Tennis
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Year at Mizzou:
- 2nd Season
- Email:
- cawttd@missouri.edu
Chris Wootton enters his first full season as head coach for Mizzou Tennis. Wootton served as the interim head coach in 2020-21, before being officially named the head coach of the Missouri Tigers women's tennis program on May 11, 2021. Wootton joined the Tigers in August 2019 as an associate head coach, bringing three decades of coaching experience in the collegiate and professional levels to Columbia with him.
Since joining Mizzou, Wootton has helped the Tigers break numerous program records including guiding Bronte Murgett to the first NCAA Championship singles win by any Tiger in program history. During the 2020-21 season, Wootton guided the Tigers to a successful campaign which included 15 victories, their first ITA Regional Individual Championship in program history and boosted the team ranking by nearly 150 spots, moving the Tigers from No. 178 in the preseason to as No. 36 on March 3.
In his first season at Mizzou as an associate head coach, Wootton helped Serena Nash and Gabrielle Goldin climb to No. 58 in the ITA Doubles Rankings, as the pair was recorded two ranked wins over the 2019-20 season.
Wootton arrived in Columbia following two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Southern California where he helped the Trojans climb from No. 48 to No. 11 in the ITA Rankings. He also led Angela Kulikovand and Rianna Valdes to a NCAA doubles semifinals appearance and No. 3 ranking in 2019.
Prior to USC, Wootton coached one year at Williams College (Ma.), where he helped lead the Ephs to the 2017 NCAA Division III national team championship. He coached five All-Americans in his one season with the Ephs, who went 20-4 in 2016-17 and captured the New England Small College Athletic Conference title.
Before becoming a collegiate coach, Wootton competed for Mississippi College (2011-13) and the University of Texas at Tyler (2013-15), where he earned his master’s degree in business administration. In 2015, Wootton captured All-America honors in doubles at the age of 39, becoming the oldest All-American in NCAA history in any sport across all divisions.
Between 1995 and 2011, Wootton coached over 50 NCAA college tennis players and over 20 ATP/WTA touring pros. He also played professionally for six years, collecting singles and doubles wins over top-100 ATP players.
Wootton and his wife, Robin, have two daughters, Christiane (22) and Isabel (19).
