Alabama Women’s Tennis Icon Jenny Mainz Set to Retire Following 2022-23 Season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Jenny Mainz, in her 26th season as The University of Alabama’s head women’s tennis coach, will retire following the 2022-23 season, the Blue Gray Hall of Famer, ITA National Coach of the Year and three-time Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year announced Friday.
“I am extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish here at Alabama,” Mainz said. “I have been blessed to work with extraordinary student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators who shared my passion and love for this program and this University. I feel this is the best job in the country and this program has been supported at the highest levels throughout my time at the Capstone. As a program, we have always worked extremely hard and with great dedication to be the very best we can be, and the results of our combined efforts have been incredible. While I still love what I do, what has been my calling for the last 30-plus years, I shared with Greg Byrne, our Director of Athletics, earlier this week that I feel this is the right time to turn the page on this chapter of my life.”
Mainz has led Alabama to a program record 315 dual-match wins heading into the Tide’s SEC opener this Sunday at 12 p.m. CT against in-state rival Auburn down on the Plains.
“We can’t begin to express our gratitude to Jenny for the way she and her program have represented The University of Alabama,” Director of Athletics Greg Byrne said. “Team-by-team, she has built an outstanding program, one that excels on the court, in the classroom and in the community. We are extremely proud of all she has accomplished over the past 26-years through her amazing work ethic, positive outlook and great passion for her sport and the Crimson Tide. We are excited to see where the future takes her and will always count her among this department’s great leaders.”
Alabama women’s tennis had been to the NCAA tournament twice prior the Texas native coming on board, making it in as an alternate in 1993, and again in 1997.
Alabama then hired Mainz and the program took off into the upper echelons of collegiate tennis, earning 15 NCAA tournament appearances heading into the 2022-23 season, the Crimson Tide’s first Southeastern Conference Championships in 2014, four SEC Western Division titles and a trio of NCAA Doubles Championship finals that resulted in national titles, along with numerous All-America and All-SEC honors on the court.
That’s not to say that the road was easy, especially early on. Before Mainz was hired in the summer of 1997, the Tide’s roster had been decimated by injuries, transfers and graduation. Just to field a roster that first year, Mainz had to recruit on campus, filling her lineup card with just two scholarship players, a former UA soccer player and a bevy of walkons found on the rec courts, dorms and sorority houses. Nowhere was the makeshift nature of the Tide’s lineup more obvious than when playing Florida during that first season under Mainz. The player on court six for the Gators played in the U.S. Open the summer before, while the Tide’s No. 6 had been teaching arts and crafts at a summer camp.
“I’ll never forget the ladies who pulled us through that first year,” Mainz said. “They came out of the dorms and the sorority houses, from other sports on campus, and worked their hearts out so we could field a team. Everyone associated with that team built the foundation for the success our program has enjoyed over the past 20-plus years.”
Alabama’s success hasn’t been limited to the court though. Mainz, an Academic All-American herself during her playing days at Houston, has seen her charges earn a dozen Academic All-America honors in the extremely competitive at-large division. Alabama women’s tennis has also earned a trio of NCAA Elite 90 Awards and five NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. Under Mainz, the Tide has dominated the SEC Women’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year list, with a league-best nine honors since the accolade came into being in 2003.
“Academic excellence is so important at Alabama and I am so proud of the job our ladies have done over the years in the classroom,” Mainz said. “The Bill Battle Academic Center does such a tremendous job supporting all our student-athletes, but it’s also vital that our ladies put in the work and are dedicated to their studies and I think the pride they have in being at their best academically is evident in the results they’ve earned.”
In addition to excellence on and off the court, Alabama women’s tennis has been a mainstay in the West Alabama area, working as a team and individually to give back to the community that has supported them so well. In addition to taking part in programs like Habitat for Humanity, Project Angel Tree and the Crimson Tide’s Halloween Extravaganza, Mainz and her charges have worked tirelessly to spread their love of tennis, helping grow the sport on the local, regional and national front.
A renowned teacher of student-athletes, Mainz has also grown a bountiful coaching tree, with 10 former members of her staff and two former players going to serve as head coaches at the collegiate level.
“I recognize, appreciate and value everyone who has come through and impacted our program since my first days on campus here in Tuscaloosa,” Mainz said. “Our success has 100 percent been a team effort and I am beyond grateful to everyone has shared this journey with me.”
An Academic All-American, three-year team captain and two-time All-Southwest Conference selection at the University of Houston, Mainz graduated with a kinesiology degree in 1991, before joining the Florida State coaching staff and then serving as head coach at Iowa in 1996 and 1997. Upon her retirement, she will have served 26 years as Alabama’s head coach, 28 seasons as a collegiate head coach and 32 years as a collegiate coach.
