By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – He has helped author arguably the greatest stretch in the tale of Tennessee Tech tennis. With him at the helm, the Golden Eagles have soared to a place of rarified air with a period of recent dominance that rivals any in school history.
Six Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championships in the last eight years to go along with four straight OVC Tournament titles, the conference's first four-peat winner since the early to late 90s. He has steered the ship for a program that defines success and he will remain in charge for the foreseeable future.
He is Kenny Doyle, and the 11-year TTU head tennis coach will continue to lead the Golden Eagles after receiving a contract extension that will keep him in Cookeville through the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
"I'm excited to remain here at Tech with this extension and am definitely looking forward to continuing to build off the success we've had in my time here," Doyle said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what our team can accomplish because I believe we have the ability to achieve some of our best results over the next few years. I am thankful for our administration and the University for their continued belief in me leading Golden Eagle tennis."
The second-longest tenured head coach in program history with a stint one year shy of Randy Smith's dozen years in Cookeville, Doyle has helped broker four of the school's six OVC Tournament crowns and six of the program's 13 regular-season titles. Under his watch, Tech has made four trips to the NCAA Tournament with appearances at Texas, Mississippi State, Cal and Ohio State as part of college tennis' grandest stage.
The second-winningest coach in the account of Tech tennis with a 123-115 overall record, Doyle sits atop the Golden Eagle coaching leaderboard with a 67-16 OVC ledger, highlighted by an eye-popping 32-3 conference mark over the last five seasons. Since Doyle came aboard prior the start of the 2009-10 season, Tech has reeled four perfect conference campaigns with unblemished OVC marks in the spring of 2012, '13, '16 and '17. In fact, in the Campbell graduate's 10 full seasons as head coach, the Golden Eagles have experienced only two years in which they lost more than one OVC match.
Even with a shortened 2020 season due to COVID-19, Tech appeared well on its way to another successful year with the club clicking as the non-conference slate began to wind down. After an 0-3 start at the hands of three nationally ranked teams, the Golden Eagles pushed it into another level with wins in five of the last six matches, highlighted by a four-match winning streak at the time the campaign was called.
"It's truly remarkable when you think about the kind of success Kenny Doyle and his program have had during his time here at Tennessee Tech," director of athletics Mark Wilson said. "Year in and year out his teams are competing at the highest level in the OVC and Coach Doyle has delivered in bringing multiple championships to our athletic department. His student-athletes are always a first-class representation of the University and I am thankful for Coach Doyle's leadership in developing a program that does things the right way on and off the court. He has transformed Golden Eagle tennis into a recognizable name, not just within the OVC and the Southeast region, but within a national context as well and I am excited for what's in store for the future of this program."
A five-time OVC Coach of the Year, Doyle has helped develop some of the best names in the history of TTU tennis. Under his watch, 32 Golden Eagles have been named to an All-OVC postseason squad, highlighted by 18 to the All-OVC first team. Since Doyle took over, Tech tennis has claimed four OVC Player of the Year honors and five OVC Freshman of the Year accolades.
Of all the top-tier talent to come through Cookeville under Doyle's direction, none has produced more success than current TTU assistant coach, Edu Mena. A four-year Golden Eagle from 2014-18, Mena collected a program-record 153 combined singles and doubles victories, 10 more than the next closest Tech player in school history. The Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native is the only Golden Eagle to eclipse the century mark in career singles wins, accumulating an overall record of 105-37 (.739), 19 more victories than the next closest player in program history.
Mena also played a role in pushing Tech tennis to national recognition with 26 victories against "Power 5" competition as well as 10 wins against nationally ranked opponents throughout his TTU tenure. For his efforts, Mena was ranked as high as No. 28 in the nation by the Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association in November 2017, the highest ranking in school history, surpassing his own preseason ranking of No. 33 from September 2017.
Off the court, Doyle's program has shown the ability to achieve a high level of success as well. His club is a routine recipient of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I Men's All-Academic, and in fact, the Golden Eagles just secured the honor again at the end of July after posting a cumulative grade point average of above 3.20 (on a 4.0 scale). Under Doyle's guidance, multiple student-athletes have also been named to the list of ITA Scholar-Athletes, including Evzen Holis, Fanis Kontopoulos, Riku Kubota, Caio Reuter and Lucca Silva in July for achieving at least a 3.5 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for the current academic year.
"I have really enjoyed my time at Tennessee Tech, it has been a joy to work here for over a decade now," Doyle said. "There is a family atmosphere within the athletic department and I have always appreciated all the help from the University administration and Cookeville community in supporting Tech tennis. Again, I feel confident that the best is yet to come and we will continue to be able to compete both as a team and individually, not only within the OVC, but also on a national stage as well."
Photo by Thomas Corhern
