The Colby women open at home against Thomas College at 4 p.m. on
Friday. The Colby men play in the Wheaton College Invitational
on Sunday, Sept. 13.
“We are very excited to have Jason join us as our head coach of
tennis,” said Tim Wheaton, Colby’s Harold Alfond Director of Athletics.
“Jason is a talented young coach who brings with him a history of
success on the tennis court. He understands how to compete and succeed
both on the court and in the classroom and is fantastic addition to the
Colby family.”
Cohen is eager to coach in the New England Small College Athletic
Conference, arguably the most competitive conference in the country for
NCAA Division III tennis.
“You look at all the top teams in the national poll and almost all
of them are great academic schools,” said Cohen, a Baltimore native. “We
have the same type of student-athletes here that want to do well and
achieve academically, but are also highly motivated to achieve in other
ways.”
Cohen led the Juniata men’s tennis team to the 2015 Landmark
Conference title, the first championship in school history for either
tennis team. He led the women’s team to an ECAC Division III title in
2015. Cohen’s teams combined for a 94-51 record in his four years at
Juniata, located in Huntingdon, Pa., and he was Landmark Conference
Men’s Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015.
Cohen’s success came after Juniata’s women’s program had gone two
straight seasons without a conference win before his arrival. The men’s
program also struggled before he took the job, but the squad set school
and conference records with 17 wins in both 2014 and 2015. The men went
to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time and won an
opening round match in 2015.
“Recruiting played a big part in the turnaround, but I don’t think
that was the only key,” Cohen said. “The players were looking for
something more — a coach with a solid technical background and also
someone who was there to put in the effort.”
Cohen started his coaching career and graduated from Stevenson
University in Maryland. He went from being a player to head coach after
his graduation in 2007. Cohen led Stevenson from October 2007 to January
2012.
Cohen played at first singles for Stevenson all four years and was
the all-time wins leader in singles and doubles. He was a four-time team
MVP and twice earned first-team honors in the North Eastern Athletics
Conference (NEAC). Cohen also helped Stevenson to two NEAC titles in his
junior and senior seasons.
“We only had six players in my first year and all of us were
freshmen,” Cohen said. “Our coach was also the assistant basketball
coach and we were often by ourselves. I really started to become a
leader and was kind of like a coach during that time.”
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