Ryan Sachire 2023-24 Men's Tennis Staff

Notre Dame Highlights (Head Coach, 2013-present; Assistant/Associate Head Coach, 2006-13)

• 12 NCAA Championship Appearances
• 5 NCAA Singles Championship Appearances (4 Different Players, as of 2023)
• 4 NCAA Doubles Championship Appearances (6 Different Players, as of 2021)
• 2013 ACC Championship Semifinalists
• 6 All-ACC Honors (4 Different Players, as of 2016)
• 3-Time BIG EAST Champions (2007, 2008, 2013)
• 2-Time BIG EAST Runners-Up (2010, 2011)
• 16 All-BIG EAST Selections (9 Different Players, as of 2016)
• 4 All-America Awards (3 Different Players, as of 2016)
• 3 ITA Midwest Regional Doubles Champions (2006, 2013, 2015)
• 2 National ITA Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship & Leadership Award Winners (Greg Andrews 2014; Quentin Monaghan 2016)
• 3 Byron V. Kanaley Award Winners
• 2 Francis Patrick O’Connor Award Winners

One of the top players in the history of the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis program, Ryan Sachire became the seventh head coach in the 91-year history of the program July 1, 2013, after serving two seasons as an assistant coach and five as the associate head coach upon returning home to the Golden Dome in the summer of 2006.

In 2015, the men’s tennis program received a $3 million pledge from John and Kim Callaghan to endow the head coaching position, now known as the Callaghan Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach.

As Irish head coach, Sachire has overseen the development of a pair of ITA All-Americans, tutoring Quentin Monaghan (’16) in singles (2015) and doubles (2016) and Alex Lawson in doubles (2016). Monaghan became the sixth multi-time All-American in program history, while the back-to-back All-American season marked the first time since 2006-07 that the Irish had All-Americans in consecutive years.

Monaghan’s 2015 season was an historic one in program lore, as he finished with a No. 7 ranking in the final Oracle/ITA singles rankings (third-highest in program history), earned a top 16 seed into the NCAA Singles Championships and advances to the national singles semifinals. In advancing to the final four, Monaghan became the first Irish player to do so since the team and individual tournaments became separate in 1977, and just the third to do so at all. 

During his first season leading the Irish in 2014, Sachire guided his team to a final ITA ranking of 13th, the second-highest finish for the program in the past two decades. Following an upset of No. 8 Kentucky during the ITA Kickoff Weekend in January, Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 of the ITA National Indoor Championships for the first time since 2008. Sachire also coached the Irish to a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Championships. Senior Greg Andrews shone individually, earning bids to the NCAA Singles Championship and to the NCAA Doubles Championship with sophomore Alex Lawson.

Sachire has also proven to develop exceptional leaders, enough to garner national recognition. In 2014, Greg Andrews became the first Notre Dame winner of the ITA National Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship & Leadership Award winner since Mike Sprouse in 1995. Two years later in 2016, Quentin Monaghan also earned the honor.

The 2020 season was shortened due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, but Sachire maintained his team’s excellence in the classroom with six ITA Scholar-Athlete awards and his team’s ninth ITA All-Academic Team honor.

Sachire guided duo Axel Nefve and Tristan McCormick to an NCAA doubles berth in 2021, while Nefve competed in the singles competition.

2023 saw Sachire tutor the youngest All-American in program history as freshman Sebastian Dominko finished the season as one of the top players in the country. The freshman finished his first collegiate career with a 19-7 record, was a second team All-ACC selection in singles action while also earning third team All-ACC honors with partner Connor Fu. Dominko was the 16th seed in the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championship Tournament, advancing to the round of 32 and becoming the first player in Notre Dame program history to become an All-American as a freshman.

BAYLOR & PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Baylor Highlights (2005-06)

• 2006 NCAA Semifinalists
• 2006 Big 12 Conference Champions
• All-American Lars Poerschke

Sachire ended his professional career in 2005 and was an assistant at Baylor in 2005-06, helping the Bears reach the semifinals of the NCAA Championship and finish the season with a No. 4 final ranking. Baylor won its fifth straight Big 12 Conference title in 2006, and Sachire helped several individuals to strong performances, including sophomore Lars Poerschke, who ascended to the national No. 1 ranking in January 2006 and went on to be an All-American.

