2023-24 marks Doug Chapman's 46th year as a head tennis coach (high school and college). Coach Chapman is a three-time National High School Coach of the Year recipient, being honored by the National Federation of High School Associations, the Professional Tennis Registry and the Tennis Industry Association. In 2019, he was named one of Racket Sports Industry magazine's "Champions of Tennis."
Coach Chapman is a member of the NCAA Division III women's tennis national committee and is chair of Region 1 (New England). He is also a member of the USTA National Schools Committee. In 2022, the tennis courts at Somerset Berkley Regional High School were dedicated and named the Douglas C. Chapman Tennis Courts.
Chapman has led the Corsairs since the 2013 season, owning an 85-56 overall mark during that time. UMass Dartmouth, which owns five Little East Conference Championship titles, earned the most recent one under Chapman in 2015. That squad became the first No. 4 seed to ever win the title as they came-from-behind with wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds on the road in consecutive matches to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The 2022 fall season saw the Corsairs post a 12-6 dual meet record, tying the 2010 team (12-2) for the second-most wins in program history. The squad advanced to the LEC Tournament once again, defeating Plymouth State in the opening round, before falling to UMass Boston in the Semifinals.
In the spring of 2013, he led the Corsairs to a first-place overall finish at the Hard Court Triples Tournament hosted by Salve Regina. In his first full season, he guided the Corsairs to a 10-4 record, third place finish in the Little East Conference regular season and a semifinal berth in the LEC tournament. UMassD also finished tied for second place in the College Grass Court Doubles Championships at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, finishing behind Division IHoly Cross in the 8-team event.The Corsairs returned to the LEC tournament semifinals in 2014, despite playing the season without a player that had played a college singles match and only one player that owned career wins in doubles. The freshmen-laden UMassD squad finished strong down-the-stretch, and upset Salem State, a team that they had previously lost to, in the quarterfinals.
He was the high school coach for Jane Sullivan ’87, former New England and 3-time Mass. state college champion and the first women’s tennis player inducted into the Corsairs Hall of Fame.
He recorded his 100thvictory as a college head coach with a 9-0 victory over Lesley University in the 2022 season opener. He has amassed 111 wins overall as a college coach.
Coach Chapman received the USTA's Starfish Award that goes to the New England High School Tennis Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2015. He was one of 12 coaches nationally named to the USTA High School Coaches All-Star Team in 2015 and 2017. He was also the NFHS Northeast Regional and state High School Coach of the Year in 2020. He has compiled 624career victories while coaching the Somerset Berkley Blue Raiders boys' team for the past 44 seasons, and 735overall victories. The total ranks as the highest for any high school tennis coach in Massachusetts scholastic history. His teams have qualified for the state team playoffs 38times and won 10 league championships.He was inducted into the Somerset Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011, and his 1983, 1984 and 1989 teams have also been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. His 2015 team received the MIAA state sportsmanship award for boys tennis, and he was the MIAA Coach of the Year in 2020.
Coach Chapman also led Roger Williams University's women's tennis team to the 2002 Commonwealth Coast Conference championship, winning the conference regular season title and the tournament championship for the first time in school history as his team went 18-1. It remains the best season in RWU athletic history. He was inducted with that team into the RWU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. He also coached at Bridgewater State in 1984, leading the women's and men's/coed teams to a combined 7-5 mark.
He is the President &CEO of USTA Rhode Island and a member of the USTA New England Board of Directors. He is a certified tennis professional by the PTR (Professional Tennis Registry) and has been a USTA national coaches' trainer. He is also an USTA and ITA certified official and referee, and serves on the USTA Officials Committee.
A graduate of Somerset High School and Boston University, Chapman was a reporter, columnist and sports editor of theSpectatorin Somerset from 1973 to 1981, and served as an award-winning columnist, reporter and as the Massachusetts Sports Editor for theProvidence Journalfrom 1982 until 2001. He won a Rhode Island Sportswriter of the Year Award from the National Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association, was National Soccer Writer of the Year and three times runner up. Chapman also has served as a soccer columnist for MLS.net.com and handled color commentary on radio and television broadcasts for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer, including calling the first television broadcast in the history of Gillette Stadium in 2002. He was inducted into the New England Soccer Hall of Fame in 1995.
Chapman played on Somerset’s first varsity tennis teams, where he was a captain and all-star. While still a student at BU, he switched from playing to coaching, being named head coach at the age of 19. He played in the ATP’s Tennis Hall of Fame Championships in 1988, as well as tournaments in England, Mexico and the Bahamas.
