The FULL STORY

​Danielle Lund McNamara

Standout college tennis player at the University of Michigan

Fifteen years of college coaching experience at Yale University, the University of Texas and the University of Michigan

Former Director of coach education for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the governing body of college tennis

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In her thirteen years as the Head Women's Tennis Coach at Yale, McNamara led the Bulldogs to four Ivy League Championships, four NCAA Tournament appearances and four ECAC Indoor Team Championships.  Her teams were ranked as high as #1 in the Northeast and #28 in the nation.  She was named the Wilson/ITA Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2013.  McNamara was also incredibly successful at developing her players on an individual level.  She coached Yale's first ever Ivy League Player of the Year and the first ever All-American players, as well as two Ivy League Rookies of the Year selections.  Overall,  McNamara coached 39 All-Ivy singles and doubles players in her tenure at Yale.
 

McNamara demonstrated a tremendous ability to recruit the best and the brightest players on a national level, recruiting multiple blue chip and 5-star players according to the tennisrecruiting.net rankings.  She recruited seven top-25 ranked classes, three of which were in the top 10.  Two of her recruited players competed in junior Grand Slams prior to coming to Yale (Wimbledon, US Open).

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As a student-athlete at Michigan from 1996-2000 playing under her maiden name Danielle Lund, McNamara was the Big Ten Sportswoman of the Year and an All-Big Ten player. She was the first player in Michigan history to participate in all three college national championships (All-American, National Indoors and the NCAA Championships). She was a two-time captain of the squad and earned the Michigan Athletic Department’s Academic Achievement Award and the Donald R. Shepherd endowed scholarship for athletic and academic success. 

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In 2010 Michigan honored McNamara as one of the Wolverines’ “Leaders and Best in 50 States”. The Michigan athletics media relations office, in cooperation with the Bentley Historical Library, went through thousands of names of great Michigan athletes from all over the country to choose the best of the best from each state. McNamara was selected for honorable mention honors in her home state of Massachusetts.

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Among her other accomplishments, McNamara won one gold and one bronze ball in national USTA events.  She was also selected to coach the USTA Girl’s 18 New England national team at the National Team Championships in 2008 and 2009, the USTA Battle of the Sections Girl's 16 and 18 New England national team in 2022 and the L2 Team Cup in 2023.

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McNamara has served as member of the ITA Board of Directors, ITA Division I Operating Committee, USTA New England Collegiate Committee and USTA Connecticut Board of Directors.