Women's Tennis
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- jmainz@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-310-0378
Mainz Notable Highlights
- Named 2013 ITA National Coach of the Year
- Named Three Time SEC (Southeastern Conference) Coach of the Year – 2011, 2012, 2014
- Named Six Time ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year - 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2019
- Won 2014 SEC Team Championship for First Time in Program History
- Won Two National Doubles Championships in 2014 & 2015
- Doubles NCAA Championship Appearance in 2017
- 15 NCAA Team Tournament Appearances
- 4 SEC Western Division Titles - 2003, 2006, 2011 and 2012
- 29 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship Selections
- Coached 11 All-Americans in the last eight years
National coach of the year; three-time SEC coach of the year; two-time national champion; the longest-tenured Coach at the University of Alabama, and the third longest-tenured women’s tennis coach in the storied SEC—arguably the best tennis conference in the nation year-in and year-out.
On the Court
Known as “The Dean” of the coaches across the campus of the University of Alabama, head coach Jenny Mainz will be entering her 24th season in 2020-21, which makes her the longest tenured coach at UA. Over the years, Mainz has become one of the most accomplished and decorated coaches in Southeastern Conference history.
As the only coach in Alabama tennis history to take the Tide to six consecutive NCAA championships and 13 overall, she has cemented her name in the record books with the Crimson Tide. Mainz has coached 13 teams that have finished in the top 40 in addition to 26 singles players and 18 doubles teams ranked in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls.
In 2020, Mainz had the team at a 12-6 record before having the season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on in the 2020 campaign, Alba Cortina Pou made program history as the only Alabama women’s tennis player to win the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week award in back-to-back weeks (Feb. 5 & 12).
In 2019, Mainz led the Crimson Tide ended the year with 18 wins, which is the most victories for the program since 2015. The team also made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015 as the No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional. Mainz was named the ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year for the sixth time in her career after leading the Tide to an 18-12 record including a 6-7 mark in SEC play. Mainz also coach senior Andie Daniell to her second NCAA Singles Championship appearance in her storied career.
In 2017, Alabama was ranked in the ITA polls for 11 straight weeks and held its highest ranking at No. 33 on April 11 after the team defeated in-state rival No. 12 Auburn, 4-3. The squad also topped two other top-40 teams including No. 40 Tulsa (Feb. 24) and No. 13 Kentucky (March 24). In doubles, the dynamic duo of Maddie Pothoff and Erin Routliffe finished as the runner-up at the NCAA Doubles Championship, which marked the third time a Tide pairing made the finals in four years. The tandem ended the year as the second-best team in the nation and registered four victories against ranked opponents in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The most notable win the pair had on the year was in a 7-6 (4) decision against Kentucky’s No. 4-ranked doubles team which helped the Tide edge the Wildcats for the 14th time in school history.
In 2015, the Crimson Tide collected 18 wins overall, bringing its total victories since 2011 to 98, which is the most in a five-year span in program history. On May 25, 2015, reigning NCAA Doubles Champions, Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, stamped their names in the collegiate tennis record books, defeating Cal’s Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi by a final score of 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 to become only the third doubles team in the history of NCAA women’s tennis to win back-to-back national titles. Mainz had a pair of singles players in Andie Daniell and Routliffe cap off the season ranked nationally while also placing two doubles teams in the final rankings. Daniell became one of the most decorated freshmen in Alabama history as she was named SEC Freshman of the Year, ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year, second team All-SEC and to the SEC All-Freshman team. Routliffe also stamped her name in the Tide record books as she became the fourth member to earn first team All-SEC honors for a third consecutive season.
Mainz’s 2014 team made history, wrapping up the season as the sixth-ranked squad in the ITA rankings, which is the highest final ranking for the program. Alabama was ranked in the top-10 throughout the year, reaching a No. 2 ranking on May 1, the highest rank in the history of the program. The 2014 Crimson Tide women finished with just one loss in conference play and posted seven 4-0 sweeps throughout the season. But the most noteworthy accomplishment her team pulled off was capturing the program’s first Southeastern Conference Championship. With a 4-3, come-from-behind victory at eighth-ranked Georgia, Alabama clinched at least a part of the 2014 SEC title; that wasn’t enough for the Tide women. Alabama followed that up with a 4-0 sweep of Tennessee to claim the conference title outright on the final day of the regular season.
