What’s New with the ITA ft. Dave Mullins

Summary

Dave Mullins (then ITA COO, now CEO) joins Lisa Stone to discuss several ITA initiatives: the organization’s entry into collegiate wheelchair tennis governance, the ITA Summer Circuit structure and its value for junior-to-college benchmarking, the shift from UTR to World Tennis Number (WTN) under a shared initiatives agreement with USTA, regional coach education workshops as a potential replacement for the annual convention model, and the launch of a new ITA Student Athlete Advisory Council with representation from all six divisions including wheelchair. The episode also previews the first-ever NCAA Combined Championships bringing D-I, D-II, and D-III together at Lake Nona.

Guest Background

Dave Mullins is a former college coach (University of Oklahoma) originally from Dublin, Ireland, who arrived in the US in 1998. At the time of recording he was serving as ITA COO (he became CEO on January 1, 2025). He has been a repeat guest on ParentingAces. His eldest son committed to DePaul University for soccer, giving Mullins firsthand recent experience with the collegiate recruiting process across sports.

Key Findings

1. ITA Expanding into Collegiate Wheelchair Tennis Governance

The ITA is amending its bylaws to create a sixth membership division for collegiate wheelchair tennis, adding to the existing five able-bodied divisions. This involves integrating wheelchair tennis into the full ITA infrastructure: awards, coach education, tournaments, rankings, and governance. The initiative is in partnership with USTA (Jason Harnett leading wheelchair tennis at USTA), with the NCA and USOPC also showing increased interest. At the time of recording, approximately 8-12 teams participated in the USTA-run Collegiate Wheelchair Championships at Lake Nona, with eligibility requirements intentionally loose (affiliate members, not just enrolled students) to build momentum before introducing formal eligibility standards. Mullins emphasized the “long game” approach, noting USTA expects a “deluge” of wheelchair players entering the college pipeline within 2-4 years.

2. ITA Summer Circuit as Junior-to-College Benchmarking Pipeline

The ITA Summer Circuit offers approximately 60 tournaments on college campuses over a 6-week period, with a $35 membership fee plus per-tournament entry fees. The participant mix is roughly 50% current college players and 50% rising junior/senior high school players preparing for college tennis. The circuit culminates in the ITA Summer National Championship at Florida State, with top-5 point earners receiving travel stipends and winners earning wild cards into the ITA All-American Championships. For 2023, draws were categorized by WTN (World Tennis Number) rather than UTR, reflecting the USTA partnership shift. Mullins noted the circuit has been running for approximately 30 years and continues to evolve.

3. USTA-ITA Shared Initiatives Agreement Replacing UTR with WTN

The ITA formalized a “shared initiatives agreement” with the USTA covering multiple buckets of collaboration, including the adoption of World Tennis Number (WTN) to replace UTR as the rating system for ITA events. The agreement also addresses coordination to avoid duplication of efforts, as USTA maintains its own collegiate department and collegiate pathway committee. This signals a significant institutional alignment between the two organizations on the college tennis pathway.

4. Regional Coach Education Workshops May Replace Annual Convention

Mullins questioned the relevance of the traditional annual coaches convention model, noting cost burdens for both the ITA and coaches. The ITA piloted a regional workshop in Chicago (11am-7pm format) integrating college coaches, high school coaches, and academy coaches together. Coach feedback requested adding player showcases, leading to a proposed hybrid model: a Friday coach education day followed by a weekend recruiting event, potentially timed to coincide with USTA sectional close tournaments. This model reduces travel costs and leverages coaches’ dual budgets (coach education development funds and recruiting funds). Mullins framed this as a potential convention replacement, though no final decision had been made.

5. ITA Student Athlete Advisory Council Launch

The ITA announced a new Student Athlete Advisory Council with 10 members representing all six divisions (including wheelchair). Applications opening May 2023 with a two-stage process requiring a written letter demonstrating commitment. The first meeting was scheduled for September 2023. The council is student-led (not staff-agenda-driven) and charged with providing feedback on the college tennis experience, ITA championships, the summer circuit, USTA involvement, marketing strategy (including generational media consumption differences — linear TV vs. digital), and celebration of student-athletes. Mullins explicitly framed the council as a talent pipeline: keeping student-athletes engaged in tennis governance post-graduation, developing the next generation of tennis industry leaders and volunteers, and potentially matching them with tennis careers.

6. NCAA Combined Championships — First-Ever Multi-Division Event

The NCAA was hosting its first combined Division I, II, and III championships at the USTA campus in Lake Nona, running approximately 10 days with each division’s event bleeding into the next. The ITA convention and Men’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony were co-located. Mullins emphasized this as an unprecedented celebration of college tennis across all divisions and urged the community to support viewership and attendance to demonstrate the sport’s audience to stakeholders.

7. Persistent Education Gap on College Tennis Opportunities

Mullins cited approximately 5,000 student-athletes graduating annually from college tennis programs, creating 5,000 roster spots to fill. With only 200-300 US players competing in 10+ tournaments per year, he argued there is massive opportunity beyond top D-I for American players. He shared a specific anecdote about an Irish family in Phoenix who believed Arizona State and U of A were the only college tennis options, unaware of the breadth of D-II, D-III, NAIA, and JUCO programs. Junior coaches were identified as a critical knowledge bottleneck — knowledgeable about top-tier D-I but uninformed about other divisions.

INTENNSE Relevance

• ITA relationship development: Dave Mullins is now ITA CEO. This episode captures his institutional philosophy — playing the long game, infrastructure-building, inclusive governance (wheelchair division), student-athlete voice — which aligns with INTENNSE’s own values around expanding access to competitive tennis. The ITA is a natural institutional partner for INTENNSE as both organizations seek to grow the pipeline of competitive tennis players and keep them engaged in the sport long-term.

• College-to-pro pipeline intelligence: The 50/50 junior-college mix in the Summer Circuit, the 5,000 annual graduating roster spots, and the persistent D-I fixation problem all describe the supply side of INTENNSE’s future player pool. Understanding where these players come from, what divisions they play in, and how they transition out of college tennis informs INTENNSE’s recruitment strategy and community engagement.

• Student Athlete Advisory Council as engagement model: The ITA’s council structure — student-led, multi-division representation, two-stage application, governance exposure, post-graduation retention focus — is a governance template INTENNSE could adapt for its own athlete advisory or community engagement programs.

• Wheelchair tennis expansion signal: The ITA creating a sixth division for wheelchair tennis, combined with USTA’s investment and expected player pipeline growth, signals an expanding competitive ecosystem that a professional team tennis league should monitor for inclusion opportunities.

• Regional workshop + showcase hybrid model: The ITA’s pivot from centralized conventions to regional coach education + recruiting showcase hybrids is a distribution model INTENNSE could learn from for its own community engagement and talent identification events — bringing the product to regional markets rather than expecting stakeholders to travel to a single location.