appearance in the MAC Tournament championship match. For the first time in school history the Broncos had three players named First Team All-MAC and another was named to the second team. WMU finished with a 17-7 record, the eighth-consecutive season of .500 or better.
During the 2003-04 season the Broncos claimed the MAC regular season and tournament championships and earned a spot in the NCAA’s for the third time in the last six seasons. The roster featured the MAC Player of the Year (Ravi Pathanjali) and Newcomer of the Year (Brady Crosby) and four student-athletes garnered all-league accolades.
Bronco players have re-written the program’s record book under Morin’s direction, translating to impressive team accomplishments.
A four-time MAC Coach of the Year selection (1994, 1998, 2000, 2004), Morin is 184-127 as a collegiate head coach with 142 of his wins coming at WMU. Morin’s teams have been especially dominant in the MAC with a 69-31 record in regular season and tournament play. The Broncos have advanced to the MAC title match six times in nine seasons.
Individually, a total of 14 players have earned all-conference accolades during Morin's tenure. Morin's list also includes four MAC Rookies of the Year, an ITA Region IV Freshman of the Year, and the 1999, 2001 and 2004 MAC Player of the Year.
In the classroom, Western Michigan has been named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team for seven of the past eight seasons. The program was one of 11 NCAA Division I teams to earn that honor in 1999 after posting a school record 3.69 team GPA. There also have been 14 players who have been named to the academic All-MAC roster. WMU players have also earned academic accolades at the national level, including two-time Academic All-America honoree Jeff Brink.
Morin arrived in Kalamazoo in 1996 after directing the program at fellow MAC member Bowling Green for five seasons. While with the Falcons, Morin guided the team to three third-place MAC finishes, the school’s highest finish in over a decade. For his efforts, he was awarded the MAC Coach of the Year honor in 1994.
Prior to BGSU, Morin served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota, for one season.
The Broncos' success on the court and in the classroom mirrors Morin's own collegiate career at Minnesota. A team captain as a senior, he was a Big 10 singles champion in 1982 and was a member of the 1981 Big 10 championship team. Morin was a member of a championship doubles team at the 1981 National Amateur Championships in Fitchburg, Mass. He also beat the former No. 1 doubles team in the world, Ken Flach and Robert Seguso, during his junior season as a Gopher.
A native of White Bear Lake, Minn., he earned a pair of diplomas from UM, graduating in 1984 with a business degree before completing the necessary course work in education two years later.
Morin and his wife, Gretchen, a former Minnesota volleyball player, reside in Portage, Mich. The Morin’s have two daughters, Kayla, 10, and Sophie, 7.
