Men's Tennis

The longest-tenured head coach in school history, Kenny Doyle enters his 15^th season at the helm of Tennessee Tech tennis in 2023-24 and has elevated the Golden Eagles into one of the premier programs in the southeast region and beyond.

A six-time Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, who hoisted his latest accolade in the spring of 2021, Doyle has helped author one of the greatest stretches of Tech tennis behind seven conference regular-season championships to go along with five conference tournament titles in the last seven seasons.

Doyle, the second-winningest coach in school history, has helped broker five of Tennessee Tech’s six conference tournament crowns and seven of the program’s 14 regular-season titles. Under his watch, Tech has made five trips to the NCAA Tournament with appearances at Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi State, Cal and Ohio State as part of college tennis’ grandest stage. TTU’s stretch of dominance included becoming the first OVC school to win four straight conference tournament titles since Middle Tennessee claimed eight straight from the early to late 90s. Tech’s four-peat occurred from 2016-19.

Doyle, who enters the year with 150 career wins, has had his squads excel during conference play to the tune of a 77-19 league record while at Tech, highlighted by an eye-popping 47-6 mark over the last eight seasons. The 77 conference wins are the most by a Tech head coach in program history and since Doyle came aboard prior to the start of the 2009-10 season, the Golden Eagles have reeled off five perfect conference campaigns with unblemished OVC marks in the spring of 2012, ’13, ’16, ’17 and ’21. In fact, in the Campbell graduate’s 13 full seasons as head coach, TTU has experienced only three years in which they lost more than one conference match.

Navigating through the challenges of moving to the Horizon League prior to the start of the 2023 spring season, the Golden Eagles once again showed their postseason pedigree by advancing to the Horizon League Tournament championship match, marking the seventh straight full season appearing in a conference tournament title match for the purple and gold. During the postseason run, Tech took down Northern Kentucky 4-0 in the quarterfinals before downing Horizon League North Division No. 1 seed Cleveland State 4-2 in the semifinals. Before the Golden Eagles knocked them off to get to the finals, the Vikings had won 18 of their last 22 contests.

The 2022 Golden Eagles once again reached the pinnacle, closing out their stay in the OVC with another conference tournament crown. After finishing second to Belmont in the regular-season standings, Tech would end up getting the last laugh behind a 4-1 victory over the Bruins in the tournament’s championship to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in the last six full seasons.

From an individual perspective, 2022 featured a piece of program history behind a school record-tying conference postseason awards. Elias Grubert headlined the list by becoming the 14^th Golden Eagle to be named the OVC Player of the Year and fifth under Doyle’s direction.

The spring of 2021 featured another championship-driven campaign with a regular-season crown, the program’s seventh in the last nine full seasons. After starting the year 0-5 with all five losses to “Power 5” competition, the Golden Eagles strung together 10 straight wins, which included a perfect 5-0 league record. The 10-match winning streak was the longest such stretch since 2012.

After a 4-1 win in the OVC Tournament semifinals against Austin Peay, the Golden Eagles were upended 4-3 in the championship clash by Belmont in a tilt that saw Tech forced to play shorthanded due to COVID-19 protocols. The Golden Eagles had to forfeit both a singles and doubles matchup in a slim loss that kept Tech from hoisting its fifth consecutive tourney title.

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. Tech finished the abbreviated spring session with a 5-4 overall record.

Another banner season in 2019, Doyle guided the Golden Eagles to a piece of program history with the club’s fourth consecutive OVC Tournament and fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, a feat that had never previously been accomplished in school history. Finishing 4-1 in OVC play, Tech clinched its fifth straight season of finishing with one or less losses in league action under the direction of Doyle. He will enter the 2020 season with a 118-111 (.515) overall record as the Golden Eagle head coach, which includes an eye-popping 67-16 (.807) Ohio Valley Conference mark. With a dominant, 7-0 victory at Austin Peay on Apr. 7, he passed Randy Smith’s all-time program record of 64 OVC victories.

During the 2018 campaign, Doyle earned his own part of program history behind a 4-3 win at Lipscomb on Feb. 10 to become only the second head coach in TTU history with 100 career victories. 

A six-time OVC Coach of the Year, Doyle added his fifth accolade following a 2017 spring campaign that saw the Golden Eagles run the table in conference action en route to both the OVC regular season championship and OVC Tournament title. The Golden Eagles clinched their second-straight NCAA Tournament in the process, the program’s first back-to-back appearance in the “big dance” since 2003-04.

Tech’s regular season conference title marked the fifth championship in six years, four of which have been undefeated campaigns. In fact, thanks in large part to back-to-back unblemished conference seasons, the Golden Eagles entered 2018 riding a 23-match regular season OVC winning streak.

