IRVINE, Calif. – Concordia University Irvine Athletics is excited to announce the return of alum Ellie Johnson as the new men's and women's tennis head coach.

A former CUI tennis student-athlete, Johnson earned her bachelor's degree in exercise sports science in 2015. As a senior, she helped Concordia win the GSAC title, competing primarily at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. She then completed her master's in coaching and athletic administration (MCAA) and worked as a tennis graduate assistant under former head coach Jonathan Sanchez.

In addition to spending nearly six years as the head coach at Westmont College, she was honored as the GSCA Coach of the Year after the 2018 and 2019 seasons. She has also won multiple coaching awards from the International Tennis Association (ITA) during her time in Santa Barbara.

She has stayed connected to her alma mater in recent years by serving as an adjunct professor at Concordia since 2019.  She has focused her teaching on topics ranging from nutritional science, to health and wellness programming and principles of coaching.

"We are extremely excited to welcome back Ellie to our coaching staff," said CUI athletic director Crystal Rosenthal.  "She was a fantastic example of what it means to be a Concordia student-athlete, and her experiences and connections – both in the tennis world and on our campus - will help our tennis programs continue to evolve into the future. She made an impact as a student-athlete here and it is exciting to hear her ideas of how we can help our student-athletes and teams as we move forward in the coming years. We are very fortunate to have her with us as our new tennis head coach."

Johnson still ranks eighth all-time with 33 career wins in singles play in the CUI record books. Johnson was also named a NAIA Scholar-Athlete and GSAC Scholar-Athlete in back-to-back seasons before graduating in 2015.

Both Concordia tennis squads have qualified for the NCAA DII West Regional in two of the past three seasons.