FGCU Mens Tennis welcomes NCAA veteran Davidson Kozlowski as its new head coach

FORT MYERS, Fla. The Florida Gulf Coast University men’s tennis program enters a new era with an appointment Davidson Kozlowski as the new head coach. He is the third head coach in the program’s Division I history.

Kozlowski joins the Green & Blue after 11 seasons as the head coach at NCAA Division I member Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He was named Summit League Coach of the Year six times and led his teams to seven conference tournament titles and six regular season titles. Kozlowski helped the Bulldogs to eight NCAA tournament berths.

“We are very pleased to welcome Davidson and Jennifer to FGCU in Southwest Florida and to our Eagles’ Athletics family,” said the FGCU Director of Athletics.Ken Kavanagh. “A quality individual, Davidson is a proven winner and will bring tremendous coaching experience and success to FGCU. In turn, we look forward to him providing energetic day-to-day leadership to our outstanding group of student-athletes and engaging with our rapidly growing fan base and maintaining a tremendous tradition of overall excellence on the field and outside of what FGCU has established since the inception of men’s tennis.”

Kozlowski had an immediate impact at Drake, making history in his first season by leading the team to the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory in school history with a 4-1 victory over Texas Christian University. The team also achieved the highest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national score. ranked 16th in the country during its first season.

Kozlowski also led the Bulldogs to a 22-6 record in 2013-14 en route to Drake’s eighth NCAA Tournament appearance as he won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships.

The following season, Kozlowski led Drake to its second NCAA Tournament victory in program history with a 4-2 win over No. 32 Louisville. The Bulldogs finished the 2014-15 season ranked 32nd nationally with a 25-6 record, including a 13-4 mark against ranked teams.
In 2015-16, the Bulldogs faced 17 nationally ranked teams, 11 of which were ranked in the top 40. Drake finished 49th on the season with a record of 17-12.

From the 2016-17 season to the 2022-23 season, Kozlowski brought home the conference championship five times. In his final season at Drake, the Bulldogs won their seventh tournament title and had individual wins over the nation’s No. 1 player and the No. 8 and No. 9 doubles teams.

Prior to joining Drake, Kozlowski was an assistant coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) from 2004 to 2012.
Kozlowski is from Sarasota, Florida. He played college tennis at Auburn from 1994-96 before transferring to Florida State University for his final two seasons from 1997-99.

“I am honored to be the next head coach of the FGCU men’s tennis team,” Kozlowski said. “I want to thank the entire search committee and everyone I met during the interview process who made me feel at home and very welcome.”

While competing for the Seminoles, Kozlowski regularly played No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles.He earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from FSU in 1999.
After graduating, he played on the Futures and Challenger Circuits from 1999-2002.

Kozlowski succeeds CJ Weber, who coached the Eagles for 12 seasons after joining the program in September 2011. Weber most recently led the 2022-23 team to its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance after capturing the ASUN Tournament title.
The Eagles went 15-9 this year and won a share of the 2023 ASUN regular season title after defeating No. 63 Liberty. FGCU then captured the ASUN Tournament title with a 4-0 win over host North Florida in the title game before losing a highly competitive NCAA Tournament opener to No. 6 Georgia.Magnus Johnsonwon ASUN Player of the Year for the third consecutive season and earned a spot on the ASUN All-Academic Team. Marcelo SepulvedaandRandy Wilsonboth were named to the All-ASUN second team.Guglielmo Stefanacciwas named to the All-ASUN third team.