University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina's Hidden Gem
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
January 26, 1999
By Dave Lohse
Director of Media Relations for Olympic Sports
There is no doubt that over the past decade, Carolina has enjoyed magnificent success in its Olympic Sports program. The Tar Heels' finishes in the Sears Directors' Cup standings since 1994 and the number of Atlantic Coast Conference championships won by UNC on a consistent basis over the past decade are key indicators of the fact that UNC has been very productive in the 26-sport Olympic program. Every year since 1987-88, North Carolina athletic teams have won at least seven ACC team championships each and every year.
One of the hidden gems in the Carolina Olympic sport is the Tar Heel men's tennis program under the leadership of head coach Sam Paul, who is now in his sixth year as the Tar Heels' head mentor and his 10th year overall at the University. The Tar Heel program has been in excellent shape since Paul first came to Chapel Hill in 1989 to be the chief assistant to then Carolina head coach Allen Morris.
At the time Paul came to Chapel Hill, the Tar Heel tennis program was in a state of transition. During the first 25 years of Atlantic Coast Conference competition, UNC had been the dominant tennis power, winning 22 conference championships between 1954 and 1978. Carolina got ahead of other teams in the league because it had better facilities and it invested in its program in terms of scholarship support, something other ACC schools were not doing at that time.
During the last couple of years of legendary coach Don Skakle's tenure, the Tar Heel program began to slip markedly and when Skakle died suddenly in April of 1980, the program's very being was shocked to the core. At that time, Carolina athletic director John Swofford had a difficult decision to make. He hired as the Tar Heel head coach Allen Morris, a distinguished man with a vaunted career as a tennis player. The Greensboro native came to Chapel Hill and took his first ever head coaching job. Carolina's facilities had fallen behind those of other ACC schools, Skakle's sudden death had rocked the program and other ACC schools were pouring resources and money into their programs. The Tar Heel tennis program needed an infusion of talent and enthusiasm. It received exactly what it needed in the person of Morris.
Still, the 1980s proved to be a tough transition decade for Carolina tennis. The Tar Heels failed to win an ACC championship during the decade and the team struggled mightily from time to time. But Morris hung in there and did things the right way, rebuilding the program slowly but surely. In 1989, he was smart enough to hire Paul as his assistant coach. Paul was then the head coach for both men's and women's tennis at the University of Richmond, but he saw the opportunity to come to a program with Carolina's tradition as a very positive career step.
That season, 1989-90, Carolina began to turn its tennis fortunes around and the program has been on very solid ground ever since. In the last nine years, Carolina is 78-20 against conference foes, a winning percentage of 80 percent. In eight of the last nine years, the Tar Heels have finished in either first or second place in the ACC standings. After going from 1978 through 1991 without receiving a bid to the NCAA Tournament, Carolina has now made the NCAA Tournament seven straight years (1992-98), reaching the NCAA quarterfinals in 1992 and the national round of 20 in 1993. Twice since then Carolina tennis teams have also advanced to the finals of NCAA regional competition.
Carolina maintained this consistency despite going through a coaching change in 1993 when Morris retired to return to his alma mater, Presbyterian College, eventually moving up to the job of athletic director there. Paul took over the head coaching job that spring and the transition has been smooth and excellent. Carolina has continued its success with no ranking lower than 27th during the 1990s. The program has produced 11 All-America selections since 1992 and in the 1990s, there have been 25 All-ACC selections from UNC, an average of three selections per year.
Several of the top players in the professional ranks have decided to train under Coach Sam Paul in Chapel Hill during their off seasons. These players include the likes of Chris Woodruff, Don Johnson, Shaun Stafford, J.J. Jackson, David Caldwell and Roland Thornqvist, now in his first year as the head women's tennis coach at UNC.
Carolina opened its 1999 season yesterday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, playing Campbell and Davidson in back-to-back matches. This season will be a rebuilding one for Carolina as the 1998 Tar Heel team was headed up by five very talented seniors. A very young team this year will be challenged in the Atlantic Coast Conference but this is also a squad, which will get better and better as the season progresses.
The ultimate good news is that after a tough transition program in the 1980s, the Carolina men's tennis program is back. It is competitive and it is a program that the University can be very pound of. The Carolina men's tennis program is truly one of the hidden gems of the Tar Heel athletic program.
