A look at the people whose connection to CMU extends far beyond their time as student-athletes
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) continues to keep alumni players involved in its athletics programs, including both the men’s and women’s tennis teams. Finding success throughout the years, head coach Dan MacDonald has been with the program for 20 years. He even coached current assistant coach, David Smith, from 2004 to 2008.
Coach MacDonald began his college career playing at Cowley County Community College in southeast Kansas for two years. When looking for a new home, MacDonald received numerous offers but ultimately landed on CMU after a friend of his visited Grand Junction for the annual Junior College World Series and told him how beautiful the area was. MacDonald, who loves to ski, river-raft and do pretty much anything outdoors, packed up and moved out west to begin a new chapter of his athletic career at CMU, then Mesa State College.
From 1990 to 1992, MacDonald was a Maverick but didn’t realize at the time that it would be his forever home. After graduating with his degree in finance, MacDonald took on numerous sales positions but kept tennis in his life by teaching it professionally as a United States Professional Tennis Association member. Bouncing around a few high schools in the area as both an assistant and head coach, MacDonald decided to take the leap in 2006 and became CMU’s new head coach for both the men's and women’s tennis programs.
“It means a lot to me, obviously playing here. It changed my life moving here; you don’t know where life is going to take you,” said MacDonald. “But I’m a Maverick for life.”
Since his coaching career began, MacDonald has been a tremendous influence on CMU’s tennis success. MacDonald has been named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Coach of the Year 12 times (seven women, five men). He was also named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Coach of the Year in 2009 for the women’s team and in 2010 for the men’s team.
With the help of former athlete and assistant coach David Smith, the team's success includes four women’s RMAC regular season titles, three RMAC tournament titles and six trips to the NCAA tournament. On the men’s side, both coaches helped produce an RMAC regular season title in 2017 for the first time since MacDonald played for the Mavericks, and four trips to the NCAA tournament.
Coach Smith has served as the assistant coach for the men’s and women’s tennis teams since 2009, following his four-year letter winning career as a Maverick and obtaining a pair of bachelor’s degrees in exercise science and K-12 physical education. In the early stages of his career, the Grand Junction native served as an assistant boys and girls tennis coach at Central High School in Grand Junction but ultimately chose to remain at CMU and help build what MacDonald started with him.
“Coach Dan MacDonald was the reason I stayed and coached,” said Smith. “It means quite a bit more to me to be loyal to the Mavericks and see how far the university has come.”
Both MacDonald and Smith have forged CMU’s tennis programs into what they are today. MacDonald’s experience is unmatched, allowing Smith’s youthful outlook on the sport to shine. Together, the Mavericks have emerged in the spotlight and continue to chase a national pedestal.
Hear from long time head tennis coach, Dan MacDonald, on his journey to not only as a coach but also as a student athlete on the Maverick Athletics podcast, “Inside the Herd,” on the official CMU Athletics YouTube channel: