Auburn men's tennis coach Bobby Reynolds has signed a three-year contract extension that will keep him at the helm of the Tiger tennis program through the 2025 season.
"Thank you to our administration for believing in and seeing our vision of a tennis program and giving us the support in the transition we've undergone over the past couple years in building a program and brand the way we envisioned it," Reynolds said of the extension. "It's a credit to the success our entire program has worked to build, and it provides another level of security for the recruits who are very interested in spending their college careers at Auburn and want to make the best long-term decision."
Reynolds also announced that Chris Hooshyar has been promoted to associate head coach, "which is a title he deserves for what he has brought to our program. He's now spent nearly a decade building the Auburn tennis brand for both men and women.
"It's the way he coaches, through relationships and making work fun. He finds a great balance and connection with the student-athletes, both in coaching tennis and in relating to them and helping them grow," Reynolds added. "But he also has a tremendous ability to see each player's game technically; his evaluation and projection eye is uncanny and he can spot technical elements where a small correction can pay huge dividends. He's a huge asset to our program and where we want to go."
This spring, Auburn finished 21-11 as a team, Auburn's first 20-win season since 2002. After reaching the SEC tournament semifinals and the NCAA tournament second round, the Tigers were ranked No. 23 in the final ITA team ratings and No. 23 in the Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25.
The Tigers qualified for the NCAA team tournament for the first time since 2014 and advanced to the regional finals for the first time since 2012, earning Reynolds and Hooshyar ITA Southern Region head coach and assistant coach of the year honors.
Auburn placed three competitors in the final ITA national rankings for the 2022 season. The All-America doubles team of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett finished No. 8 nationally. Advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals this season, they finished with a 20-6 overall record this spring. Murgett and Maclean repeated as All-Americans after finishing the 2021 campaign as national runners-up.
Tyler Stice, a first team all-SEC honoree for the second straight year, completed the season with a No. 23 national ranking in singles. A two-time NCAA singles qualifier, Stice defeated the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in April and went 19-13 overall, facing 20 ranked opponents.
Maclean, who ended his Auburn career seventh among Auburn career leaders in doubles wins (74) and 11th in combined wins (140), finished the season ranked No. 83 in singles.
The Tigers will welcome two freshmen to the 2022-23 roster, Nicholas Heng (Madison, Ala.) and Alejandro Moreno (Knoxville, Tenn.). "Nick is already on campus doing summer school. He's ranked among the top five in his recruiting class and is coming to college a year early, so we're eager to see his progress through the fall," Reynolds said.
"Alejandro has been playing PTT tournaments for the past year, facing professional-level competition, so he's glad to have a team and direction for his tennis. He's very mature in his goals and process oriented. He will hit the ground running when school starts.
"It will be great to get these two involved with the team this fall, and we're excited about the '24 class of recruits. We're just getting started."
