Bio

Coach Theodore Richard F. Mahaffey, III (Dickie) enters his ninth season as head men’s and women’s tennis coach at the University of the District of Columbia in the 2017-18 academic year. Mahaffey has turned the Firebirds tennis program into an East Coast Conference powerhouse and a force in all of Division II.

Mahaffey boasts three ECC Coach of the Year awards: Men's Tennis in 2011 and 2012 and Women's Tennis 2012; the school's first ECC Championship (Women's Tennis 2011), a Reslyn Henley Award winner (Tomas Gajdusek), an ECC Excellence in Community and Character Award winner (Gajdusek), three ECC Scholar Athletes of the Year (Gadjusek, Bruno Reich and Miguel Uzcategui), two ECC Players of the Year (Aleksandar Grabovac 2013, Gajdusek 2010), a pre-season ECC Player of the Year (Jessica Nunez 2012) and several First and Second Team All-ECC selections.

In 2010-2011, Coach Mahaffey guided the men’s tennis team to a 13-4 record, a second place finish in the East Coast Conference Men’s Tennis Championships, and a No. 4 ranking in the NCAA D-II East Region end-of-season rankings. Coach Mahaffey also guided the women’s tennis team to a 7-9 record, a five-win improvement from the 2009-2010 season. In the Spring 2011, Coach Mahaffey was voted by his fellow coaches the ECC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year.

Both teams enjoyed tremendous success in 2011-12 as they both advanced to the NCAA Division II East Regional. The women captured the school's first ever ECC Championship in the fall, and went on to advance to the program's first ever NCAA Sweet 16 in the spring. They finished the season with an overall record of 17-4. The men finished 17-5, advancing to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. They earned an at-large bid as they were the ECC runner-up for the 2nd consecutive season.

In 2012-13, Coach Mahaffey coached the women's tennis team to an 8-3 record (5-2 conference) and a third place finish in the ECC. Mahaffey had three representatives on the All-ECC team at the end of the season. Jessica Nunez was named 1st team All-ECC and finished the No. 4 ranked singles player in the ITA East Region poll, while Maxime Duijst and Krystina Nepivodova both received 2nd Team All-ECC honors. Meanwhile, the men's tennis team finished 11-5 overall and earned the program's first ECC regular season title with a perfect 5-0 league record. The Firebirds advanced to the ECC Finals for a third consecutive year and once again they earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed. 

The 2013-14 seasons once again saw both teams qualify for the ECC Tournament after superb regular seasons, but both teams were once again ousted in the semifinals. Senior Jessica Nunez earned her fourth straight First Team All-ECC honor and junior Maxime Duijst earned her third straight Second Team All-ECC distinction in the fall. Later in the spring, senior Miguel Uzcategui was named First Team All-ECC for the second consecutive season.

The Firebirds enjoyed continued individual and team success under Mahaffey in 2014-15. Both teams qualified for the ECC Tournament Semifinal Round, and the men's team went on to earn a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament. Both teams produced the ECC's Rookie of the Year as freshmen Laura Dimante and Diego Pinto each took home the conference's top honor for first-year student-athletes. Also, each team had a First Team All-ECC performer - junior Peerada Looareesuwan for the women and senior Simon Andersson for the men.

At the conclusion of the 2014-15 academic year, the women's tennis team earned the ECC Academic Team of Excellence Award, the men's and women's teams earned ITA All-Academic Team Awards, and eight individual Firebirds earned ITA Scholar-Athlete awards. Also, the senior captain of each team, Simon Andersson and Maxime Duijst, earned the ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award.

From 2015 through 2017, UDC went a combined 9-5 vs. ECC competition and earned two more consecutive trips to the ECC Tournament Semifinals. In Fall 2015, sophomore Dominika Hadnadova earned First Team All-ECC, and junior Alena Skobkina earned Second Team All-ECC. Both repeated as all-conference selections on the Second Team in Fall 2016, and Hadnadova once again on the Second Team in Fall 2017. 

At the conclusion of the 2015-16 academic year, both the men's and women's tennis teams earned the ECC Academic Team of Excellence award as the women's team had a combined grade point average of 3.586 and the men a 3.534. Then, at the end of the 2016-17 year, both teams were named ITA All-Academic Teams and they combined for eight individual Scholar-Athlete awards.

Prior to his appointment in 2009 as UDC's head coach, Coach Mahaffey served as assistant tennis coach for Georgetown University’s men’s and women’s tennis teams from 2006 - 2009. In addition, Coach Mahaffey‘s tennis experience includes serving as assistant head tennis pro for the Edgemoor Club from 2007 - present, assistant director and senior instructor for the Georgetown University Tennis Camp from 2005-2007, and director of tennis for the One-on-One Basketball In Training – Dual Sports Camps from 2007 - 2008.

Coach Mahaffey’s other experiences include having served as director of operations for Leeward Islands Lottery Holding Company (CLS-U.S. Virgin Islands), senior consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and government relations consultant for the firms of Washington & Christian and Washington Strategic Consulting Group, Inc.

Coach Mahaffey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelors of Arts Degree in International Relations.