North Central College tennis players returning for the 2026-27 season will have the same coach who led both programs to conference championship finals this spring.
Senior Director of Athletics Jim Miller announced Monday, June 16, that Joey Leto has been promoted from interim to permanent head coach of both the men's and women's tennis programs at the Naperville college.
Leto took over both programs in January 2026 after predecessor Nathaniel Boatwright departed. In less than six months, the men's team posted a 15-8 record, went 6-0 at home, and ran 7-0 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular-season play to claim the conference banner outright.
The women's team, which won the CCIW regular season in fall 2025 while Leto was an assistant, entered the spring tournament as the top seed.
Both squads reached the CCIW Tournament Championship match. The men fell 4-1 to nationally ranked Carthage College on Saturday, May 2, in Bloomington. The women lost 4-1 to Wheaton College on Saturday, April 25.
Leto earned CCIW Men's Tennis Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the spring term.
"In my two years here, I've gotten to experience great success in both our men's and women's programs," Leto said in the college's announcement.
"I'm excited for what's next. I think we are capable of taking our program to the next level with the resources we have at North Central."
Miller said the results made the decision straightforward, noting that both teams reaching the championship final "led to a confident decision to promote Coach Leto."
Leto's roots run deep in local tennis. A Downers Grove South High School product who holds the school record for career wins, he has coached at the Naperville Tennis Club since 2019, working primarily with high-performance juniors. In that time he has coached IHSA tournament champions, USTA national champions, and players who reached NCAA Division I programs. NCC's men's team plays its home matches at the Naperville Tennis Club.
Before joining NCC's staff ahead of the 2024-25 season, Leto played college tennis at NCAA Division I Wisconsin-Green Bay, winning two Horizon League tournament titles and qualifying for the NCAA tournament twice.
The 2026-27 NCC tennis schedule has not yet been released.
