Chris Landauer is currently in his seventh season as an Assistant Coach with the Denison University Men's Tennis program in 2025-26.
The 2024-25 season was one for the record books, as the program captured their first ever NCAA Division III National Championship after defeating Case Western Reserve 4-2 in Claremont, California. The Big Red breezed through the first three rounds hosted in Granville, and faced their first test in Johns Hopkins University, where they won in a thriller 4-3 to advance to the final. The team put up a powerful performance in the final four, defeating Tufts University 4-1 before defeating Case Western Reserve University for the third time this season to be crowned national champions. To go along with their championship, they set the new program record for wins in a season with 28, and won the regular season and conference titles, making it five consecutive conference titles in a row for the Big Red. In the ITA Central Regional Championships, Ethan Green would be crowned champion. At the ITA Cup, Green would be runner-up in the finals, and he and his partner Kael Shah would be runner-ups in doubles. Shah would also be the national runner-up in singles. The team boasted five All-NCAC recipients in singles, and three doubles were named all-conference as well. Green was named Player of the Year, and his partner Shah would be honored their second-consecutive Doubles Team of the Year honor. Three players were named ITA All-Americans in Green, Shah, and Jacob Patterson, and eight were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
In 2023-24, Denison had another historic season, winning both the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular-season and tournament championships, marking the fourth consecutive conference championship season for the Big Red. The program went on to advance to its first-ever Elite 8 NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Landauer was named part of the 2024 NCAC Coaching Staff of the Year.
In 2022-23, Landauer helped lead the Big Red to a 26-4 season, setting a new program record for wins in a single season for the second year in a row, and earning a second consecutive Sweet 16 appearance at the NCAA Tournament. In 2021-22, Landauer helped guide Denison to a 23-4 record, and just the second NCAA Tournament win in program history, and their first since 1997. During the 2020-21 season, Landauer helped lead the Big Red to their first NCAC Championship since 2006 and a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in fifteen years. At the conclusion of that season, Landauer was named the ITA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year. During his time with Denison, Landauer has also helped coach multiple ITA All-Americans, and other individual award recipients.
The son of a tennis coach, Landauer has been involved with the sport his entire life. He is an RSPA certified Elite Professional with a range of instructional experiences. In addition to coaching at Denison, as well as giving lessons in the community, Landauer previously coached at Kass Tennis Academy in Columbus, Ohio, working with a small group of high-performance junior players, as well as two ATP players and a WTA player. Beyond his teaching experiences on the court, Landauer has also taught in the classroom, working as a high school teacher in Columbus for ten years before going on to earn a Ph.D. in Education from The Ohio State University, where his focus was in the area of Multicultural and Equity Studies. After earning his doctorate, Landauer worked as a Lecturer in the College of Education at Ohio State before transitioning into coaching tennis full-time.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Landauer attended the University of Arizona for his undergraduate degree. During that time, he earned a spot as a walk-on wide receiver for the Arizona Wildcats football team, where in 2003 he was recognized with scout-team player of the year honors for his work on the practice squad. Landauer lives in Columbus with his wife Liliana and their two sons, Pierce and Paolo.
