Breaking Serve: From Championship Coach to Prison—and the Journey Back Available August 22, 2025

Former Texas Tennis Coach Michael Center Shares His Powerful Memoir of the Varsity Blues Scandal, the FBI, and the Fight to Rebuild His Life

AUSTIN, TX (August 19, 2025) — Breaking Serve: From Championship Coach to Prison—and the Journey Back is the gripping and inspirational true story of Michael Center, the former University of Texas Men’s Tennis Coach whose life changed overnight when he was arrested as part of the federal “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.

In this raw, redemptive memoir, Center recounts the whirlwind—from building Texas’s first NCAA Tennis Championship team, to being shackled by FBI agents at his front door, to surviving federal prison during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a headline, Breaking Serve is a deeply personal look at losing everything—and the unrelenting work of rebuilding.

“This book isn’t just about scandal,” said Center. “It’s about struggle, self-reflection, and starting over. My hope is that it helps anyone facing adversity see that you can fight back and find your way forward.”

After pleading guilty to federal charges, Center served time at Three Rivers Federal Prison in Texas. Alone, ashamed, and physically broken, he began to lean on the same coaching principles that once guided his teams—principles he now calls his Five Pillars:
Empathy, Role Clarity, Purposeful Process, Standards Over Goals, and Compete.

Inside the book, Center details:

  • What really happened behind the scenes at Texas and in the Varsity Blues case
  • The emotional and psychological toll of public disgrace
  • The harsh truths of the U.S. legal and prison systems
  • How former players, family, and friends became his support system
  • The tools he used to reclaim his identity, rebuild his life, and inspire others

“In the darkest season of my life, the lessons I gave to my athletes became the ones I needed most,” Center said. “Empathy. Standards. Growth. I want to share these with others now, in hopes that my story might help them find strength and empowerment.”

Breaking Serve will be available August 22 at www.breakingserve.com, Amazon, BN.com and select retailers in hardback, paperback and eBook formats.

For media inquiries, interviews, or speaking engagements, please contact:

Michael Center
Email: michaelecenter@gmail.com