Coaching at Chattanooga (2016-Pres.)
Chad Camper will enter his 11th season as the head coach of the Chattanooga Mocs women's tennis program in 2026-27. He arrived in the Scenic City on Aug. 4, 2016, after spending three seasons as the head coach at Louisiana Tech.
Over the past 10 seasons, Camper has climbed to third on the program's all-time wins list with 113 victories. He earned his 100th win at Chattanooga during a 6-1 win over EKU on February 7, 2026.
Camper's efforts over the past decade have helped guide the Chattanooga program back into the national collegiate tennis spotlight. Those efforts are reflected directly in the team's most recent campaign, as the Mocs finished a historic 2025-26 season 17-5 overall (5-2 SoCon) to mark their most victories in a single season since 2015.
The team entered the Southern Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed — its best regular-season finish since 2016 — and reached the semifinal round for the first time since 2022. The Mocs opened the season winning 11 of their first 12 matches, matching their best start since 2023, and featured a nine-match win streak over nearly six weeks from February 5 to March 15.
The 2025-26 team was led by a pair of first-year competitors in Addison Iacono (No. 1) and Rufaro Magarira (No. 2), who both opened their collegiate careers earning All-Southern Conference First Team (singles) and Southern Conference All-Freshman status. Magarira finished a blistering 28-7 (17-3 dual; 6-1 SoCon) overall in singles play, while Iacono posted a 24-7 (12-4 dual; 3-3 SoCon) singles mark across the full fall/dual season.
Iacono finished ranked No. 19 in the final ITA Division I Women's Ohio Valley Regional Rankings (singles), becoming just the fourth Moc in program history — and the first since Kayla Jones in 2015 — to earn a final regional singles ranking. Magarira's 28 singles victories were the second-most in program single-season history, surpassing Pam Yates' 27 wins in 1982-83 and sitting just three behind Kayla Jones' record 31 victories in 2012-13.
Camper has led Chattanooga to 64 wins over the past five seasons, highlighted by the 17-5 mark in 2026, a 14-8 record in 2023, and a 14-9 record in 2022. The consecutive 14-win seasons in 2022 and 2023 marked the program's most wins in back-to-back seasons since 2016 (15) and 2017 (14).
The 2022-23 season featured an eight-match win streak that spanned nearly a month and lifted the team to a No. 70 ITA National Ranking, the program's best since a No. 66 position in 2020-21. Camper led the team to four All-SoCon selections, including familiar program faces in Jessie Young and Caroline Gibbens, along with transfer students Rozalie Dohnalova and Lucia Garrigues-Melendez.
Camper earned his 100th career collegiate victory as a head coach with a season-opening 4-3 win at UNC Asheville on January 15, 2023.
Chattanooga finished 14-9 overall in 2021-22 and ended the Southern Conference slate 4-3. The team advanced to the SoCon semifinal round for the first time since 2017-18 after defeating fifth-seeded Wofford in the quarterfinals. The doubles team of Emma Van Hee and Nicole Abel finished the season a perfect 12-0 overall, including a perfect 7-0 record in SoCon matchups.
Van Hee and Abel were the first duo to go undefeated in the SoCon slate since 2013 and the first tandem to earn First Team All-SoCon honors in doubles since 2016. The pair finished the year ranked No. 7 in the final ITA Ohio Valley Regional rankings. Camper was also responsible for the development of Van Hee during her five-year playing career at UTC. Van Hee finished her career ranked fourth all-time at UTC in singles wins (80) and fourth in doubles wins (80).
During her career, Van Hee was a four-time Academic All-SoCon selection and a five-time ITA Scholar-Athlete honoree, finished with a perfect 4.0 overall GPA, and was awarded the prestigious Dayle May Award in 2022, which honors the highest GPA among student-athletes at UTC.
During the 2020-21 campaign, Camper led the program to a No. 66 ITA National Team Ranking, which featured the doubles duo of Emma Van Hee and Caroline Gibbens, who earned a No. 76 national ranking after defeating the University of Tennessee's No. 1 doubles team, ranked No. 8 in the country. The squad finished 9-9 overall.
The Mocs went 10-8 in 2018 with Emma Van Hee earning a spot on the SoCon All-Freshman team. After going 8-13 in 2019, the Mocs were looking strong at 8-5 in 2020 before the COVID-19 shutdown.
Camper took over a young team with a thin roster that still managed to post a 14-8 record in his first year at Chattanooga in 2017. Samantha Caswell earned the first of two All-SoCon singles honors in Camper's first year, teaming with Rachele Gazzola for second-team doubles recognition.
The academic laurels continue in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranks, as the program has been named an ITA All-Academic team in every season under Camper. The program set a record in 2022 with 10 student-athletes earning ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, improving on the old record of seven set in 2021.
Before Chattanooga
Camper compiled a 36-25 record in three years at Louisiana Tech. Twice named the Louisiana Coach of the Year, his Lady Techsters ranked as high as No. 66 in the nation in 2016. LA Tech posted a 15-7 record in 2016, the fourth-most wins in school history, and it marked the third year in a row the program produced three All-Conference USA players.
Prior to LA Tech, Camper was the associate head men's and women's tennis coach at his alma mater, Wright State. Before being promoted, he served three years as an assistant coach for the Raiders. As a full-time assistant, the Lima, Ohio, native was actively involved in recruiting future collegiate players both locally and internationally.
Camper recruited the 2012 men's Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and the 2012 men's Horizon League Player of the Year, while also coaching the men's team to the Horizon League regular-season title in 2011-12.
On the women's side, Camper helped take a WSU women's program with a previous 1-21 record to three successful seasons, including a 14-win season in 2011.
