Justin DeSanto - Men's Tennis Coach - Dartmouth College Athletics

Justin DeSanto

Title:
John Kenfield and Chuck Kinyon Head Coach of Men's Tennis
Alma Mater:
Wilkes ’12
Email:
Justin.A.DeSanto@dartmouth.edu
At Dartmouth:
2nd Year (2023-)

Justin DeSanto joined the Dartmouth men's tennis program as the John Kenfield and Chuck Kinyon Head Coach in July 2023.

2024-25: The Big Green went went 13-10 in DeSanto's second season in Hanover. The Big Green also earned multiple national rankings and finished the regular season ranked 73rd in the country. Dartmouth earned a No. 57 ranking on Mar. 11 which was the highest during the season. In the end of season ITA rankings, the Big Green were ranked fourth in New England while Hikaru Takeda were ranked eighth in singles, Henry Ren earned a 13th ranking for singles. The 13 wins is the most in a season by the Big Green since the 2018-19 season. Carlos Guerrero Alvarez, Miles Groom, Waleed Qadir, and Henry Ren all earned CSC All-District Academic honors. Hikaru Takeda was named Ivy League Honorable Mention while Miles Groom has earned Academic All-Ivy honors.

2023-24: DeSanto's team went 8-16 during his first season at the helm, starting the season on a five match win streak. Logan Chang earned his second career Academic All-Ivy honor, only the fourth player to earn the honor multiple times in his playing career. The Big Green also placed four on the CSC Academic All-District Team and was recognized by the ITA. Change continued wracking up awards by earning the ITA Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship award while Carlos Guerrero Alvarez and Miles Groom each earned singles rankings, 13th and 17th respectively. Doubles team Henry Ren and Alex Knox-Jones ranked seventh while pair Miles Groom and Waleed Qadir were ranked tenth in the New England Division.

DeSanto joins the Big Green after spending two seasons as the head coach at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), having recently led the Blazers to their first year-end ITA ranking (No. 70) since 2012 in the 2023 season. UAB’s 21-7 showing marked a 13-win turnaround from the previous season, DeSanto’s first at the helm. The Blazers garnered three All-CUSA honorees in 2023, headlined by Michal Lusovsky’s first-team selection. Roman Postolka and Nika Puric both received second-team accolades.

UAB’s progress under DeSanto’s guidance was also marked by signature victories, such as a pair of triumphs over ranked teams during the resurgent 2023 campaign. Lusovsky and Postolka knocked off the No. 54-ranked doubles team in the nation in a 2022 CUSA quarterfinal match with No. 18 Middle Tennessee, and the Blazers made a run to the conference semifinal this past spring thanks to their 4-3 victory over No. 62 Rice. In addition to on-court success, DeSanto’s squad posted the highest grade point average among all UAB programs in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.

“I would like to start by thanking Mike Harrity for this amazing opportunity to lead the Dartmouth men’s tennis team,” DeSanto said. “Throughout the process, Mike was incredibly passionate when sharing his vision for Dartmouth Athletics as a whole. His unmatched passion and trust in me to lead the program has me excited to get to work!

“I would also like to thank the search committee: Taurian Houston, Kristine Fowler and Richard Whitmore. After arriving to campus and meeting the committee members, it was apparent to my wife Meredith and I that this is where we belong. We look forward to arriving in the Upper Valley and calling it our new home. While still young, the current roster brings back a lot of experience and talent. I can’t wait to not only help lead these young men, but also learn from them as we work together to build on an already remarkable brand that is Dartmouth men’s tennis!”

DeSanto previously spent five seasons at Wichita State as an assistant coach. During his time with the Shockers, the 2012 Wilkes University graduate helped the team climb as high as No. 29 in the ITA rankings, the highest mark for the program since 1982-83. In his final season with Wichita State, DeSanto earned 2021 ITA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors. The Shockers recorded a pair of top-30 victories in his last season on Danny Bryan’s staff against No. 22 Memphis and No. 28 Pepperdine.

DeSanto’s ability to help student-athletes develop into strong competitors was displayed throughout his time with the Shockers. He aided Murkel Dellien to a career-high No. 35 national ranking, along with an AAC Player of the Year honor during the 2020-21 season. He also helped coach the doubles tandem of Dellien and Marius Frosa to All-America status and a quarterfinal appearance at the NCAA Tournament in 2019.

DeSanto previously served as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams at Division III Williams College for two seasons (2014-16), where he was named the 2016 ITA Northeast Assistant Coach of the Year. The Ephs’ women’s team, which won the 2015 national title and was runner-up in 2016, picked up several individual accolades, including 11 All-America honors, the 2015 Division III Senior Player of the Year and the 2016 ITA Most Improved Player.

No stranger to the Ivy League, DeSanto spent the 2013-14 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Yale. The Bulldogs finished second in the Ivy League, while DeSanto helped guide two student-athletes to First Team All-Ivy honors and a doubles tandem to Second Team All-Ivy status.

A native of Pittston, Pennsylvania, DeSanto received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wilkes University in 2012 before starting his collegiate coaching career at Division III Marywood University.