The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Bianca Turati returns to Texas as Women’s Tennis associate head coach
07.21.2025 | Women's Tennis
An All-American at UT as a player and the former head coach at Missouri, Turati comes back to the 40 Acres to join the Longhorns’ staff.
Austin, Texas – Bianca Turati, a former Longhorn Women's Tennis All-American as a student-athlete and the former head coach at Missouri, is returning to the University of Texas as associate head coach for the Women's Tennis program, head coach Howard Joffe announced Monday.
"Bianca's depth and breadth of personality along with all of her achievements as player and as coach made this an obvious choice for someone to partner with in our intention to get Texas back to the top of collegiate tennis," Joffe said. "For me, this hire is also extremely meaningful and emotional as Bianca and her twin sister, Anna, were the first recruits that helped bring Texas on its journey to winning more national championships. I've seen Bianca grow throughout her career and now flourish as a collegiate coach, and her choice to partner with me is such an honor. I feel like I have led a charmed life with having so many wonderful players and in winning national titles, but to have Bianca return is one of the best feelings I've had as a coach. I'm so excited for our team and for us all to get to work together."
"Moving back to Austin where I spent four incredible years of my life as a student-athlete, along with now working with my former college coach in Howard Joffe is simply a dream come true," Turati said. "I have so much trust in him and so much respect for him and the way he was able to take the program back to the top. Howard has been a coach who has always understood me emotionally and helped me develop as a player, and he has always been a mentor for me, not only during my time at Texas, but also all of the years afterward. I am so grateful for the relationship we've built, and I felt so honored and humbled when he called me. I can't put into words how excited I am to start working with him and the team, and I'll do everything I can to help the Longhorns win titles. Representing the University of Texas is something I've always taken so much pride in, first as a player and from now on as a coach. I bleed burnt orange and can't wait to come home to Texas."
A native of Barzano, Italy, Turati returns to the 40 Acres after spending three seasons at the University of Missouri. She joined the Tigers as an assistant coach to begin the 2022-23 season before being named interim head coach on February 23, 2023. She was elevated to full-time head coach on May 10 that year and served in that capacity for the last two seasons.
Under Turati, the Missouri program made significant strides, going from two wins during her interim tenure to five wins in her first full season, and then 13 in her second year when the Tigers finished the regular season in the top 75 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. In addition, she led the team to two Southeastern Conference-ranked wins over No. 55 Mississippi State (March 2) and No. 22 Florida (March 21). The win over the Gators secured the program's first against UF in its history and its best win since 2017. Lailaa Bashir earned SEC Player of the Week honors for their efforts, Mizzou's first since Mackenzy Middlebrooks in 2019.
Prior to her coaching career, Turati played professionally from 2020-22 and achieved WTA career-high rankings of No. 259 in singles and No. 382 in doubles before retiring in the fall of 2022.
A two-time ITA All-American in singles at Texas in 2018 and 2020, Turati ascended to the top of the ITA women's singles rankings in 2018 and spent three months at No. 1, the first Longhorn to achieve that feat since 1995. She then returned to the top spot in the 2019 preseason rankings.
During her time at UT, she was named the 2018 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, the 2017 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, and received First-Team All-Big 12 honors four times – three in singles and one in doubles. Turati earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors seven times, which tied for the most in league history. She had gotten out to an 11-1 start in dual match singles play (all at No. 1) in her final season of 2020 before it was canceled due to the pandemic. She helped lead Texas to postseason ITA final team rankings of No. 6 (2018), No. 9 (2019) and No. 4 (2020).
A standout in the classroom, Turati earned First-Team Academic All-Big 12 honors three times. She completed her bachelor's degree in sport management with an education track in May 2020.