NEWS

 

DAVIDSON – Head coach Drew Barrett has announced the hiring of Billy Boykin ’01 to the Davidson men’s tennis coaching staff.

“I’m really excited to have Billy back with our program,” said Barrett. “He was my first assistant at Davidson and since has had a successful head coaching career, most recently at Queens University in Charlotte. He will add a tremendous amount of knowledge and enthusiasm and is a great addition to our coaching staff.”

Boykin, who received his bachelor’s degree in political science, is no stranger to the program. He was a four-year player and served as team captain of the 2001 Wildcat squad.

“I am excited to be back at Davidson College,” commented Boykin. “I’d like to thank Drew Barrett, Chris Clunie and the athletic administration for the opportunity to be a part of this community. I am eager to get started and am looking forward to working with the scholar-athletes.”

Boykin by the Numbers
Throughout Boykin’s 14 years as a head coach, his teams compiled a lengthy list of accolades, including:
• Tallied more than 260 dual match wins at the NCAA level, claiming a 264-126 (0.677) record
• Guided nine different teams to NCAA Tournament appearances
• Won six conference tournament championships
• Won five regular season conference championships
• Coached over 85 All-Conference student-athletes
• Coached five Conference Player of the Year Award recipients and four All-Americans
• Was named Coach of the Year three times

Prior to joining the staff at Davidson, Boykin most recently finished seven seasons at the helm of the Queens men’s and women’s tennis programs. While with the Royals, Boykin guided the teams to their highest-ever national rankings at No. 7 for the men and No. 10 for the women. Additionally, Boykin helped lead both programs to set the school records for conference championship wins and NCAA Championship appearances.

Before his time at Queens, Boykin served as head coach at Charlotte, where his tenure featured two recruiting classes that were ranked nationally by tennisrecruiting.net: 2015 (No. 31) and 2011 (No. 6). During his time with the 49ers, Boykin brought the 2014 men’s program back into the national rankings for the first time since 2001 before marking the second-highest single-season win total in school history with 18 wins in 2015. Boykin continued his coaching successes by setting the school record for consecutive matches won in a row (13 in 2015), earning the No. 1 seed in the 2012 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and recruiting and coaching the school’s all-time singles and doubles wins leader.

Boykin got his start in the head coaching world during two seasons at the University of Richmond, where he guided the Spiders to double-digit wins for the first time since 2005. Boykin’s 2009 recruiting class ranked No. 18 among mid-major institutions, while the 2009 class also produced the A-10 Outstanding Rookie Performer.

As a player, Boykin was the United States Tennis Association’s No. 1-ranked junior player in the state of North Carolina. He went on to be undefeated as a Wildcat in the 1999 Southern Conference regular season singles matches while being named a SoCon Honor Roll member. After graduating from Davidson, Boykin earned his master’s degree in communication studies from Queens (2022).