Professional Highlights

• 16 Doubles Tournament Titles
• 2 Singles Tournament Titles

Upon leaving Notre Dame, Sachire played five years of professional tennis, climbing to as high as 184th in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) world doubles rankings and 391st in singles before retiring in 2005. He captured 16 tournament titles in doubles, 14 on the futures circuit, as well as challenger-level championships at Waco in 2002 and Atlantic City in 2003. In singles, Sachire has a pair of pro titles to his credit, winning futures events in St. Joseph, Missouri, (2002) and Lachine, Quebec (2003). He was among the top 35 American players in the ATP rankings in both singles and doubles and also served as director of tennis for the Wickertree Tennis and Fitness Center in Columbus, Ohio, before joining the Baylor staff.

COLLEGIATE CAREER & PERSONAL LIFE

Notre Dame Playing Career Highlights (1997-2000)

• 3-Time All-American (Singles 1998, 1999, 2000)
• 4 NCAA Singles Championship Appearances
• Career High No. 2 Ranking
• 2000 Ted A. Farnsworth/ITA National Senior Player of the Year Award Winner
• 2000 John Van Nostrand Memorial Award Winner
• 1998 ITA All-American Singles Championship Runner-Up
• 1999 ITA National Clay Court Championship Semifinalist
• 1999 BIG EAST Conference Championship
• 2-Time BIG EAST Tournament Most Valuable Player
• 2-Time ITA Midwest Region Player Of The Year (1998, 2000)
• 1997 ITA Midwest Region Freshman Of The Year
• 4-Time Notre Dame Team Most Valuable Player

Sachire remains one of the top players in Irish tennis history. He is the only Notre Dame player ever to win 30-plus singles matches in all four of his collegiate seasons and one of only two to earn four invitations to the NCAA Singles Championship. One of three Notre Dame players ever to be a three-time All-American, he finished in the national top 40 in singles four times and on five occasions appeared at a career-high of No. 2 in the ITA national singles rankings (four of those instances saw him behind only Harvard’s James Blake). Sachire posted a 138-43 record in singles – placing him second on Notre Dame’s all-time wins list – and a 73-32 mark in doubles.

An elite singles player throughout his career – he was 72-19 at No. 1 singles – Sachire was a regular in the collegiate grand slams. His best result was a trip to the title match of the 1998 ITA All-American Championships, where he lost to Blake. He also won the consolation title in the 1999 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships and reached the semifinals of the 1999 ITA National Clay Court Championships. He also reached the semifinals of the ITA Midwest Championships three times, including a runner-up result in 1996. Sachire three times was invited to be on the elite USTA Summer Collegiate Team that trains and plays in pro tournaments throughout the summer.

Sachire ranks among the top five in 13 different categories in the Irish record book. Among his notable career rankings are second in combined singles and doubles victories (211) and combined singles and doubles dual-match victories (141), third in wins at No. 1 singles and doubles dual-match victories (64), as well as fifth in singles dual-match wins (77).

He helped the Irish compile a 67-33 (.670) mark during his collegiate days, as well as four consecutive finishes in the national top 35 (including 16th in 1997), four NCAA tournament bids and the 1999 BIG EAST Conference championship. Sachire was twice tabbed the conference tournament MVP and was the ITA Midwest Region Player of the Year in 1998 and 2000 after being the region’s top rookie in 1997. He was voted the team’s MVP four times. A two-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star, Sachire graduated in 2000 with a degree in economics.

Sachire is a native of Canfield, Ohio, and a 1996 graduate of Canfield High School. He dropped just five singles matches during his entire prep career en route to capturing a pair of Ohio state singles titles. He also was ranked as high as 24th in the USTA national singles rankings in the 16-and-under division.

Sachire married the former Cindy Harding — a 1999 Notre Dame graduate and former Irish cheerleader — on June 30, 2006, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Notre Dame campus. Ryan and Cindy have two daughters, Anna and Emily.