Brooks Buffington enters his fifth season as head coach of the Jones men's and women’s tennis programs in 2021.
In his first four seasons, he's sported a collective 54-9 record (.857) with the Bobcat women and 41-24 record (.631) on the men's side. The teams combined to go an impressive 23-2 in a shortened 2020 season and were both nationally ranked.
Buffington is a two-time MACJC Women's Coach of the Year selection and was also named the 2018 NJCAA Region 23, Mississippi Assocation of Coaches, ITA Region III and USPTA Mssissippi Coach of the Year.
The women were 18-1 in 2019, ranked 17th nationally and boasted a 3.72 team GPA (3rd in nation) with a 100% graduation rate. Jones had three conference champions in singles play in Ariadna Jordan (No. 2), Danielle Viljoen (No. 3) and Judith Mills (No. 6). Viljoen and Mills also won No. 3 doubles.
The Bobcat men were 15-5 in 2019, ranked 20th nationally and boasted a 3.14 team GPA with a 100% graduation rate. Noel Monsalve was a conference champion in No. 2 singles and was named the ITA JUCO Region 3 Most Improved Sophomore Player of the Year.
In 2018, his second season, he led the Jones women to a 15-3 overall record, MACJC/Region 23 Tournament championship and a tie for 13th in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament – the highest finish ever for Jones tennis team in Division I. The Lady Bobcats had a 3.70 team GPA, second-highest in the MACJC and third highest in the nation to earn NJCAA Honorable Mention Academic Team of the Year honors.
The men finished 7-11 in the regular season, were ranked No. 21 in the final ITA regular season poll and was the MACJC Academic Team of the Year (3.15 GPA), which earned them NJCAA Honorable Mention Academic Team of the Year honors.
In Buffington's first season in 2017, he led the women to a 9-5 record, third place finish in the conference and 20th in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Tucson, Arizona. The men were 8-6 and finished 17th in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Plano, Texas.
Prior to Jones, Buffington was a tennis paraprofessional coach for six years at Northwest Rankin High School, spent four seasons at Hartfield Academy as head coach and was a three-year head tennis pro at Reservoir YMCA. He was also the head tennis pro at Castlewoods Country Club from 2007-2014.
Buffington played collegiately at Jones during the 2003-04 seasons and finished his career at Mississippi College. He's been playing in the USTA League since 2007 and his team won the 2013 USTA 4.5 Adult League National Championship. For the past five years, Buffington has been a USTA NTRP 5.0 Player.
He's been a USTA official since 2007 and an elite professional since 2008.
Off the court, Buffington is the NJCAA Women's Tennis Coaches Association secretary, an ITA JUCO operating committee member, ITA JUCO Women's Tennis Region 3 Rankings chairman, MACJC Tennis Coaches Association VP and USPTA Mississippi awards committee member.