Coach Tony Dodgen is in his 23rd year in the sport of tennis. He began his career in 1980 at the high school level. During this period of time his teams won Eight State Championships and numerous District and Conference titles. He was selected as Coach of the Year by the Mississippi High School Coaches Association in 1994 and served as the Coach of the Mississippi High School All Star Tennis Team in 1995. He has been named Southwestern Athletic Conference Men’s Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000. He was also named SWAC Coach of the Year in Women’s Tennis in 2000. Coach Dodgen has extensive experience in coaching USTA junior tennis and has coached several players who achieved a high ranking at both the State and Southern Section levels. He has participated in USTA sanctioned tennis competition and still competes in many tournaments. He has been a certified professional with the Professional Tennis Registry for fourteen years and is a member of Team Head.

Coach Dodgen’s philosophy for Alcorn State University Men’s and Women’s Tennis is to recruit student athletes that have college study as an equal priority to college tennis. He believes that experience is the most important part of any program and strives to encourage his players to complete their college education while they improve their ability to compete at the NCAA Division 1 level. Quite simply, he likes his players to start and finish their participation in NCAA Tennis at Alcorn State University.