The 2024-25 season will be Jim Laitta’s 15th as an assistant coach with the Navy men’s tennis program. The Mids have compiled an overall record of 317-174, posted a combined 100-18 record against league opponents and won eight (of a possible 13) league tournament crowns during his time with the program.
Laitta served as an assistant coach at Ohio State during the 2009-10 season prior to his arrival at Navy. The Buckeyes compiled a 35-2 record on the year and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament where they lost to the eventual national champions, USC.
Prior to his one-year stint in Columbus, Ohio, Laitta spent 19 seasons as a head coach with the Maryland tennis programs. While coaching the men’s team for all 19 years in College Park, he also served as the head coach of the school’s women’s team for his first 11 years at the school.
When he arrived in College Park, neither tennis program received any scholarship funding. The women’s team became fully funded in his eighth season while the men’s program reached that level toward the end of his time at the school. Despite those limitations, Laitta led the women’s team to a trio of NCAA Tournament appearances (1996, ‘98, ‘99) and saw the men’s program earn a national ranking in each of his final three seasons. Individually, he was tabbed as the ACC Women’s Coach of the Year in 1996.
A 1988 graduate of Eastern Kentucky, Laitta began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the Mississippi State women’s team during the 1988-89 season. Mississippi State’s doubles tandem of Claire Pollard and Jackie Holden won the NCAA national championship that season. He then was elevated to head coach for the 1989-90 campaign before departing for Maryland after the conclusion of the season.
