After guiding Campbell’s men’s and women’s tennis teams over 20 years to the most coaching wins in the programs’ histories, David Johnson is in his fifth year with his full attention on the men’s program in 2022-23.
His Camel squads have reached the Big South Conference championship match six times in the last eight years. The 2018 team captured the Big South Conference title and made its first appearance in the NCAA regionals. Campbell won the 2022 Big South regular season title and finished as runner-up in the league tournament.
Now in his 25th season in charge of the Campbell men, Johnson guided his 2022 squad to a 16-6 overall record and its first unbeaten league regular season (7-0) since the 1993 team finished 6-0 in Big South play. The Camels won 12-straight matches – their longest win streak since re-joining the Big South in 2012 – a string that was snapped by seventh-ranked Wake Forest in the regular season finale.
Johnson has guided the Campbell men to a 293-207 (.586) overall record, including a 79-45 mark (.637) in Big South regular season play. Including a 264-168 (.611) record in 20 years as women’s head coach from 1999-2018, Johnson has guided his Campbell teams to a 557-375 (.597) combined mark.
In more than three decades as a collegiate head coach, Johnson has guided his teams to a 715-506 (.585) dual match record, including 36 years on the men’s side and 28 seasons with women’s programs.
Along the way, Johnson has been named conference coach of the year five times during his tenure in Buies Creek. Campbell players have received all-conference or all-freshman team honors 113 times. Johnson has recruited and mentored 10 of the top 14 men on Campbell’s all-time singles victories charts. Three of the top six most successful singles performers on the women’s side have come under his guidance.
Six times in the last 13 years, a Johnson recruit has earned conference freshman of the year recognition. Davy Sum was the Atlantic Sun freshman of the year in 2008, while Karolina Chernaya and Fernando Guillen gained the honor in 2011. Adrien Rossignon was selected as the Big South’s top freshman in 2012 and Lukas Schaefer gained the honor in 2015. Ana Castillo was named the Big South women’s freshman of the year in 2018.
Sum (2011 A-Sun) and Guillen (2013 Big South) went on to earn conference player of the year awards.
In addition, Johnson’s players have received conference academic honors 237 times.
Damien Nezar and Pol Otin were named first-team all-conference in singles during the 2022 campaign, while Benjamin Maes joined Nezar on the first-team doubles squad. Tomas Balazi was a second-team all-league singles performer and joined on the doubles second-team by playing partner Leon Petko. Noe Macquart was selected for the Big South All-Academic team.
Seven Camels – Balazi, Gustavs Lukstins, Macquard, Maes, Nezar, Petko and Ted Williams – were named to the Big South Presidential Honor Roll. All nine players played either singles or doubles in CU’s run to the ’22 conference title match.
Several of Johnson’s elite players have been further recognized by the Big South and Atlantic Sun conferences. Dustin Werner was named to the Big South 2010-19 All-Decade team. Jiri Beranek, Andreas Mardbrink and Florent Wilpotte were named to the ASUN 2001-10 All-Decade squad.
After two seasons (2019-20, 2020-21) shortened or ended by the Covid-19 pandemic, Johnson’s men’s returned to a full fall tournament schedule in 2021. Balazi and Petko finished 8-3 in doubles play to earn a No. 27 national ranking by the ITA following the fall campaign.
Matthew Beecher (singles and doubles) and Benjamin Niv (doubles) were named to the 2021 Big South all-conference teams, while Macquart was chosen for the Big South All-Academic team. Six Camels gained Big South Presidential Honor Roll honors in the 2020-21 academic year.
Eight of Campbell’s nine players on the 2019-20 roster earned Big South Conference Presidential Honor Roll status, while Ondrej Labik was chosen for the Big South All-Academic team.
Campbell shared the 2019 Big South regular season championship and again reached the final of the league tournament. Led by first-team all-conference singles and doubles performer Dustin Werner and a pair of second-team all-league honorees in Bastien Huon and Ondrej Labik, the Camels posted a16-6 dual match record and finished 7-1 in Big South regular season play.
