An announcement announcing the retirement of long-time Men’s Tennis Coach Billy Chadwick on Monday, January 13th, 2014.
SKILLMAN, N.J. – Ole Miss men’s tennis head coach Billy Chadwick added another honor to his already long list of achievements, as he will be one of seven inductees into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame this year, it was announced by the organization Thursday.
The 2014 ITA Men’s Collegiate Hall of Fame Enshrinement Banquet, where the ITA will honor this year’s men’s ITA Hall of Fame inductees, will be held May 21 during the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships held at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.
Chadwick will join 1995 NCAA Doubles Champion Mahesh Bhupathi, who was inducted in 2010, as Rebels to be elected to the ITA Hall of Fame.
“I would like to thank the committee for this honor and especially executive director David Benjamin,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “The ITA has been instrumental in the growth of collegiate tennis. To be inducted at the site where many of our most memorable moments have taken place makes it even more special.
“I appreciate the support of the administration and the staff at Ole Miss, and I am grateful for all the outstanding players that I have had the privilege to coach during my career.”
It was announced in January that Chadwick would be retiring at the end of this season, so this is his first year of eligibility for the hall of fame. He is in some elite company, as he joins Johnny Vaught, Tom Swayze, Van Chancellor and Lin Dunn as the only head coaches in Ole Miss Athletics history to be elected to the hall of fame by the sports’ sanctioning body.
“Congratulations to Coach Billy Chadwick on reaching the pinnacle of collegiate tennis recognition,” athletics director Ross Bjork said. “Billy has represented Ole Miss tennis for 35 years, and this honor showcases the great teams he has coached and all the student-athletes who performed at the highest level. The ultimate sign of success in athletics is knowing you competed to the best of your ability and then let the results speak for themselves. Billy epitomizes this definition of success and is so deserving of being selected to the ITA Hall of Fame.”
A member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Mississippi Tennis Hall of Fame, Chadwick presently has an overall record of 649-301 (.683).
Chadwick began his coaching career with the Lady Rebels in 1979, and in 1982 he led the Lady Rebels to the SEC finals, AIAW Nationals and the program’s first top 20 national ranking.
In 1983, Chadwick took over the men’s program, which at the time was last in the conference. In 30 years with Chadwick at the helm, the Rebels have become one of the top teams in the country on and off the courts.
Chadwick’s teams have made 20 consecutive NCAA appearances, including the NCAA Team Championship Final, the NCAA Semifinals four times, the NCAA Quarterfinals nine times and the NCAA Sweet Sixteen 16 times. A mainstay in the national rankings, his teams have finished ranked in the nation’s top five seven times, and have earned a top 10 ranking 15 times.
The Rebels have won 18 Southeastern Conference team titles, including five overall SEC Championships, 10 Western Division titles and three SEC Tournament Championships.
Individually, Chadwick has coached three NCAA Champions, six SEC Champions, 28 All-Americans, 72 All-SEC selections and 76 NCAA individual qualifiers. Seven of his players have been ranked No. 1 in the nation. His players have earned numerous ITA national and regional awards, including Mississippi native Dave Randall winning the Rafael Osuna National Sportsmanship Award in 1989.
Chadwick was named USPTA National College Coach of the Year in 2009 and has been named SEC Coach of the Year three times.
While Chadwick’s teams have ranked among the nation’s elite, they have been just as impressive off the court. In 2013, the Rebels won the Chancellor’s Cup for the 10th year in a row. The cup is awarded each year to the men’s and women’s varsity sports with the highest cumulative grade point average. Nationally, the Rebels have been named an ITA All-Academic Team eight times, awarded to teams with a minimum 3.2 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
Individually, the Rebels have had 20 players earn national ITA Scholar-Athlete honors, four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 13 CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees and in 2009 the SEC Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year (league’s top male student-athlete).
Many of Chadwick’s players have made their mark on the professional tour, including Mississippians Dave Randall and NCAA Champion Devin Britton, as well as NCAA Champion Mahesh Bhupathi, who has won 12 grand slams and achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 1 in doubles.
2014 ITA Hall of Fame Inductees
Coaches
Billy Chadwick (Ole Miss)
Timon Corwin (Kalamazoo)
James Wadley (Oklahoma State)
Players
Matt Anger (USC)
Juan Farrow (Southern Illinois U. – Edwardsville)
Alex Kim (Stanford)
Contributor
Doug Conant (Northwestern)