Hilton Head Island, S.C. (Feb. 23, 2011)—BYU men’s tennis coach Brad Pearce received the Profession Tennis Registry’s Coach Jim Verdieck College Coach of the Year Award this week.
"Receiving the award is extremely humbling," Pearce said. "PTR is a great organization. I think the award recognizes our accomplishments from last year, but also the contributions in building on-campus and community support.I think the award recognizes how far we've come in the program."
Now in his seventh year as head coach of the Cougars, Pearce received the Mountain Region Coach of the Year and Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year awards for his team's first-place finish in the MWC. In December, Coach Pearce also received the 2010 USTA/ITA Campus and Community Outreach Award.
In the 2009-2010 season, Pearce coached the Cougars to a 21-7 record, ending No. 36 in the nation and earning a trip to the NCAA Tennis Championships.
Since taking over as the head coach, Pearce has led his team to one first-place and two second-place conference finishes. He has also turned out eight All-MWC performers. Additionally, Pearce coached James Ludlow, who was recognized as the Mountain Region recipient of the Ted Farnsworth Senior Player of the Year Award in 2007.
Pearce was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in November of 2006, the Utah Tennis Hall of Fame and the NCAA ITA Collegiate Hall of Fame in the spring of 2009. He currently serves on the nominating committee of the United States Tennis Association and the Collegiate Varsity Committee. Pearce was also named the PTR Member of the Year for the state of Utah in 2008. To this day, he is one of only 16 Americans in the last 23 years to reach the final eight in singles at Wimbledon.
Pearce graduated from BYU in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in independent studies. He and his wife Cindi have six children.
PTR is an organization comprised of more than 14,000 tennis instructors from more than 120 countries and is one of the largest such groups in the world.