Azusa Pacific University Athletics

The most successful coach in the history of Azusa Pacific tennis, the 2024-25 school year for Mark Bohren is his 29th year at the helm of the Cougar men's program and his tenth as the Director of Tennis operations. He is the dean both of Azusa Pacific head coaches and PacWest men’s and women’s tennis coaches.

Bohren had an instrumental role in establishing the program, and prior to 2015 had been the only head coach in the history of the Azusa Pacific women's program. He has posted a 588-159 (.786) mark on the men's side, while the Cougar women have gone 437-190 (.697) under his tutelage. On March 9, 2024, Bohren earned his historic 1000^th career victory between men’s and women’s tennis when the Cougars’ men’s tennis team defeated Hawai`i Pacific 6-1. His son Brody Bohren completed the milestone win with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) win over Mile Matic.

Men's Tennis Coaching Experience

A three-time national champion, Bohren guided Azusa Pacific to the 2013 & 2014 National Christian College Athletics Association titles, closing out the program's first year of NCAA Division II play with an 27-2 record in 2013, and then leading the team back to the title with a 24-6 record in 2014. Azusa Pacific recorded the program's first undefeated regular season in 2013, heading into the PacWest tournament with a perfect 21-0 record before key injuries ended the team's unblemished season in the second round of the tournament. In 2024, the Cougars repeated that achievement, taking a 23-0 record into the NCAA National Championships. In the first year as a full member of the NCAA in 2015, Bohren led the Cougars to the last 16 of the national tournament, where the team dropped a tight match to eventual champion Barry. 

Bohren has led Azusa Pacific to the national postseason in all nine seasons (2015-25) in which the Cougars have competed as a full NCAA-member. In those nine postseason appearances, the Cougars have reached the national quarterfinals twice, and advanced to the national semifinals in 2018. During the past nine seasons, Azusa Pacific has won four PacWest conference titles, winning in 2018 and then taking three in a row in 2022-24.

Since joining the PacWest Conference in 2013, Bohren has produced nine PacWest Players of the Year, two Newcomers of the Year, and five Freshmen of the Year in 12 seasons. Bohren has been named the PacWest Coach of the Year four times (2019, 2021, 2024, 2025).

Under Bohren's leadership the Cougars have collected a plethora of Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II accolades: one senior player of the year in 2016, two national rookie of the years and one regional rookie of the years (Oliver Frank - 2017 & Sam Sippel - 2020), six fall ITA Singles Champions in 2013-20, two of his doubles team won the fall ITA Doubles Champion, and eight CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.

When Azusa Pacific was a member of the NAIA, Bohren lifted Azusa Pacific's men's tennis program to the most successful run in program history, taking the Cougars to an NAIA-record five straight national championship matches. In 2007 his squad posted a 27-4 record, the fifth straight season of 25 wins or more and the 11th in a string of 16 consecutive winning campaigns for the Cougars.

The 2003 Cougars became the first squad in program history to record more than 20 victories, posting a 25-7 mark en route to Azusa Pacific's first-ever national title match. The Cougars were even better in 2004, recording a school-record 31 wins in just 33 matches, resulting in a second straight NAIA title match. It all came together in 2005 for Azusa Pacific, which knocked off Santa Fe (N.M.), 5-3, for the program's first national championship. In 2006, Bohren led his team into a fourth straight championship match with a 26-1 record, although the Cougars had to settle for a runner-up finish after suffering just its second defeat of the campaign to Auburn Montgomery.

The Cougars won nine GSAC championships on the strength of a record 52-match conference winning streak after the 2007 season, and Azusa Pacific closed out its time in the GSAC with a total of 10 conference titles. Additionally, the Cougars made 16 straight appearances in the NAIA tournament and won eight NAIA Region II championships.

From 1997 through 2014, Bohren's players were awarded 32 NAIA All-American honors, including 4 2-time honorees, 1 3-time honoree and 3 4-time honorees. In addition to standout play on the court, four of Bohren's teams earned NAIA All-American Scholar Team recognition for its academic success.

For his work during the NAIA era, Bohren received numerous accolades. He is a 2-time recipient of the prestigious NAIA Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year award (2004 and 2006), in addition to being named the 2005 NAIA Coach of the Year.

