University of Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley announced Bryan Shelton as the men’s tennis head coach on June 8, 2012. Shelton came to Gainesville after 13 seasons as the head coach of the Georgia Tech women’s program, where he led the Yellow Jackets to a national title in 2007, and a successful professional playing career that included reaching No. 55 in the ATP singles rankings and No. 52 in the ATP doubles rankings.
In 2021, Shelton led a program that won its first national championship in school history with a 4-1 win over Baylor at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. In addition to the NCAA title, Shelton's 2021 squad won the SEC title and junior Sam Riffice was crowned as the NCAA Singles Champion. Shelton was named the SEC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career while also picking up ITA Southeast Regional Coach of the Year accolades as his team's 26 wins were the second-most in school history and the best mark under Shelton.
Shelton became the first head coach in NCAA Division I college tennis history to win a women's national title (2007 at Georgia Tech) and a men's national championship. He is the 24th coach across all NCAA sports to lead two different programs to a national team title. Of those 24, Shelton is the fifth to coach a national championship team in a men's and women's sport.
Florida's Bryan Shelton was named the SEC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career after guiding the Gators to an SEC regular-season title with an undefeated 12-0 record in conference play and a 20-2 overall record. UF put together seven 7-0 sweeps and defeated 12 top-25 teams throughout the year. Shelton's crew had a 17-match winning streak prior to falling in the SEC Tournament Championship. During that win streak, Florida defeated six top-15 teams. The Gators were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, ultimately winning it all!
A letter from Florida Athletics Director, Scott Stricklin
Dear Bryan,
Congratulations on being named the 2021 Wilson ITA Coach of the Year. We are very proud of the success that you and your program have seen over the past year, and this award is the final piece to a tremendous 2020-21 campaign.
The way you have been able to build a championship program through high-character individuals and an expectation of excellence has been incredible to watch and all of us Gators enjoyed the incredible NCAA Tournament run in Orlando.
To win the Men's Tennis program's first national championship is a feat that will go down in history forever and I am thrilled that you were the man leading the charge.
Not only were you able to coach your team to both NCAA and SEC titles, but watching Sam Riffice win the NCAA Singles Championship was a reflection of the program you are continuing to build.
Congratulations on this award and all of the successes of the Men's Tennis program. We are all very proud of you and the team.
Go Gators!