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Derek Mills has done a fine job as head coach of the Santa Clara men's tennis program. He enters his fifth season at Santa Clara in 2011-12, which will be his 20th year of coaching at the youth and collegiate levels.
In 2011, Mills led four Broncos to earn spots on the all-conference singles team. For the first time in the program’s history, Santa Clara was nationally ranked continuously throughout the season by the ITA poll. Starting with preseason ranking of No. 54 in January, the Broncos moved up to the season-highest rank No. 47. Finishing as the runner-up at the 2011 WCC Championships for the second straight year, SCU ended the season with No. 49 rank. They were 9-1 at home in 2011.
Mills guided the Broncos to a record-setting campaign in the spring of 2010, achieving an all-time high national ranking of No. 43 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Broncos reached the West Coast Conference championship match for only the second time in program history prior to accomplishing the feat again in 2011. In addition to those team accolades, five Broncos received All-WCC honors. They were 13-1 at home in 2010.
Mills, who attended high school at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco, spent the previous six years working with some of the top juniors as a tennis professional in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Prior to teaching in Honolulu, Mills spent two seasons at Saint Louis University as the head men's and women's coach. During those two seasons, he had three of his players earn All-Conference USA honors, while the team maintained a GPA of 3.3 or better. The team also won an All-Conference USA Sportsmanship Award. Two of his recruits on the men's team, Lance Vodicka and Ikaika Jobe, are currently earning points on the ATP tour.
Mills served a short stint as the assistant coach for both the men's and women's programs at Brigham Young University-Hawaii during the 1997-98 season.
Mills also spent time as an assistant coach for Northwest Missouri State from 1994-97, helping the men's team win three Mid-America Championships.
