Moros Named USF Head Women’s Tennis Coach

TAMPA, FLA.– The University of South Florida has named Cristina Moros as head coach of the women’s tennis program, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mark Harlan announced today.

A member of the University of Texas’ 1995 NCAA Championship team, Moros returns to the state of Florida after having previously served as Academy and Private Coach at the prestigious Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla. (1999-2001), where she coached then standout juniors Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic among others, before embarking on a collegiate coaching career.

“We are very excited to welcome Cristina back to Florida and have her lead our women’s tennis program,” Harlan said. “She is a very accomplished coach with a terrific background both teaching the game at tennis academies and coaching on the collegiate level. She is truly passionate about the sport of tennis and mentoring young people, and will be an excellent leader for our student-athletes.”

Moros comes to USF after serving as head coach of the women’s tennis program at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for one season. She brings over 16 years of coaching experience and over 10 years of tennis director experience to Tampa. She takes over a USF women’s tennis program that won an American Athletic Conference championship in 2014.

A native of Austin, Texas, Moros served as associate head coach at the University of Oklahoma (2012-14) prior to taking over the UTEP program. At Oklahoma, Moros was named the 2014 ITA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year as she helped the Sooners advance to the second round of the NCAA Championships and finish with a 17-7 overall record and a 6-3 mark in Big 12 action. The Sooners ended the year ranked No. 20 in the nation after reaching a program-best No. 14 ranking in March.

Moros served as the Big XII representative on the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Committee for two years while at OU.

Moros competed on the tennis team at the University of Texas (1995-99) and was a member of the Longhorns 1995 National Championship squad. A two-time team captain, Moros earned NCAA All-American status five times, was a two-time NCAA Tournament finalist in singles, and was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Player of the Year in 1997. She ranks fifth in program history with a .750 (117-39) winning percentage in singles and third in doubles with a 107-29 (.787) record. Moros reached the No. 1 world ranking in ITF junior doubles as a player and was also rated in the top-20 in singles action.

She graduated from Texas in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications and returned to begin her collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater from 2009-11.

After graduating from Texas, Moros began her coaching career at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy and went on to work as Academy Co-Director at the Roddick Moros International Tennis Academy (2001-06) in San Antonio. She went on to serve as Director of High Performance at Austin Tennis Academy (2006-10) and Advantage Doyle Tennis Academy (2010-11) in Austin, Texas during her 10 years of experience at tennis academies.

Nick Bollettieri, founder of IMG Tennis Academy and world-renowned tennis coach, had high praise for Moros and her coaching abilities.

“Cristina is knowledgeable because she’s been around tennis all of her life and she’s a very sincere young lady. She knows how to relate to young players in a positive way but also showing them the facts of life, and I believe that’s a big plus. She’s knowledgeable on the game and she knows how to communicate in a positive way that’s very receptive.”