BRUNSWICK, Maine – Bowdoin College women's tennis coach Ben Lamanna has been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Division III Women's Tennis Coach of the Year in honors announced on Tuesday evening.
 
In his fourth season with the Polar Bears, Lamanna led Bowdoin to the national quarterfinals for the first time since 2017, racking up 17 wins – the second most in a season in program history. It is the second time Lamanna has won an ITA National Coach of the Year award. He also was recognized as the men's Division III Coach of the Year while at Brandeis in 2018-19. He is the sixth coach in Division III history to win both the men's and women's national coach of the year honor, joining Mary Perry (Chicago), Butch Newman (Trinity-Texas), Jay Tee (Chicago), Mike Fried (Wesleyan), and David Schwartz (Middlebury, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps).
 
Additionally, Lamanna is the ninth coach in Bowdoin history to earn national coach of the year recognition, joining Adrienne Shibles (women's basketball, 2019), Nicky Pearson (field hockey, 2007, '08, '10, '13), Sidney Watson (men's ice hockey, 1971, '78), Terry Meagher (men's ice hockey 1986, '89), John Cullen (women's soccer, 1992), Michele Amidon (women's ice hockey, 2003), Stefanie Pemper (women's basketball, 2004) and Conor Smith (men's tennis, 2016).