Mullins is Women's Tennis Coach

June 13, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - David Mullins, the 2008 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Assistant Coach of the Year, has been named the head women's tennis coach at the University of Oklahoma. OU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics programs and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione made the announcement Friday.

Mullins just completed his third season as the assistant coach for the women's team at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Mullins helped lead the Wildcats to at least the round of 16 of the NCAA championships in each of his three seasons. In 2007, he was named the ITA Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year. During his stint , Northwestern posted a record of 77-12.

"We are excited to welcome David Mullins to the Sooner Family," Castiglione said. "He brings a high level of energy and championship experience to our Women's Tennis Program.

"David has consistently been recognized as one of the top assistants in collegiate tennis and has earned immense respect from coaches and players around the country. He played a key role and made significant contributions to the success of the Northwestern Women's Tennis team as it developed one of the nation's strongest programs.

"He has demonstrated the passion for excellence and commitment to the appropriate core values amongst the other necessary leadership, teaching, and recruiting skills to run his own program."

Mullins said reputation had a lot to do with his interest in Oklahoma.

"The value, the beliefs and the tradition of Oklahoma are known throughout the country," he said. "It's truly a privilege to be the coach at Oklahoma."

Mullins said he owes a lot of his success to Northwestern coach Claire Pollard.

"I am grateful to Coach Pollard," said Mullins. "She is one of the elite coaches in the country. I am ready to implement a lot of what I learned from her and then of course implement a few of my own ideas."

Recruiting is obviously a key and Mullins said his efforts will start in Oklahoma and spread nationwide. The new facilities at OU will make that part of the job a little easier.

"The outdoor facility with 12 courts is just great and I am hopeful that maybe we can play some of the men's and women's matches together," he said. "The indoor center takes us to another level and puts us in a position to compete with the top programs."

Oklahoma opened the 12-court Headington Family Tennis Center in 2001. In 2007, ground was broken on the Gregg Wadley Tennis Pavilion and the Joseph W. Morris and Robert S. Rizley Plaza, a 55,000-square-foot indoor facility that is adjacent to the outdoor complex. Construction on that project is ongoing.

"The combination of our state of the art Headington Family Outdoor Tennis Courts and the outstanding new Wadley Indoor Tennis Facility properly position our men's and women's programs to recruit the best and the brightest student athletes in building our own championship legacy," Castiglione said.

Mullins' three years of success began in 2006 when Northwestern advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and captured a doubles title. The Wildcats went to the round of 16 in 2007 and returned to the quarterfinals in 2008.

Mullins went to DePaul for the 2005 season after working in his native Ireland as an assistant tennis professional at Donnybrook L.T.C. in Dublin for two years. With Donnybrook, he worked with elite junior Irish tennis players and also assisted with the Irish National Team.

Mullins has traveled throughout the world with some of Ireland's top professionals and juniors at various ITF and ATP events. As a collegiate player at Fresno State, he was a second-team All-WAC honoree in doubles and advanced with doubles partner Peter Luczak to the NCAA Tournament where the duo earned All-America honors and a No. 9 national ranking.

Mullins graduated from Fresno State with a degree in Business and Finance in 2001.

Professionally, Mullins was ranked as both a singles and doubles player and was a member of Ireland's Davis Cup team. He played in Davis Cup competition from 1999-2004 representing Ireland against Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Egypt and Slovenia.

Mullins and his wife, Laura, have one child, Liam.

Mullins replaces Mark Johnson, who retired after the 2008 season, his 20th at OU.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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