The Ave Maria University athletic department announced the return of Barrett Elkins to his role of head tennis coach at AMU in May of 2023, and Elkins is in his second season at the head of the tennis program. He also serves as the head of Ave Maria's varsity pickleball program. Elkins was the inaugural tennis coach at Ave Maria, guiding the program during its first three seasons. Before returning to AMU, he served as the head coach at Division I Mt. St. Mary's in Maryland. On campus, Elkins is AMU's Director of Game Day Operations.
Elkins was the founding coach of the Ave Maria tennis program, leading the program during its infancy. He increased his win total each year while playing in one of the top NAIA conferences in the nation, and his teams showed continuous academic improvement as measured by the team's grade point average. During his time in southwest Florida, he was responsible for coaching five players who were named NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athletes.
After departing Ave Maria in 2013, Elkins spent more than a decade as a head coach around the nation. He spent four seasons at Young Harris College, an NCAA Division II program, a tenure that included a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2015. He then spent one season at Metropolitan State University in Colorado, where he guided the teams to conference championships in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and was named RMAC Coach of the Year.
In August 2018, he was hired as the head men's and women's tennis coach at Mount St. Mary's, an NCAA Division I program in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. He has coached the men's and women's teams at The Mount since then, including this most recent spring season.
As a player, Elkins competed at the state, sectional and national level. He was the Georgia State Runner-Up in 2000, before claiming the Championship title the following year. Elkins also won the Georgia State Closed Junior Championships and was crowned the USTA Georgia Doubles Champion in 2009.Â
Elkins graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and sacred theology from Southern Catholic College in Dawsonville, Georgia, and earned a Masters in Sports Management from Mount St. Mary's University.
