Phil Benne enters his 14th season as head coach of the men's tennis program. In his first 13 seasons as the Maroon's head coach, Benne has accumulated a 59-134 overall record. He was the ODAC Coach of the Year in 1999. Benne also serves as the head coach of the women's soccer team at Roanoke, a team he has helped to an overall record of 163-92-16.

Benne is a three-time ODAC Coach of the Year in women's soccer, the last award coming after his 1998 team won the conference championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament. The 14 wins RC accumulated during the season were the most in Benne's stay in Salem (along with his 1995 squad). That record of 14 wins has since been surpassed, that by last season’s team which compiled a 15-4-1 overall record and a 9-2 mark in the league. Benne also won the ODAC Coach of the Year award following the 1990 and 1992 seasons.

The women’s soccer program has been taken to a new level under Benne’s leadership, and his teams have been nationally ranked on several occasions. During the 1991 campaign, Benne’s team was ranked as high as ninth in Division III. After winning the conference title in 1998, the Maroons advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in team history.

Benne made history in the Spring of 1999. Also the head coach of the men's tennis team, Benne was recognized by his peers as the 1999 ODAC men's tennis Coach of the Year, making him one of a very few coaches in league history to win a Coach of the Year award in two different sports in the same year.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Benne supervises the Belk Fitness Center. This complex opened in January 1998, and offers the college community a first-class weight room and exercise facility. Benne also has served as an adjunct professor of physical education.

After graduating from Wittenberg University in 1986, Benne joined the Maroons as an assistant with the women’s soccer team. He left Roanoke after one season to pursue a master’s degree at Alfred University, where he also served as an assistant coach for the powerful Saxons’ men’s soccer program.

After completing his master’s, Benne returned to Salem as an assistant coach for the Roanoke men’s soccer program in 1988, before being promoted to head coach of the women’s soccer team a year later.

Benne has served on the South Region NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament Committee. He has been a member of the NCAA South Region All-American committee, and is a past chairman of the ISAA South Region. He has coached the under-16 girls Olympic Development Program of Virginia, and has taken an active role in local youth soccer programs. He is also the director of several successful summer camps at Roanoke and in the region.

Benne, his wife Stephanie and son Andrew currently reside in Salem.