Carlos Garcia
CARLOS GARCIA
MEN’S HEAD TENNIS COACH
SIXTH YEAR
Carlos Garcia has served as the head coach for the UTC men’s tennis team for the past three years and was hired on Aug. 21, 2001 to oversee the school’s men’s and women’s programs.
Since concentrating his efforts solely on the men’s team, Garcia has led the Mocs to the championship match of the Southern Conference Tournament for two consecutive years, in 2005 and 2006.
Last season, Garcia directed the men’s team to an impressive 17-9 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the always-difficult Southern Conference. The Mocs entered the SoCon Tournament seeded fourth and defeated fifth-seeded Wofford and top-seeded Elon en route to the tournament finals against eventual-champion Furman.
Under Garcia’s guidance, UTC produced two Second-Team All-SoCon doubles teams in Josh Bales/Mark Fynn and Badr Bouabdellah/Artyom Vlasenko. In singles play, Bouabdellah had an outstanding dual-match season, registering a 24-2 singles record and a perfect 9-0 mark in SoCon matches.
In 2005, the Mocs earned an 18-11 overall record. Garcia also coached two Second-Team All-SoCon performers in No. 1 singles player Arturo Navarro and No. 4 singles player Vlasenko.
The seventh-seeded Mocs upended UNC Greensboro, Furman and the College of Charleston in the conference tournament to go up against top-seeded East Tennessee State.
Garcia took over the supervision of both programs in 2001 following the departure of former head coach Jeff Clark. During his two-year run as head coach of both programs, both teams compiled 45 victories and advanced to the semifinal rounds of the SoCon Championships. He coached 10 All-SoCon performers and a two-time SoCon Sportsman of the Year.
In 2001-02, the Lady Mocs finished in second place in the regular season while the men took fourth. The following year, the women’s team was third in the SoCon, and the men placed sixth.
Under Garcia’s guidance, Jason Ontog and Cynthia Oulevay were both named First-Team All-SoCon in 2002. Oulevay went undefeated in league competition, while Ontog lost just once in 10 matches. Ontog and doubles partner Tim Kutschera were listed First-Team All-SoCon. Fabian Bechara and Charlotte Goude were Second-Team All-SoCon selections in 2003 as were the doubles teams of Ontog and Thomas Knizat and Oulevay and Catherine Allen.
Ontog, the 2001 SoCon Men’s Player of the Year and No. 1 singles champion, received the Buddy Hartsell-Don Bunch Sportsmanship Award two times and achieved an Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranking as high as No. 67.
In the classroom, the 2001-02 men’s team earned Academic All-America honors, while James Dickerson and John Hangstefer were named ITA Scholar-Athletes
Garcia’s collegiate coaching career began in 1994 when he served as a men’s assistant at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, until 1999.
In 1999, Garcia moved on to the University of North Carolina to become the men’s assistant coach. The Tar Heels finished the season ranked 20th in the nation, and Garcia was named Regional Assistant Coach of the Year by the ITA in 1999 and 2000.
Garcia took his coaching talents to a new level when he left North Carolina in 2000 to become the personal coach to Davis Cup standout and former NCAA singles champion Chris Woodruff. Garcia was a two-year member of the Davis Cup squad as a coach and coached Woodruff, a former Tennessee player, to his second ATP singles title at the ATP Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, R.I. as well as a quarterfinal showing at the 2000 Australia Open.
Prior to accepting the job at UTC, Garcia was the teaching professional at Cedar Bluff Racquet Club in Knoxville, Tenn.
Garcia is a 1987 honors graduate of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in General Business. While a member of the Volunteers’ tennis team, he earned three tennis letters and was a member of the 1986 Southeastern Conference Championship squad.
A competitive player himself, Garcia and teammate Mark Harrison, won the USTA National 35s Grass Court Doubles Championship in 2002 and USTA Indoor 35s National Doubles Championship in 2005 with partner Jeff Wright. Garcia and Harrison were runners up at the 2005 National Clay Court Doubles Championships.
Garcia finished fifth in August of 2006 in the USTA National 40s Grass Court Championships, while he and doubles partner Eric Burke took fourth place in the doubles event.
Born Aug. 3, 1964, Garcia served for three years on the NCAA Southeast Regional Selection Committee.
