Coach Michael Bates has established St. Bonaventure as one of the top tennis programs in the Atlantic 10 and as one of the premier programs in the Northeast Region.  He has also shown great recruiting prowess - signing players from the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Bolivia, Finland, South Africa and India.

Bates enters his tenth  year as Head coach of the Bonnies.  In his ten year tenure, the Bonnies have climbed from 11th in the Atlantic 10 all the way to two Atlantic 10 titles in 2001 (the tennis team's first) and 2003.  Both Championship teams received NCAA berths.

In the past five  years, Bates' teams have not finished less than third and have won two titles.  Bates has also coached two A-10 Most Outstanding Performers (Vili Nurmi '03, Mario Arce '05) and three A-10 Most Outstanding Rookies (Nurmi, Arce and J.P. Gingras)

Before arriving at St. Bonaventure, Bates was the assistant men's and women's coach at the University of Pennsylvania.  He helped the men to a national ranking and the women to a second-place Ivy-league finish. 

Bates is also a member of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Tennis Committee and has served on the ITA Northeast Regional ranking committee.

Bates and his wife, Kris, were married in the summer of 2001.