Justin Stuckey has amassed a career record of 445-262 with 10 conference championships and coached teams ranked as high as third in the nation while coaching at various levels. He has also coached 13 All-Americans 6 player of the year winners and 67 All-Conference team award winners. Stuckey is one of few coaches in collegiate tennis to have over 100 wins at three different levels: NCAA Divisions I and III, and NAIA. At one point the youngest head coach in the country at 21 years old, Stuckey has built a reputation of program builder by having each team he has coached become a regional and or nationally ranked team during his tenure for both men and women.
During Stuckey’s first two years at Drake the men have set a school record for consecutive win’s in a season at 14 and earned an ITA regional ranking of No. 8 in the Central Region. The Bulldog men have also had a doubles team compete in the NCAA Conference Masters Championship and a singles player ranked in the top 12 in the region.
Stuckey came to Drake after five seasons as the head men's and women's tennis coach at Saint Louis University. The Saint Louis programs When Stuckey took over, the SLU program were consistently in the middle of their conference pack. Stuckey led the Billiken men and women to unprecedented results including simultaneous Atlantic 10 Conference tournament semifinal runs and coached six All-Atlantic 10 players including the 2023 A-10 Women's Player of the Year. He also guided the SLU men's team to its first-ever regional ranking at No. 7 and first-ever national tournament berth in the NIT Championship presented by UTR Sports. On the recruiting trail, he brought in the 23rd ranked class for mid-major programs in 2023. He also led the Billiken women to a school record for consecutive wins in a single season.
Prior to SLU, Stuckey led the William Woods University men’s and women’s teams, a program that had only been formed for 1 year prior to his arrival, to a conference championship and berth into the NAIA national tournament in each of Stuckey’s three seasons at the helm. The men’s team posted a three-year record of 53-16 and reached the 2017 and 2018 NAIA quarterfinals. The women’s squad went 48-24 and advanced to the national semifinals and quarterfinals in 2017 and 2018, respectively, in addition to earning ITA All-Academic recognition twice. Additionally, both William Woods teams achieved top-10 national rankings in all three years. The men’s program also set a school record for wins in a season at 22 in the 2019 season. The women’s program ranked Nationally as high as No. 3, while the men’s program peaked at No. 4.
Stuckey coached three singles players and three doubles teams to ITA Central Regional championships. Three William Woods men’s players reached the top four of the national rankings during his tenure and, in one season, the team’s top six singles players were simultaneously ranked among the nation’s top 50. In each of his three seasons, the Owls consistently placed three doubles teams among the top 25 in the national rankings.
The William Woods women’s team led the nation at one point by having a then-record seven singles players simultaneously ranked among the nation’s top 50; five of those players reached the top 20. All three of the Owls’ doubles teams earned top-25 national rankings in each of Stuckey’s three seasons.
Stuckey’s two seasons at McPherson (Kan.) College included a pair of conference titles and national tournament berths for both the men’s and women’s teams as well as men’s ITA Central Region Coach of the Year plaudits both years. Both squads achieved program-best national rankings (No. 10 for the men, No. 14 for the women). Stuckey guided the women’s team to a 20-0 conference record in his two years at the controls, and the men’s team conference record to 18-2 with its first win over a nationally ranked NCAA Division II team.
McPherson produced a regional singles champion and doubles champion both years, two Bulldogs’ men’s players achieved top-four national singles rankings, and two of Stuckey’s doubles teams reached the top four of the national rankings, with one pairing advancing to the ITA Small College Championship semifinals.
Stuckey’s first head-coaching position was at Wittenberg (Ohio) University, where he served six seasons turning around two programs who the year before were picked to be 9th. The Tigers turned in records of 85-53 and 70-55 in men’s and women’s competition, respectively, and both teams were regionally ranked and made conference championship semifinal runs. Stuckey coached Wittenberg student-athletes to 23 All-Conference awards and brought in TennisRecruiting.net nationally ranked recruiting classes in 2010 and 2014.
Stuckey’s first venture into collegiate coaching was as a graduate assistant at Wright State during the 2007-08 school year. He earned a master’s degree in education from the Dayton, Ohio, university.
During his junior, collegiate and professional careers, Stuckey was coached and mentored by James Cuthbertson, Tony Pack, Rachel Fair, Matt Dektas and Garnett Purnell. As a junior player, Stuckey attained the American Tennis Association’s No. 1 ranking in the 16-and-under age group.
Stuckey is a 2007 graduate of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, earning a bachelor’s degree in sports management. A four-time first-team All-Conference honoree, he played No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, won two conference doubles championships and claimed a league singles title. The two-time team Most Valuable Player and three-year captain helped lead the Golden Bulls to four straight Western Division conference championships as well as a berth in the 2004 NCAA Division II Championship.
Stuckey has been involved with the ITA as chair of regional ranking committee’s, national ranking chair as well as national chair for awards committees during his career. He is certified by the Professional Tennis Registry. Stuckey is a Cincinnati Ohio native where he attended Moeller High School. He comes from a tennis playing family in which he and his brothers all played tennis on scholarship.
