COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Tennis has added Chris Wootton to its coaching staff as an Associate Head Coach, announced Wednesday by head coach Colt Gaston. Wootton brings three decades of coaching experience in the collegiate and professional levels to Columbia, including the past two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Southern California.

"Chris has established himself as one of the top assistant coaches in the country over the past couple of years," said Gaston. "I was very impressed with his passion for helping student-athletes grow on and off the court and I couldn't be more thrilled to have him join our staff."

"I would like to thank Jim Sterk, Andy Humes, and Colt Gaston for the incredible opportunity to join the Mizzou Women's Tennis staff," said Wootton. "The past 10 years have been an unbelievable journey culminating in this new chapter of my career. My family and I are excited to embrace the rich culture and traditions of the Columbia community and the University of Missouri."

In his most recent stop at USC, Wootton helped the Trojans climb from No. 48 to No. 11 in the ITA Rankings, and led Angela Kulikovand and Rianna Valdes to a NCAA doubles semifinals appearance and No. 3 ranking in 2019. In addition, he coached top-50 ranked singles players Gabby Smith and Salma Ewing.

Prior to USC, Wootton coached one year at Williams College (Ma.), where he helped lead the Ephs to the 2017 NCAA Division III national team championship. He coached five All-Americans in his one season with the Ephs, who went 20-4 in 2016-17 and captured the New England Small College Athletic Conference title.

Before becoming a collegiate coach, Wootton competed for Mississippi College (2011-13) and the University of Texas at Tyler (2013-15), where he earned his master's degree in business administration. In 2015, Wootton captured All-America honors in doubles at the age of 39, becoming the oldest All-American in NCAA history in any sport across all divisions.

Between 1995 and 2011, Wootton coached over 50 NCAA college tennis players and over 20 ATP/WTA touring pros. He also played professionally for six years, collecting singles and doubles wins over top-100 ATP players.

Wootton and his wife, Robin, have two daughters, Christiane (21) and Isabel (18).

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