Over the entirety of his coaching career at Azusa Pacific, Bohren has developed several outstanding players. Under his tutelage, Jan Meyer reached the No. 1 ranking in the nation in 2015, and maintained it for the remainder of the season in the Cougars' first year as full NCAA Division II members. Oliver Frank became the first player in program history to go undefeated in singles for the entirety of the season, as he went 24-0 at No. 1 in 2017 and was the PacWest Player of the Year and a two-time NCAA All-American. Jakob Schnaitter spent three seasons at Azusa Pacific, where he was a two-time PacWest Player of the Year and an NCAA All-American. Elias Emilio Walter earned two PacWest Player of the Year awards and was the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 PacWest Championships. In 2004, Sam Fletcher was named the Ward-Ballinger Outstanding Player of the NAIA Tournament, which acknowledges the top player in the NAIA, and he has also mentored 2 ITA/NAIA Rookie of the Year honorees and 2006 ITA/NAIA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award winner Tom Jelsma.

His former players have also gone on to have successful professional careers on the ATP. Boris Bakalov reached a career-high world ranking of 457 in doubles and 621 in singles. He earned $24,911 in prize money in 13 seasons before retiring in 2018. He defeated current world No. 1 and two-time grand slam champion Marcelo Arevalo in doubles in Morelia, Mexico, in 2015, 6-1, 7-6(3).

Jakob Schnaitter, who is currently at a career-high ranking of No. 59 in the world for doubles, is the most successful professional player from Azusa Pacific. He has 11 tour-level victories and has collected $169,846 in career prize money so far. In Hamburg in 2024, Schnaitter and his partner Mark Wallner defeated Rohan Bopanna, who broke the record as the oldest ever first-time world No. 1 earlier that season. Then in 2025, he became the first PacWest tennis player to win a grand slam match, taking his first-round match at the Australian Open 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-6). He also finished runner-up at ATP250 Bucharest in April 2025.

Women's Tennis Coaching Experience

After helping get Azusa Pacific's women's tennis program started in 1998, Bohren has guided the Cougars to 15 NAIA Tournament appearances, five NCAA Tournament appearances, two PacWest titles (2021 & 2022), one GSAC championship (2000), two PacWest runner-up finishes and eight GSAC runner-up finishes.

The Cougars reached the NCAA postseason for the fourth time in 2023, after the team went 19-4 over the regular season and finished as the PacWest runner-up. Azusa Pacific captured its first PacWest title in 2021, and the Cougars went back-to-back with a defeat of top-seed Hawai’i Pacific in the 2022 PacWest championship match. Bohren’s 2022 squad went on to reach the national quarterfinals.

Azusa defeated top-seed UC San Diego on the road and advanced to the quarterfinals at Nationals, before losing to Barry, the eventual national champions in 2019.
Under his leadership, the Cougars have won two PacWest Player of the Year awards, one Freshman of the Year, and three Newcomer of the Year awards. Bohren has also been named the PacWest Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2024-25.

In 2013 the Cougars made a run to the National Christian College Athletics Association semifinals, and in the program's initial NCAA Division II season, the Cougars were ranked in the top-25 all year. In 2014, the team went one step farther, reaching the NCCAA championship match and finishing the season with a 22-8 mark.

In 2000, Bohren led the Cougars to the GSAC title with a perfect 10-0 conference mark in just their third year as a program, as well as the program's first of 8 consecutive NAIA Tournament appearances. In 2004, Azusa Pacific notched a program-record 21 wins and posted its best national showing ever with an NAIA title match appearance. The Cougars again registered 21 wins in each of the next 2 seasons and advanced to the 2005 and 2006 NAIA semifinals, as well.

Bohren's teams featured 10 NAIA All-American selections, including 4-time NAIA All-American first team honoree Jennifer Dao. His roster has also featured at least 1 NAIA All-America Scholar Athlete recipient in each of the past 7 seasons, including 2005 ITA/NAIA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award winner Lynn Quitoriano. The Cougars were honored 3 times as an NAIA All-American Scholar Team (2003, 2005, 2007), and Bohren has had Azusa Pacific ranked in the NAIA's Top 20 in each of the past 9 seasons.

An avid instructor, Bohren spent six years working with Pam Austin, the older sister of Tracy Austin, at the Industry Hills Tennis Center as a teaching pro where he ran a successful junior development program working with the top-ranked regional and national players. He also earned his United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Pro One, which is the highest coaching credential the USTPA offers.

Bohren, who played four seasons for former Cougar head coach Jack Carter, graduated with honors from Azusa Pacific in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in marketing. He later earned a master's in education in 1999 from Azusa Pacific.

He and his wife, Joelle, live in San Antonio Heights, Calif., and have two boys, Leyton and Brody, who both played on the men’s tennis team at Azusa Pacific.

*PacWest Conference doesn't do regular season standings