Darryl Cummings enters his third season as the head coach of the Norfolk State men’s and women’s tennis teams heading into 2019. He arrived at NSU after accumulating 600 wins during more than 20 years as a head coach at the NCAA level.
His overall coaching record stands at 631-428, including 336-188 on the men’s side in 22 years and 295-240 in 24 seasons as a women’s head coach.
For the second year in a row, the NSU men’s team went 3-1 in MEAC play in 2018 and finished second in the Northern Division. Cummings guided the Spartans to a 4-1 victory over Bethune-Cookman in the MEAC Tournament Quarterfinals, reaching the tournament semifinals for the second-consecutive season.
Cummings coached Andres Alcaraz to first team All-MEAC honors in 2018, after the sophomore went 10-2 and earned conference player of the week accolades on four different occasions. In addition, the doubles pairing of Agustin Carrizo and Flavian Fernandez received 2018 MEAC All-Tournament Team honors.
Norfolk State women’s team finished .500 in the Northern Division at 3-3 and reached the MEAC Tournament for the second-straight year under Cummings in 2018.
Dajana Cvjetkovic earned All-MEAC honors once again in 2018, being named to the first team for the first time in her career.
The NSU men’s team went 3-1 in MEAC play in 2017 and finished second in the Northern Division. The Spartans defeated North Carolina Central 4-2 in the MEAC Tournament Quarterfinals for the program’s first conference tournament victory since 2014.
The Spartan women’s team also turned in a winning conference record and tied for second in the Northern Division at 4-2. Norfolk State went a perfect 3-0 at home, the first undefeated home campaign since going 4-0 in 2008.
Cummings coached Dajana Cvjetkovic to second-team All-MEAC honors in 2017.
He served as the head coach of the Old Dominion women’s tennis team for 20 years from 1992-2011, including the last 17 seasons as the head coach of the men’s team as well. He also spent two seasons as the head coach of both tennis programs at Virginia Wesleyan from 2014-15 and one season as the men’s coach early in his career in 1989.
Cummings had a hugely successful run at ODU, where he was a six-time Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Coach of the Year. He coached 14 CAA Players of the Year, four Rookies of the Year, six All-Americans and more than 40 Academic All-Americans. His former Monarch players went on to compete in events such as the Davis Cup, Federation Cup and the Olympics.
His overall coaching record stands at 618-412, including 327-182 on the men’s side in 21 years and 291-230 in 23 seasons as a women’s head coach.
Two of his former pupils, Tzipora Obziler and Izak van der Merwe, competed in the main draw of Wimbledon in 2008. Obziler, who once ranked No. 1 in the nation in NCAA Division I and won the 1995 ITA National Clay Court Championship, reached a world ranking of No. 75 in 2007. Van der Merwe, a three-time All-American at ODU, stood as high as No. 113 in the world rankings in 2011.
Cummings had a total of 20 NCAA qualifiers during his time at ODU, including two teams, seven doubles tandems and 11 singles entrants.
Cummings was named the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Virginia Coach of the Year in 1994 and ’96 and the USPTA Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year in 1993 and ’89, the latter during a one-year stint as the men’s coach at Virginia Wesleyan. He also garnered the women's East Region Coach of the Year Award in 2001 when he led the Monarch women to as high as No. 35 in the national rankings, a program best.
That same year, Nataly Cahana won the first of four CAA Player of the Year awards. She ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation in singles while also winning the 2001 CAA Rookie of the Year, CAA Tournament MVP and CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards. She earned All-America status that year as a freshman and then again as a sophomore in 2002. She was also an Academic All-American three straight seasons from 2002-04. Cahana ranked in the top 35 in the nation all four years.
The ODU women finished 21-2 in 2001, their first-ever 20-win season, and won the CAA title for the first time ever. Leading the Monarchs to their first and only NCAA Tournament, Cummings was rewarded with the CAA Coach of the Year Award in 2001 after also taking home the honor in 1993 and ’94. ODU went 18-6 overall in ’94, one of four seasons ever for the Monarchs with 18 or more wins.
