When he finally met with his former boss last week, Robert Cox peppered Hunter Yurachek with questions about his decision to cut Arkansas tennis.
Although he’s a retired coach, Cox admitted to Best of Arkansas Sports that part of his 45-minute chat with the Razorbacks’ athletics director came across as preaching. If nothing else, he wanted Yurachek to remember one thing.
“We’re not going away,” Cox told BoAS last Friday. “I just wanted to make him aware that tennis players are problem solvers. That’s the way we’re wired. It’s a gladiator sport and win or die, we’re going to stay in the arena as long as we can.”
Sure enough, the fight to resurrect the Arkansas tennis program has continued well past Cornell hammering home what was supposed to be the final nail in its coffin at the NCAA Tournament.
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Less than a week after the Razorbacks came up short 4-3 against the Big Red in Fort Worth, Texas, a group of Arkansas tennis alumni and supporters are set to meet with Yurachek on Thursday morning to discuss the future of the men’s and women’s programs, a source told BoAS.
Despite the UA claiming in its press release Q&A that “fundraising is not a sustainable option for the long-term operation of the programs,” another source told BoAS that the plan to be presented to the AD includes more than $5 million raised in a matter of days.
Not only is that double the $2.5 million Arkansas says it would save annually by dropping the men’s and women’s teams, but the source said it’s “just the tip of the iceberg.”
While that amount may come across as shocking to those who don’t follow Arkansas tennis or the sport in general, former men’s tennis coach Tom Pucci told BoAS that it’s indicative of their support — which even Yurachek may have underestimated.
“There’s so much old Arkansas that really truly appreciates the tennis program,” said Pucci, who led the Razorbacks from 1976-84. “I don’t think that the athletic director or the athletic administration ever realized this, and it’s sure coming out.”
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Support for Arkansas Tennis
One of those fervent supporters is Jack Lankford, a Little Rock native who played for the Razorbacks from 1991-95 and lettered twice despite being a walk-on.
He’s remained heavily involved with the program since graduating and has even served as the emcee at home matches since Jay Udwadia, his former teammate, was hired as the men’s coach four years ago.
Beyond that, Lankford helps promote and market the program. Matches are free to attend, which means ticket sales are nonexistent, but that doesn’t mean support is nonexistent.
“There may not be some official gauge and attendance count or something like that, but you’re talking about indoor and outdoor tennis,” Lankford said. “So when you get 150 to over 200 people there, it’s loud and it’s a Davis Cup atmosphere.”
On April 10, for example, three suites at the Billingsley Tennis Center were booked for the Razorbacks’ match against Oklahoma. Three groups were also in attendance, plus it was alumni night and Darin Phelan — a former Arkansas assistant — brought over several of his players from Fayetteville High.
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Lankford added that the last two years, The Hangout — a fitness and sports gym in Fort Smith — has brought up a group of kids for a match, but it was an all-inclusive experience rather than just watching tennis.
The kids made the trip up I-49 early enough in the day to do drills with Arkansas’ coaches and take photos with the players. Then, just before the start of the actual match, they got to be with the team in the lounge area at the Billingsley Center.
“They’d bring everybody in to say ‘1, 2, 3, Hogs’ right before they have to go warm up,” Lankford said. “Doesn’t that give you chills? We created a culture and outreach and touched lives.”
That outreach extended far beyond the UA campus in Fayetteville.
Udwadia, a former team captain for the Razorbacks, is “very community oriented” and has made it a point for his team to get out across the Natural State, similar to men’s basketball coach John Calipari.
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Lankford said the Arkansas tennis program hadn’t been to Little Rock in about a decade when they made an appearance at the Little Rock Athletic Club a couple years ago. They’ve also made stops in Hot Springs Village and at the Conway Tennis Center in recent seasons.
Efforts to Save the Sport
The support for Razorback tennis isn’t just limited to Arkansas, either. It stretches across the country and around the world thanks to the international nature of the sport. Arkansas is the first SEC school to eliminate its tennis programs, and other fans don’t want that to become a trend.
An online petition to save the programs has already received more than 4,700 signatures, on top of the aforementioned money raised.
Tom Pucci, the former coach, is a major reason for that support. His .784 winning percentage over nine seasons is the best mark in the men’s program’s 71-year history and he ended his tenure with nine straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Elite Eight three times and Sweet 16 the other three times.
He left Arkansas in 1984 to get into the administration side of things, serving as an AD at Cal State-Sacramento, South Carolina Upstate and California University of Pennsylvania. He retired from that latter post in 2011 and is now “using my PhD that I didn’t use for most of my life” as a professor at National University in San Diego.
However, he fondly remembers his days as a head coach of the Razorbacks.
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“We built something really special when I was there and I’m very proud of it,” Pucci said. “But more importantly, I’m proud of my players who have come up to bat and really been successful in life and are willing to try to save the program.”
