In a stunning development it was announced this evening that John Roddick is stepping down as head coach at University Oklahoma to take over as Director of Tennis and head men’s coach at the University of Central Florida. Roddick just finished up his seventh year in Norman after guiding OU to its third consecutive national runner-up finish. Prior to Roddick’s arrival in Norman, OU had never made it past the NCAA Round of 16 so the job he did in those seven years was nothing short of phenomenal. If Roddick had stayed at OU for an eighth season he would have had to replace his top two players with Axel Alvarez graduating and Andrew Harris turning pro.
Colette Lewis also conducted an interview with Roddick that talked about his decision to make the move so make sure you check that out at this link.
Central Florida started playing tennis in 1972 at the Division II level and moved up to Division I in the early 80s. UCF has only made it to the NCAA Tournament on three occasions though I expect that to change in the near future.
Here was OU’s release and here was UCF’s release.
Here were a few quotes from the OU release and I also attached Roddick’s press-conference from Tuesday night (4 min 20 sec mark) which mentioned that he planned on being at OU for a while which leads me to believe that this all came together in the last few days.
“First and foremost we want to express our sincere gratitude and respect for Coach Roddick in elevating our men’s tennis program to the national powerhouse status it has enjoyed the last several years,” said OU VP and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione. “John maximized the wonderful resources available, such as the Headington Family Tennis Center, to recruit and develop some very special student-athletes. They collectively transformed our program and led it to unprecedented heights, capped by three consecutive national runner-up finishes. The OU Athletics family thanks him for seven years’ worth of remarkable achievements and wishes him luck in his new endeavors. We understand this is a very special and unique opportunity for him.”
“I want to thank Joe Castiglione and (OU senior associate athletics director) Michael Alford for the opportunity they gave me to be the head coach here, Roddick said. “I’d like to thank (former OU senior associate athletics director) Greg Phillips as well, who was instrumental in my hiring at OU. They gave me all the support I needed to build a program that could compete for national championships. I also want to thank all my team members. Their hard work and belief was the reason for our success the last seven years.
“We’re thrilled to bring a coach the caliber of John Roddick to UCF,” UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Danny White said. “John was a very successful player as a junior and a collegian. He also did great things as a collegiate assistant coach and as an ATP professional coach. As a collegiate head coach, his records, accolades and NCAA Championship match berths speak for themselves. I believe John Roddick will make a huge positive impact on our tennis programs. His hire, combined with the opening of the collegiate tennis center at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona early next year, will make UCF a destination for many top college-bound tennis players. This hire is another step toward our goal of becoming a Top 25 athletic program.”
At UCF, Roddick will have oversight of both the men’s and women’s programs. He will serve as the Knights’ head men’s coach, while a head women’s coach will be hired soon.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity that UCF, Danny White and President Hitt are affording for UCF Tennis,” Roddick said. “I’m honored to be able to lead both programs and I look forward to making UCF Tennis a national power. When you combine the new Home of American Tennis at Lake Nona with the academics at UCF, we are in the unique position to recruit the best student-athletes in the nation. I look forward to that challenge.”
Legistically how do they plan to practice/play at a site 20 miles away? Are they getting a new facility on campus? They don't have six courts in a row on campus? Locker rooms and amenities for the teams are subpar. I hope UCF plans to pump money into both programs. Roddick earning 220k + housing in lake nona and incentives leaves no room for the women's coach. Hopefully they address that issue. Go Knights
Redlciki can't transfer a 2nd time
Will be curious to see if any of the non-American players follow Roddick to Central Florida. Maybe Alex Ghilea, Florin Bragusi, Andre Biro, or Maxime Mora? It was rumored that Mike Redlicki was gonna join Roddick last year so maybe that becomes a reality this year.<br />
Name the top 10 candidates for the UCF Women's Position. Current Head or Assistants.
There is a lot of talk that Central Florida could be 1 of the 2 teams chosen when the Big 12 expands. I wish Coach Roddick the best at UCF.
Some of the recent hires by Central Florida have certainly made a splash (ie Johnny Dawkins from Stanford for basketball and Scott Frost from Oregon for football). So, whom would be the biggest splash for their womens tennis team … Chris Young from Oklahoma State, Ronni Bernstein from Michigan, Julia/Michael Sell from Louisiana State, or maybe a former professional player that is announcer now?<br />
Interesting you consider Roddick leaving OU a betrayal. At the end of the day all coaches are at any given place to do a job to the best of their ability. It is their livelihood…I am sure there are several factors that go into taking a new job as well as staying at university. Perhaps the question of why he left is not just the opportunity at UCF but what OU didn't do to keep him there! Sooner fans should be grateful because OU isn't exactly a Mecca for tennis. Good luck to the next coach
well that will be the last we hear of Schnur then. No chance he makes any noise in the pros.
Schnur was waking around NCAAs telling other players he was not coming back so take that for what it's worth, but it does make sense since he started in January and is not close to graduating
I still cannot believe the Roddick betrayal
if Roddick couldn't even convince him to come play for an established high performing team in Oklahoma, what makes you think he can convince Ponwith to come play for a team that won't be good for at least 3-4 years?
Somewhat irrelevant but I've received word that Stanford's David Hsu quit the team around December, which makes sense given the lack of his presence throughout the Spring.
Roddick is going to flip Ponwith from UGA to UCF
Perhaps it is location driven? Close to new USTA site or family?
No they wont! But they will improve.
Schnur taking off the fall is more of a plan to create scholarship money availability than anything, especially if Blumberg does come in January
UCF will win a national title by 2020. Book it
I heard Schnur was going to take the fall off to play pro events and would then re-evaluate after that – seems like he's had trouble staying healthy for a whole season so you wonder how that will effect his decision to leave for good or stay for his senior season.
Brayden Schnur is apparently turning pro as well.
Saw it on his Twitter feed. No others have announced that I'm aware of though if Mackie wins the NCAAs tomorrow I'd be surprised if he came back for another year.
How do you know Harris is turning pro? Do you have a list of others leaving/turning pro?