Daniel Whitehead - Men's Tennis Coach - Texas Tech Red Raiders

Daniel Whitehead

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
daniel.whitehead@ttu.edu

Daniel Whitehead enters his third year as the head coach of the Texas Tech men's tennis program after serving as an assistant for two seasons. In only his second year at the helm of the Red Raiders, Whitehead has amassed a career record of 25-13, including a second-round appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

During the 2021 season, Whitehead had three members of his roster ranked in the top 115 singles rankings, as wells as the doubles team of Parker Wynn and Franco Ribero finishing the season ranked 45^th nationally. Whitehead coached the Red Raiders to an unprecedented nine-match win streak which included wins over fellow tournament teams New Mexico, Wichita State, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders finished the season ranked 24^th (having reached as high as 19th) which is the first time the program had a Top 25 finish in five years. Under Whitehead’s direction, the Red Raiders have also shown a very strong commitment to academics having produced 12 All-Big 12 Academic and eight ITA Scholar-Athlete selections in two years.

Whitehead’s immediate impact has been seen on the recruiting trail. For the first time in program history, Texas Tech men's tennis has received a national ranking for their 2021 recruiting class by Tennis Recruiting Network. The No. 15 ranking puts the Red Raiders at the top of the Big 12 Conference.

Prior to his arrival in Lubbock, Whitehead served as head coach for the Concordia University men's and women's tennis teams in Austin from 2015 to 2017. He led both programs to the ASC Tournament in 2016-17, and both programs set single-season records for wins over his tenure. The programs also combined for eight ASC All-Conference awards.

Whitehead spent the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons as the assistant coach at the University of Houston on the women's side under head coach Patrick Sullivan. Prior to that, he was the volunteer coach at both Houston and Rice.

In his first year at UH, Whitehead helped guide the Cougars to one of its best seasons in school history. Houston finished with a 21-6 overall record, and the program earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998.

In 2014-15, Whitehead helped lead the Cougars to an ITA Top 40 ranking, 11 consecutive victories and a perfect record in American Athletic Conference action.

Whitehead's playing career at the University of Texas was highlighted by four Top 25 finishes, and the Longhorns were ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation. He secured a pair of All-Big 12 honors in singles and one All-Big 12 selection in doubles. A two-year team captain, Whitehead also earned three All-Big 12 Academic honors.

Whitehead was an ITA Top 100 singles and doubles player for a majority of his collegiate career. His 86 singles victories is 22nd in program history at Texas.

Before his college career, Whitehead was ranked No. 1 in the state of Texas in boys' 14, 16 and 18 age divisions. The Houston native also was ranked as high as No. 27 nationally in the USTA boys 16 division.

Whitehead earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology and health with an emphasis in physical culture and sport from Texas in 2013. His wife, the former Samantha Adams, was a two-time All-Big 12 honoree in singles at Texas Tech during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.