Under Doyle’s watch, the Golden Eagles have hoisted the regular season crown in 2012, '13, '15, '16, '17,' 19 and '21 as well as tournament titles in 2016, '17, '18, ’19 and ‘22. Doyle has been recognized as the OVC Coach of the Year six times, including 2012, '13, '15, '16, '17 and '21.

Doyle’s players have enjoyed tremendous success with over 50 all-conference selections, highlighted by five OVC Player of the Year nods and six OVC Freshman of the Year selections.

Current associate head coach and former Golden Eagle Eduardo Mena took home the conference’s Freshman of the Year award in 2015, before taking home back-to-back Player of the Year accolades in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Mena left a lasting legacy as the all-time leader in career singles wins, accumulating an overall record of 105-37, 19 more victories than the next closest Golden Eagle.

His 2015-16 campaign featured a school-record 33 wins, highlighted by a 20-1 mark in dual action. Mena also put himself in rarified air after entering the spring of 2018 ranked No. 28 in the Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s national singles rankings, the highest spot in school history.

In addition to success on the court, the Golden Eagle tennis team has enjoyed sensational academic success under Doyle.

The Golden Eagles were named a 2015 All-Academic Team and three players (Alberto Esteban, Gagan Jain and Alex Arovin) were recognized as Scholar-Athlete Award winners by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

As a team, the Golden Eagles achieved a team GPA of 3.35 for 2014-15. Arovin posted a 3.78 GPA while being named the 2015 OVC Player of the Year. He earned all-OVC honors and was selected as Tech's Outstanding Male Athlete of 2014-15. Jain was the President's Award winner in tennis and owned a 3.75 GPA. Esteban also earned all-OVC honors while compiling a 3.65. All 11 players on the roster figured into the team GPA, with all 11 recording a GPA above 3.0 for the academic year.

A veteran coach, he came to the university in 2009 and coached both the men’s and women’s teams in his first year.

Prior to his arrival at Tech, Doyle was an assistant tennis coach at Winthrop University for three years and former head coach at Campbell University for 10 years.

In his first two seasons with the Golden Eagles, Doyle’s squad went 20-14 overall and 11-3 in OVC play. In his first season, Tech advanced to the championship match of the OVC Tournament. The following year, he led the Golden Eagles to the semifinals.

In Doyle’s third season, the Golden Eagles finished with an 11-8 overall record and went a perfect 8-0 in conference matches. Doyle was awarded 2012 OVC Coach of the Year.

In 2012-13, after a grueling non-conference schedule in which the team was winless, Doyle’s squad did an abrupt about-face and rolled through the OVC unbeaten with a 9-0 record. That also earned him OVC Coach of the Year laurels.

After a 4-5 OVC mark in 2013-14 in which Tech missed the OVC tournament via a tie-breaker in the standings, the veteran coach got the team back on the championship path the following year and the Golden Eagles chugged through another stellar season in OVC play in 2014-15 with an 8-1 record. That netted Doyle his third OVC Coach of the Year honor.

Doyle enjoyed a high level of success in both his roles as a head coach and assistant coach.

A 1980 Campbell graduate with a degree in business administration, Doyle worked for four years in private business before embarking on his coaching career in 1985 when he was named head coach of the men’s team at his alma mater.

His men’s team at Campbell reeled off a string of 31consecutive Big South Conference dual match victories between 1988 and 1994, winning four league titles.

In 1990, he was also given the reins of the women’s team and went 71-22 with two championships and three second-place finishes. Overall, he led the Fighting Camel squads to six Big South Conference championships and was named the league’s Coach of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1993.

He posted a combined 190-131 men’s and women’s record while at Campbell, and his 1993 women’s team was considered one of the nation’s top 40 programs. Under his direction, Campbell’s teams produced 44 all-conference players and earned Player of the Year honors eight times. One of his women’s team members was named All-America and four players earned national rankings.

In addition to their success on the court, Doyle’s teams at Campbell also notched winning marks in the classroom with 35 student-athletes named to the conference honor roll and one named CoSIDA Academic All-America. Twice his teams ranked first among all of Campbell’s athletic squads for highest combined team grade-point average. One of his players won the Big South Award for Academic Excellence and finished first in the Campbell graduating class. Another of his players finished third in the graduating class a year later.

Doyle left Campbell after the 1995 season, and following 12years in private business he returned to collegiate coaching in 2007 as assistant coach at Winthrop. He helped the Eagle teams enjoy a high level of success in the Big South Conference during his three years on the staff. The women’s team won the regular season title all three years, and after a second place finish in 2007, the team won league tournament championships twice and advanced to the NCAA tournament. The men’s squad won the 2007 regular season crown and was conference tournament runner-up all three years.

During his undergraduate days, Doyle was a four-year letterman for Campbell.

Doyle is married to the former Cathy Oliver and has two grown sons, Nick and Christopher.