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New College of Florida is one year away from launching men’s and women’s tennis programs.

The Sarasota-based college added intercollegiate athletics in 2023, fielding six varsity sports with more than 150 scholarship athletes for the 2023-24 school year. New College was accepted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as a full member of The Sun Conference on July 1, 2024.

The Mighty Banyans hired Jeff Maren as the inaugural head coach for the men’s and women’s programs. Maren joins New College after 12 years as the head coach of the Liberty University women’s team. Before joining the Flames, Maren spent six seasons as the associate head coach for the North Texas women’s program.

Maren spoke with Tennis Recruiting Network to provide more background on the new programs:

Why did the school launch tennis programs?

JM: New College Of Florida decided to introduce athletics to the school last year. We began with a few sports and then added more this season, and will add six more programs next fall, with men's and women's tennis being two of them. It was a natural choice to add tennis to the department, as the Sarasota/Bradenton area has a rich history in the sport. The IMG Academy is about 15 minutes from campus, and there are many clubs in the area which promote a love for tennis. We felt it was a great opportunity to offer a college team to local players as well as players from within the state and beyond.