Ben Lamanna
| Title: | Head Coach |
| Phone: | 781-736-3648 |
| Email: | lamanna@brandeis.edu |
| Year: | 15th |
| Previous College: | Bates '02 |
Ben Lamanna, a 2002 graduate of Bates College, enters his 15th season as head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Brandeis in 2019-20. Under Lamanna’s tenure, the men’s and women's tennis programs have developed the teams into consistent national ranking selections and developed individual ITA All-Americans.
Lamanna returned the men's program to the Division III national rankings for the first time since 1987-1989, with a #30 ranking in 2010, when his staff was named University Athletic Association Men's Tennis Coaching Staff of the Year. The team has finished with a national ranking 6 times since, with the best finish coming in 2018-19, when the Judges finished #8 in Division III. That season, Lamanna was named the Wilson/ITA National Division III Coach of the Year. He also added his second UAA Coach of the Year honor and his first ITA Northeast Region Coach of the Year honors.
Lamanna is a leader in the New England Division III tennis scene as an; 2012-2015 NCAA Selection Committee Member, 2010-2012 Northeast ITA Rankings Chair, 2007-2010 New England Rankings Committee member. Lamanna has also served as a co-tournament director and treasurer for the NEWITT, the longest-running Division III Women's tournament in college tennis.
Additionally, two of Lamanna's assistants have been named ITA National Assistant Coaches of the Year: Payum Payman 2011 and Pauri Pandian 2015. Michael Kopelman was the men's regional assistant coach of the year in 2018. Pandian and Kopelman are now Division III college head coaches.
Lamanna came to the Judges after spending the 2004-05 season as an assistant coach at his alma mater under head coach Paul Gastonguay. The Bates men posted an 11-5 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the fifth year in a row that season, setting a school record in the process. The Bobcats also produced the runner-up in the 2005 NCAA Division III singles tournament. The Bates women went 7-8 in 2004-05.
As a player at Bates, Lamanna played in every spot from two through six in the singles ladder, compiling an impressive 15-1 record as a junior. The Bobcats made three NCAA tournament appearances in his career, posting an overall record of 30-17 with Lamanna on the roster. As a senior in 2002, Lamanna earned the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Clarence Chaffee Award for demonstrating leadership on and off the court.
In addition to coaching at Bates, Lamanna has spent time as a teaching professional. He has worked at the Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club in Vero Beach, Florida, and at Greenwich Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, since graduating from Bates with a degree in political science. Lamanna is a native of Barrington, R.I. He is a 1998 graduate of Barrington High School, where Lamanna's teams won 4 straight Rhode Island team championships, and was the Rhode Island State Doubles Champ in 1994.
Lamanna lives in Sudbury, MA with his wife, Lauren, and two children, Gus and Rose.