In 2012, her doubles pairing of Alexa Guarachi and Mary Anne Daines reached the NCAA semifinals, while Guarachi also reached the NCAA semifinals in singles in that same season.
In 2011, UA finished fourth in the conference and claimed the SEC Western Division title for the regular season. The Tide once again claimed the Western Division title in 2012, this time finishing second overall. For the 2013 season, Alabama was ranked fourth in the conference, but the Crimson Tide continued to build upon its success as the team entered 2014.
Other Notable Highlights
- Jansen/Routliffe Qualified for US Open Main Draw Women’s Doubles – 2015
- NCAA Doubles Finalist in 2017 – Routliffe/Pothoff finished ranked #2 in country
- 2013 Member of the Winston Churchill High School Hall of Fame
- 2015 Inductee into USTA Alabama Tennis Foundation Hall of Fame
- Coached Eight Academic All-Americans
- Coached Seven SEC Scholar Athletes of the Year
- Led Alabama to Best Season in History Winning the 2014 SEC Team Championship and earning a National Ranking of #2 in the Country
- Served as ITA Southern Region Chairperson for Six Years
- Served on ITA Operating Committee for Seven Years
- Served on ITA Executive Committee and ITA Board of Directors
- Served as Co-Chair of the ITA Women’s Tennis Committee for two years
In the Classroom
In the classroom; on the court; and in the community—Mainz takes a triple bottom line approach to success, and she won’t settle for anything less.
As proud as she is of her team’s recent on-court success, Mainz is equally as proud of their academic success. The Alabama women have impressed in the classroom each year under her tutelage. For six straight years, the Crimson Tide has earned the NCAA Division I Public Recognition Award. At the conclusion of the 2013-14 and 2016-17 season, the women’s tennis team combined for the highest grade point average amongst women’s programs at UA. In each of the last three seasons, the Tide women have had a program-best seven ITA Scholar Athletes named. The Crimson Tide’s efforts in the classroom are unmatched as the women continue to lay claim to the SEC’s and NCAA’s most prestigious academic awards following each season.
In five of the last seven years, at least one member of the UA women’s tennis team has been named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America team, while the Tide has also claimed six SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards for women’s tennis. Also, during three of those seasons, a member of the women’s team has claimed the NCAA Elite 89 Award, an honor that is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 89 championships.
Being named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Team started following the 2010-11 season, when Courtney McLane claimed the honor for the Tide. McLane received the distinction a second consecutive year following the 2011-12 season as well. Following McLane’s graduation, Antonia Foehse picked up where McLane left off, being selected following the 2012-13 season. In 2014, Mary Anne Daines followed her ex-teammates in earning the honor once again for Alabama women’s tennis. Senior captain Emily Zabor earned the honor in 2015.
Zabor was also honored by the conference for her academic success, earning the Southeastern Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year award in 2015. The same progression the Crimson Tide saw with the CoSIDA/Capital One All-American awards continued on in the conference as well, as Zabor marked the third consecutive member of the Tide to win the award. In 2018 and 2019, Andie Daniell became only the second player in program history (McLane the first) to be named CoSIDA Academic All-America in back-to-back seasons.
In order to help produce such well-rounded young women, Mainz preaches three core values to her players: having a blue-collar work ethic, striving for constant improvement and working together as a team.
The Crimson Tide athletes under Mainz have seen a lot of success during their active time as an athlete with the team, but the women don’t stop their studies once their playing days are over. Alabama women have earned three NCAA postgraduate scholarships in recent history. In 2012, Taylor Lindsey earned the honor for the Crimson Tide. She was followed up by Foehse in 2013 and Daines in 2014.
Although much of the successes of any athletic team are seen on the court, Mainz has produced well-rounded athletes that work just as hard away from the sport. Her women continue to exemplify exactly what it means to be a student-athlete at The University of Alabama.
In the Community
In order to build the best possible persons, not just athletes, Mainz has placed a focus on community service and giving back to the Tuscaloosa area. Her athletes are not just stars on the court and in the classroom, but they are also champions of the University and make an impact on their community.
