Pauri started playing Tennis when he was seven and it has turned into a clear passion. He wasn’t always sure that was the path he wanted to take, but when a job as a teacher fell through because he decided to attend his sister’s wedding, he picked up some coaching work to make some money. One thing turned into another and he is now the head women’s and men’s coach at Wheaton College. As a coach, he is in the position of constantly having to think about how to motivate different types of people and how he wants to lead. He sees his job as “build teams that win” – but at a deeper level is driven by a purpose of “developing people into well-rounded individuals who are going to be great contributors to society.” We also discuss his role in the healthy masculinity project and his work with college students.
Pauri is currently in his third year as the Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at Wheaton College. In addition to his role as Head Tennis Coach, he is a co-coordinator of Wheaton’s chapter of the Healthy Masculinity Campus Athletics Project, where they have created and enacted programming around developing and promoting healthy masculinity, and has also been involved with Wheaton’s Sexual Misconduct Assault Resource Team. Prior to coming aboard at Wheaton, Pauri was the Assistant Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at Brandeis University, where the teams achieved rankings inside the Top 30 in the country, won 6 All-America Awards, and Pandian was awarded the 2015 National Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year and 2015 Regional Men’s and Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Pauri got his coaching start at Beaver Country Day School (Chestnut Hill, MA), where he coached the boy’s team for three years, winning three league titles, one conference title, and was 2009 League Coach of the Year.
Pandian graduated from Wesleyan University in 2008, double majoring in English and religion. A four-year starter and captain his senior year, Pandian played in every spot in the singles and doubles lineup throughout his career.