In addition, eight of the nine members of the 2019 team earned Big South Presidential Honor Roll status. Werner was selected to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® first team by the College Sports Directors of America (CoSIDA), earned the Big South Conference’s highest academic honor – the George A. Christenberry Award – and was named Big South men’s tennis scholar-athlete of the year after graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
In 2018, CU reached the Big South title match for the fourth time in five seasons and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional after the second-seeded Camels defeated top seed Winthrop 4-3 at Rock Hill, S.C.
Not only did CU post a 17-6 overall dual match record, but Johnson’s men were selected by league head coaches for the 2018 Big South sportsmanship award. Dustin Werner earned first-team all-conference honors and was also selected the 2018 Big South men’s tennis scholar-athlete of the year.
In 2014, Campbell’s men reached their conference championship match for the first time in 10 years. CU returned to the Big South final in 2015 and again in 2017 before earning the league title in 2018.
The 2017 squad produced the second-highest win total (20-5) in program history before falling to Presbyterian in the Big South final. Lukas Schaefer and Dustin Werner earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors.
Johnson led his teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference during his first 13 seasons (1999-2011) before Campbell re-joined the Big South in the summer of 2011. His women’s teams won the 2001 Atlantic Sun tournament crown and secured the program’s first-ever berth in the NCAA tournament. Two years later, Campbell captured the A-Sun regular season title before finishing as runner-up in the A-Sun championship.
On the men’s side, Johnson guided Campbell to a berth in the 2004 A-Sun title match. He was named A-Sun Coach of the Year in 2004 and again in 2007.
The 2005 Campbell men finished 15th in the Southeast Region. In addition, senior Jiri Beranek earned the first-ever year-end individual national ranking in the program's history. Davy Sum became the second Camel to register a year-ending national rank in 2011.
Sum, who earned first-team all-conference honors four times, concluded his career in 2011 after setting the school record for singles wins (108-29), surpassing the previous mark by 22 triumphs.
With a 30-4 singles record in 2010-11, Sum tied the school record for singles wins in a year set by both Laszlo Vago and Dragan Lazarevic in 1990-91 and equaled by Andreas Mardbrink in 1999-00. Sum also produced 27 singles victories in 2008-09 and 29 more in 2009-10.
During the 1999 fall campaign, Mardbrink not only won the North Carolina State Wolfpack Fall Invitational, but became the first men's tennis player at Campbell to earn a national ranking.
Johnson’s Campbell women’s teams reached at least the league semifinal round 11 times in 20 seasons and won the Atlantic Sun title in 2001, while finishing as runner-up in 2003. The Campbell women collected winning records 16 times in 20 years under his guidance. Johnson was tabbed as the A-Sun women’s coach of the year in 2001. He earned the honor again in 2011 after leading the CU women to second-place finish in the regular-season standings.
Among Johnson’s recruits are Teodora Doncheva (92 wins from 1998-2002), Kerstin Stockinger (83 from 1999-03) and Alexia Erb (80 from ’98-02), who rank among the women’s program’s top six in career singles victories. Isabel Declercq produced 32 singles wins in 2000-01, second-most in a year in Camel women’s history.
Johnson guided the Camels to their first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference championship and a No. 72 national ranking in 2001. The Lady Camels finished the 2001 season with a 21-3 dual match record and their initial berth in the NCAA regional where they fell to Duke, which ended the season ranked third in the country.
Johnson joined the Fighting Camel staff in 1998 after spending six years as head coach at Mars Hill College. During his stint at Mars Hill, Johnson led the men's team to an 80-49 overall record while the women compiled a 53-52 won-lost mark. He was named South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in 1993, coached two SAC Players of the Year and two SAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year.
A 1981 graduate of Winthrop, Johnson began his collegiate coaching career as men's coach at USC Spartanburg (now USC Upstate) in 1984; then took over both the men's and women's programs at Western Carolina in 1989. Johnson was named Southern Conference Men's Tennis Coach of the Year in 1991.
During his college coaching career, Johnson has coached three players who have represented their countries in Davis Cup competition.
A native of Greenwood, S.C., Johnson has been involved in tennis at a variety of levels. He served as a teaching professional in Highlands, N.C., and in Tega Cay, S.C. He also coached on the high school level for several years in the Charlotte, N.C., area.
He and his wife Perrine, who served eight years as assistant coach at Campbell, were married in December 2003. They have one daughter, Charlotte.
