EKU reinstates men’s and women’s tennis programs after three-year hiatus
Three years after discontinuing its men’s and women’s tennis programs as part of a series of academic and athletics budget cuts, Eastern Kentucky University is bringing both teams back.
The school announced Thursday that EKU’s tennis teams would resume competing in the fall of 2022.
Men’s and women’s tennis will become the 17th and 18th varsity programs at Eastern Kentucky. Both programs will compete in the ASUN Conference. EKU will begin its search for coaches immediately.
EKU previously sponsored men’s tennis from 1951-2018 and women’s tennis from the early 1970s until the spring of 2018. Tennis facilities on campus include the Greg Adams Indoor Tennis Center and Tom Higgins Outdoor Courts.
“We are excited to have men’s and women’s tennis back in EKU’s athletics portfolio,” EKU President David McFaddin said in a news release. “The move to the ASUN now allows us to compete with our peer institutions in the tennis space, something not possible in our previous conference. In addition, the fact that EKU already has state of the art indoor and outdoor tennis facilities enables us to seamlessly transition to competition. We look forward to having our student athletes return to the courts.”
Eastern Kentucky moved from the Ohio Valley Conference to the ASUN before the start of the current school year.
The tennis programs were sacrificed in April 2018 as part of a brutal budgetary process to solve a $25 million shortfall at EKU. In addition to tennis, a long list of academic programs were cut and jobs were eliminated.
“The return of Eastern Kentucky University’s tennis programs elevates EKU and Colonel Athletics,” EKU Vice President and Director of Athletics Matt Roan said. “Reviving these teams will reestablish two prominent programs in EKU’s storied athletics history and provide more student-athletes with the opportunity to develop on and off the courts here at EKU.”
EKU’s tennis programs between 2009-15 combined for nine regular-season championships, eight conference tournament titles, and seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 2:25 PM.