Cummings was named Coach of the Year on the men’s side in 1999, 2005 and ’07, becoming the first of two coaches in the league ever to win the award for both genders. He led the ODU men to seven runner-up finishes in the CAA Tournament between 1996 and 2007.
He compiled a 563-353 record during his time at ODU, including 286 wins on the men’s side and 277 as the women’s head coach.
Van der Merwe was an All-American in singles in 2004 and ’05 and also teamed up with Zoltan Csanadi to earn All-America honors in doubles in 2004. The duo also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2003 and ranked as high as No. 13 that year and No. 14 in 2004.
Van der Merwe was named CAA Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2004 and ’05 and CAA Tournament MVP in ’04. In singles, he ranked in the top 25 in the nation in 2004 and ’05, the highest ranking ever by an ODU men’s player.
Van der Merwe (South Africa) joined Cahana and Obziler (Israel) and former Cummings pupils Robert Hale (Jamaica), Patrick Boza (Peru) and Farhad Tadayon (Iran) in competing in the Davis or Federation Cups.
In addition to Cahana and Van der Merwe, Cummings coached CAA Players of the Year Delphine Priest (1994), Nadine Fahoum (2010) and Joanna Dobrowolska (2011) on the women’s side, and Miguel Rosa (1995), Harel Srugo (2006, ‘07), Aleksandr Seleznev (2009) and Tobias Fanselow (2011) in men’s tennis.
Fahoum also won the CAA Rookie of the Year Award in 2008, and in 2010 she ranked as high as No. 20 nationally. Along with Cahana, a four-time NCAA qualifier, Fahoum also advanced to the tournament in singles in 2010. She competed in the NCAA Tournament in doubles in 2009 with Charleen Haarhoff and in ’10 with Dobrowolska.
Srugo (2006) and Mily Kannarkat (1999) were named CAA Tournament MVPs in their respective years. Srugo later led the Monarch men to a win over Virginia Tech in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, ODU’s first and only championship appearance.
As a team, the Monarchs ranked as high as No. 31 that year, the highest for any men’s team under Cummings. Srugo reached the top 30 in the national rankings both in 2006 and ’07, and he and Henrique Cancado stood No. 13 in the nation in doubles in 2007.
Both Srugo and Cancado made NCAA Tournament appearances in singles and doubles in 2007, while Srugo competed in both events in the tournament in 2006. Seleznev joined him in doubles that year and then again in 2009 with Fanselow. Seleznev also pulled double duty in ’09 when he competed in the singles tournament.
The Monarch men posted 25 wins in 2006 and 22 in ’07, the most victories ever for the program. They finished with an above-.500 record every season under Cummings and had 11 seasons with 16 or more wins.
The women’s team tallied 19 wins in 2006 and 18 in ’07, the second and third-most victories in program history.
Altogether, Cummings coached 71 all-conference players (39 men, 32 women) and 33 all-conference doubles tandems (20 men, 13 women) during his time at ODU.
He led both tennis teams at Virginia Wesleyan from 2014-15. He coached the men’s program to a 29-10 overall record during that time, including 18-2 in conference play. The Marlins finished in second place in the ODAC regular season standings and as the runner-up at the conference tournament both seasons.
Cummings coached seven All-ODAC players and one all-conference doubles pairing during his two years as the men’s coach. He also mentored 2014 ODAC Rookie of the Year Kenneth Downing and 2015 women’s Rookie of the Year Jackie Lee.
A standout player at ODU, Cummings led the Monarchs to a 20-3 mark in 1986, their first-ever 20-win season. He captured the 1985 Virginia State singles championship and the Sun Belt Conference doubles championship in 1986.
He earned an associate's degree in business administration from Lees-McRae College in 1984, a bachelor's degree from ODU in arts and letters in 1992 and a master's degree from ODU in sports management in 2003.
Cummings has been owner of the Cape Henry Racquet Club in Virginia Beach since 2009. He is a certified member of the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) and the United States Professional Tennis Registry (USPTR).
Cummings is married to Beth Gregory, and the couple has three children, Clark, Connor and Jessica.
