Tennis Head Coach George Rodriguez accepted a position as Calvin University’s men’s and women’s tennis head coach per a release from Calvin Athletics Tuesday.
Rodriguez stepped into the role at GW in 2022 where throughout his tenure the squad went 21-38 (.351) overall, losing their last seven matches of 2025. While the team hovered around a win percentage of .500 in the conference his first two seasons, finishing 5-4 and 4-5 in conference play respectively, this past season the program dropped to 2-5 in conference matches and 6-12 overall.
Rodriguez said he is choosing to relocate to be closer to his family, and that he wouldn’t have left GW for anywhere else other than Calvin. In Calvin’s release he said Grand Rapids, where Calvin is located, feels like his “home,” as he spent many years in the area and his wife is from a nearby town.
An Athletics release said the program has launched a national search for a new tennis head coach. A GW athletics spokesperson declined to comment further on why Rodriguez decided to leave the program or when he made them aware of his intent to resign.
“I’ve always chased that next big opportunity and this time I wanted to circle around and be where our family is at,” Rodriguez said in an email. “Most people don’t go from D1 to D3 so I hope this represents how genuine the move was to be with family. It was the right time to head back.”
Calvin’s women’s team finished 14-6 this past season, good for fourth in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, while the men’s team finished 12-9 overall and third in the league. Calvin is a Christian University in Grand Rapids, Michigan that competes at the Division III level – the lowest division of the NCAA.
GW cut the men’s tennis program along with six other sports following the 2020-2021 season as a result of pandemic-induced economic concerns. The women’s team will be returning rising senior Victoria Sasinka next season, who was named to the Atlantic-10 All Conference Second Team last season, and adding three freshmen recruits.
“The team is positioned to do well this upcoming season,” Rodriguez said. “And I’ll be cheering for them from afar.
