Prohaska Eager to Lead Women’s Tennis

Damien Prohaska has had a busy month.

The new Colgate Women’s Tennis head coach began the job in early August, roughly a month before the start of the season, setting off a whirlwind of activity that included introductions with his student-athletes over Zoom calls, meeting the campus community, and calling prospective recruits as he builds the incoming class of 2026.

Plus, with the season set to start on Sept. 12, Prohaska had to run a program while shaping it into his own.

And yet, with all that work, and still more to be done, his enthusiasm as a first time head coach never wavered.

“I am very excited to be here at Colgate and be part of the Colgate community,” he said. “It has been trial by fire so far, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Prohaska comes to Colgate after a successful four-year stint as an assistant tennis coach at Wellesley College. His hire marks the first time the Colgate women’s tennis program has had its own head coach. For the last 19 years, head coach Bobby Pennington helmed the men’s and women’s programs.

While Pennington built strong programs on both sides over the years, coaching two teams at times became tricky, especially when the men and women had matches at different locations. In those instances, Pennington managed one team while his assistant coach oversaw the other.

The coaching duties of the tennis programs were restructured over the summer to allow both teams to benefit from having its own coach. Pennington shifted to the men’s side while Prohaska was tapped to manage the women’s team.

Both coaches, however, have worked closely from the moment Prohaska arrived. 

Prohaska credited Pennington for helping him adjust to his role, learn the ins and outs of Colgate, and get in contact with the student-athletes on his team. In addition, Prohaska’s players have also been a resource as he learns on-the-go.

“Pennington has been such an invaluable resource for me, and the players as well,” he said. “It has been an all-hands approach. And I’ve been allowed to come in and enact my vision right away, put our scouting system in, work with the team, focus on the day to day while also planning for the future.”

One of Prohaska’s first priorities has been to establish a relationship with the team, which began with Zoom calls in early August, a few weeks before the student-athletes returned to campus. 

“My first action was to build relationships with my players, get to know them, reach out to their families, let them know I’m here to support these awesome young women in any way I can and see how we can grow together,” he said.

Prohaska said he has stressed accountability, cooperation, and preparation — qualities that have already been established in the program.

“This first month has been huge in getting them used to my communication style, being very open, being very transparent, and in ways promoting vulnerability and making sure that my players see that they don’t have to be right,” he said. “I don’t expect to be an expert in everything. I am learning from them as I go, too, in terms of what it means to be part of this community.”

Prohaska, a native of Binghamton, N.Y., joined Colgate after four seasons at Division III Wellesley College, where he was named the Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year by the International Tennis Association in 2024-25. 

At Wellesley, he produced two national top-20 classes, and guided the program to a 15-4 record — including 7-1 in conference play — in his final season with the Blue. The team reached the semifinals of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference, and reached as high as No. 12 in the nation. 

Prior to Wellesley, he worked as an admissions counselor and athletics liaison at UMass Dartmouth, where he oversaw recruitment and outreach across New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

In addition, he served as the graduate assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach from 2018-2020 at Regis College. 

Prohaska graduated from SUNY Oneonta, where he played four seasons of tennis. As a senior, he served as captain and earned a 9-2 singles record, guiding the Red Dragons to their highest win count since 2011-12. 

Now as a first-time head coach, Prohaska has brought to Colgate a few things he’s picked up along the way. He introduced a new scouting system that he learned at Wellesley. He’s also using video analysis, which he used to much success at his previous stops.

But above all is his focus on camaraderie. 

“Relationship building is a big strength of mine, which is why I’ve seen good success result wise but also personnel wise with who we bring in,” he said. “Over the last couple of years, we had nationally ranked classes come in, but it means nothing if they’re not good people. Finding that cultural fit has been huge for me, and it has led to great growth internally and externally. It saw us climb the ranks at Wellesley.”

Prohaska made his coaching debut on Sept. 12 when the Raiders opened the season at the Binghamton Invite. Colgate won the doubles title thanks to the play of senior captain Amelia Galin and junior Sophia Montero, who together went undefeated.

Next up for Prohaska’s squad is Colgate Invitational, a two-day event that kicks off on Sept. 27. In practice, Prohaska has emphasized daily development and displaying the team’s strong sense of self and identity in competition. It is something he hopes the Raiders will showcase at their invite. 

“We have a great group, really supportive of each other, and very cooperative and hard working,” he said. “They are excited for our invite, where we can let our identity shine and project who we really want teams to see us as when we step into competition.”

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