Coach Johnson’s Record at Campbell University
| Men |
Won |
Lost |
Pct. |
Conference Finish |
| 1999 |
5 |
17 |
.227 |
10th / First Round |
| 2000 |
15 |
5 |
.750 |
4th / Quarterfinals |
| 2001 |
8 |
13 |
.381 |
6th / Quarterfinals |
| 2002 |
11 |
10 |
.524 |
6th / Quarterfinals |
| 2003 |
12 |
6 |
.667 |
6th / Quarterfinals |
| 2004 |
16 |
8 |
.667 |
2nd / Runner-Up |
| 2005 |
10 |
10 |
.500 |
4th / Quarterfinals |
| 2006 |
8 |
13 |
.381 |
T5th / Quarterfinals |
| 2007 |
13 |
10 |
.565 |
3rd / Quarterfinals |
| 2008 |
15 |
6 |
.714 |
3rd / Semifinals |
| 2009 |
12 |
9 |
.571 |
5th / Semifinals |
| 2010 |
16 |
9 |
.640 |
4th / Semifinals |
| 2011 |
17 |
5 |
.773 |
3rd / Semifinals |
| 2012 |
11 |
11 |
.500 |
4th / Semifinals |
| 2013 |
14 |
7 |
.667 |
2nd / Semifinals |
| 2014 |
13 |
9 |
.591 |
3rd / Runner-Up |
| 2015 |
14 |
10 |
.583 |
4th / Runner-Up |
| 2016 |
8 |
13 |
.381 |
7th / Quarterfinals |
| 2017 |
20 |
5 |
.800 |
T2nd / Runner-up |
| 2018 |
17 |
6 |
.739 |
2nd / Big South Tournament Champ; NCAA Regional |
| 2019 |
16 |
6 |
.727 |
T1st regular season / Runner-up |
| 2020 |
5 |
3 |
.625 |
N/A – COVID |
| 2021 |
1 |
10 |
.091 |
5th |
| 2022 |
16 |
6 |
.727 |
1st regular season/ Runner-up |
| Total |
293 |
207 |
.586 |
24 seasons |
|
|
|
|
|
| Women |
Won |
Lost |
Pct. |
Conference Finish |
| 1999 |
14 |
7 |
.667 |
5th / Quarterfinals |
| 2000 |
16 |
5 |
.762 |
2nd / Semifinals |
| 2001 |
21 |
3 |
.875 |
2nd / A-Sun Tournament Champ; NCAA Regional |
| 2002 |
16 |
7 |
.696 |
6th / Semifinals |
| 2003 |
13 |
5 |
.722 |
1st / A-Sun Tournament Runner-Up |
| 2004 |
11 |
9 |
.550 |
T5th / Quarterfinals |
| 2005 |
7 |
14 |
.333 |
T5th / Quarterfinals |
| 2006 |
14 |
8 |
.636 |
3rd / Semifinals |
| 2007 |
18 |
5 |
.783 |
4th / Quarterfinals |
| 2008 |
16 |
8 |
.667 |
4th / Semifinals |
| 2009 |
14 |
10 |
.583 |
4th / Semifinals |
| 2010 |
15 |
9 |
.625 |
4th / Semifinals |
| 2011 |
13 |
8 |
.619 |
2nd / Semifinals |
| 2012 |
11 |
8 |
.579 |
7th / Quarterfinals |
| 2013 |
9 |
13 |
.409 |
3rd / Semifinals |
| 2014 |
13 |
9 |
.591 |
4th / Quarterfinals |
| 2015 |
10 |
10 |
.500 |
5th / Quarterfinals |
| 2016 |
11 |
9 |
.550 |
4th / Quarterfinals |
| 2017 |
8 |
13 |
.381 |
6th / Quarterfinals |
| 2018 |
14 |
8 |
.636 |
3rd / Semifinals |
| Total |
264 |
168 |
.611 |
20 seasons |
|
|
|
|
|
| Coach Johnson's Totals at Campbell |
557 |
375 |
.597 |
(Men’s & Women’s – 24 seasons total) |
|
Note: Campbell re-joined the Big South Conference in the 2011-12 academic year