Every year, the women's tennis team makes it a point to take advantage of every opportunity they have to help out those in need in Tuscaloosa and surrounding areas. Over the past several years, the team has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to help build a house for a person in need. The team also takes part annually in the athletic department's Halloween Extravaganza for local youth, as well as the Project Angel Tree event, in which student-athletes help in making sure that children of incarcerated parents are provided presents each December holiday season.
For all their hard work on the court and in the community, Mainz and her team received a proclamation from Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox, making September 16, 2014 "University of Alabama Women's Tennis Day". The proclamation was given to the team in recognition of all that they have done in the past year, and to make sure that the community takes note of the accomplishments of the Alabama tennis program.
Mainz is actively involved in collegiate tennis on the national front, serving on the ITA's Operating Committee since 2010, of which she is currently the Associate Chair. She also served as the chairperson for the ITA's South Region for three years and assumed the same role for the newly formed Southern Region in 2010, a position which she still maintained through last season. Possibly her most prestigious work on the national front came in 2014, when the Alabama coach was selected as a member of the ITA Board of Directors.
Before Leading the Tide
Mainz, once ranked in the top 10 nationally in doubles, was a three-year team captain for the University of Houston Cougars and a two-time All-Southwest Conference selection, garnering numerous accolades for her dedication to the game of tennis on the court. Off the court, however, is where she truly shined, earning CoSIDA GTE Academic All-America status and dean’s list honors while also being a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society. Mainz graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Houston in 1991.
Coaching Tree
Over her 25 years as a head coach, Mainz has shaped and helped her assistants and players grow into the best they can be, which has resulted in a wide-reaching coaching tree that extends across the country in college tennis. In fact, there are nine active head coaches/associate head coaches leading Division I programs that used to coach under Mainz, to go along with two former players that have made their way up to leading Power 5 programs.
Former Assistant Tennis Coaches at Alabama under Head Coach Jenny Mainz
Jennifer Hyde: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Florida State University
Kevin Epley: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of South Carolina
Daryl Greenan: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Mississippi State University
Alison Ojeda: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Tennessee
Eduardo Rincon: Current Head Coach at Presbyterian College
Rahim Esmail: Current Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Samford University
Drake Bernstein: Associate Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Georgia
Max Norris: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Ball State University
Shelley Godwin: Current Head Women’s Tennis Coach at James Madison University
Former Alabama Player’s under Head Coach Jenny Mainz
Robin Stephenson: Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Washington
Sasha Schmidt: Head Women’s Tennis Coach at The University of Iowa
Year-by-Year Results
Year School Record National Finish
1996 Iowa 9-14 N/A
1997 Iowa 7-15 N/A
1998 Alabama 0-21 N/A
1999 Alabama 3-18 N/A
2000 Alabama 7-15 N/A
2001 Alabama 16-10 No. 26/NCAA 2nd Rd
2002 Alabama 13-11 No. 40/NCAA 2nd Rd
2003 Alabama 18-8 No. 30/NCAA 2nd Rd
2004 Alabama 13-11 No. 30/NCAA 1st Rd
2005 Alabama 8-15 No. 38/NCAA 1st Rd
2006 Alabama 11-12 No. 39/NCAA 1st Rd
2007 Alabama 5-16 No. 82
2008 Alabama 6-15 N/A
2009 Alabama 15-9 No. 26/NCAA 1st Round
2010 Alabama 10-12 No. 71
2011 Alabama 16-7 No. 28/NCAA 2nd Rd
2012 Alabama 18-5 No. 11/NCAA 2nd Rd
2013 Alabama 21-6 No. 11/NCAA Rd of 16
2014 Alabama 25-5 No. 6/NCAA Quarters
2015 Alabama 18-8 No. 14/NCAA 2nd Rd
2016 Alabama 5-18 N/A
2017 Alabama 8-16 No. 43
2018 Alabama 15-15 N/A
2019 Alabama 18-12 No. 38/NCAA 1st Rd
2020 Alabama 12-6 N/A***
Overall Record (as head coach): 297-300
Record at Alabama: 281-271
*** season cut short due to COVID-19 pandemic
