Fried Appointed Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Tennis

After serving as interim head coach of men’s and women’s tennis at Wesleyan during the 2012-13 season, Mike Fried has been appointed faculty head coach of both teams, Wesleyan Athletics Director Mike Whalen announced in June. Fried will hold the rank of adjunct assistant professor of physical education.

“We are very excited to have Mike Fried as our head tennis coach,” stated Whalen. “His accomplishments over the past year are just a starting point and there is no question that he is committed to building a program that will compete on a national level. His passion and dedication are second to none and I am excited for the future of Wesleyan tennis.”

Over the 2012-13 campaign, Wesleyan’s men fashioned a 7-10 overall record and went 5-4 against NESCAC competition.  That accomplishment earned the Cardinals a first-ever invitation to the NESCAC tournament where fifth-seeded Wesleyan dropped a tight 5-3 decision to fourth-seeded Bates. The men finished the year ranked ninth in Division III in the ITA Northeast rankings and were ranked as high as 26th nationally during the spring. For his effort, Fried was honored by his NESCAC peers as NESCAC co-Coach of the Year.  Wesleyan’s women fashioned a 6-9 overall record in 2012-13 and went 4-5 vs. their NESCAC rivals. The women finished 15th in the Northeast rankings.

Fried first came aboard the Wesleyan coaching staff during the spring of 2011 as an assistant coach for both men and women. In the spring of 2012, he assumed head coaching duties for the women before taking over both the men and women on an interim basis in 2012-13. Fried added tremendous playing and coaching experience to the Cardinal staff. A 1991 graduate of Brown University–where he was a four-year tennis team member, two-year captain, and No. 1 singles and doubles player–Fried was a national high school tennis All-American before attending Brown, and attained a No. 1 Eastern Tennis Association in the men’s open ranking. During his playing career, Fried posted wins over eventual Grand Slam winners Goran Ivanisevic, Mark Knowles and Donald Johnson, while also competing against other future pros such as Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang.

Fried has had extensive tennis experience as a private coach and has worked as the development director at both the Macci International Tennis Academy in Delray Beach, Fla. and the Seguso-Bassett (now Evert) Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. He has worked with top ranked juniors from around the world and coached players at ATP tour events in the United States and Europe.

“I’m extremely excited to continue what we began this year and to establish nationally contending tennis teams here at Wes,” Fried said. In the recently released Tennis Recruiting Network rankings, the incoming class of 2017 for Wesleyan men’s tennis has been rated seventh nationally in Division III.