2000 Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Tennis Coach of the Year
2001 Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Tennis Coach of the Year
2003 Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Tennis Coach of the Year 

Now in his 17th year at St. Bonaventure, Michael Bates has established himself as one of the top coaches in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

In the 2010-11 season, Bates coached the men's team to a 6th-place finish at the A-10 Championships. Senior Chris Post was named to the A-10 First Team, while classmates Enric Larregola and Mikhail Sudakov were named to the Second Team in voting conducted by the league's head coaches. Larregola also earned a spot on the Academic All-Conference Team, one year removed from being named the A-10 Student Athlete of the Year. The trio of award winners marks the fourth consecutive season that Bates has landed at least three players on A-10 All-Conference teams, and 11 straight years that at least one Bonnie has received postseason honors.

On the women's side in 2010-11, the team won three of its last four matches in the regular season before losing in the consolation bracket of the A-10 Championships. The women were rewarded for their performance in the classroom as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) named it to the list of Division I All-Academic Teams for the 2010-11 school year. The club finished the season with a collective GPA of 3.3, which ranked as the fourth-best team GPA of any club at St. Bonaventure during the academic year.

Bates has coached numerous All-Conference players at St. Bonaventure, including 2006 graduate Alejandro Nery. The Venezuala native was a three-time All-Conference performer and served as an assistant coach for Bates upon his graduation.

That same year under the guidance of Bates, freshman Diego Valdenegro turned in a strong rookie performance, being selected to the All-Conference Second Team as a rookie.

Bates has led the men's tennis program to new heights, earning Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Coach of the Year honors in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Since 2001, he has led the men to two A-10 titles, two NCAA Tournament appearances and a run at one point of six straight years among the A-10's top three teams.

Bates is also a leader in college tennis, appointed as a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Committee beginning in September 2001.

Bates was the assistant men's and women's coach at the University of Pennsylvania for two years before coming to St. Bonaventure. At Penn, he helped guide the men to a national ranking and the women to a second-place finish in the Ivy League.

He began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, Slippery Rock University, for two years. Bates taught professionally in Boston for four years before joining the staff at Penn.

Bates was a four-year letterwinner at Slippery Rock and was captain as a senior in 1987. He holds the fourth-best all-time record at the school and helped lead The Rock to a school-record 12 straight team wins.

Bates and his wife, Kris, reside in Olean. They have three children: son Thomas, and two daughters: Anna, and Karolyn.