New Mexico Lobos Men’s Tennis – At NCAA Regional
When/Where: Friday (May 8) – College Station, Texas
Who: Lobos vs. Oklahoma State
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
We all have a first memory – or maybe several bunched up from our childhood days. Bart Scott, the new New Mexico Lobos’ 17th head coach of men’s tennis, is pretty sure his revolves around a tennis ball.
And maybe a ride to the club on the back of his father’s motorcycle.
“Tennis has to be my oldest memory,” said Scott, who moved from interim to head coach this week officially replacing Alan Dils. “Sometimes I think it’s all I can remember.”
In a way, tennis was Scott’s destiny. He almost had no choice. His father was a collegiate player, became a teaching pro and the director of tennis at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. When dad went to work, Bart went, too. The work was tennis – but it really wasn’t work for the young Scott.
“I get on the back of his motorcycle, go out to the Broadmoor and spend all day with tennis,” said Scott. “I would hit balls on the wall. I would re-grip the demo racquets. I loved it. I loved it all.
“Then, when we would come home, dad would toss balls in the living room for me to hit.”
Scott also grew up as kind of a purist of the game. He watched the pros on TV. He decided he would be a Wimbledon champion and he knew exactly how many sets it took to win a match.
“I remember when I was six and I lost to this 12-year-old in three sets,” said Scott. “But I thought the match was going to go on because all I had ever known was a match being three-out-of-five. My aunt finally came and dragged me off the court while I was waiting for the fourth set to begin.”
Tennis was the Scott family sport, but there were lots of others. Bart played basketball and baseball and he had this plan to play football at Mitchell High in Colorado Springs – after he nailed down a state title in tennis.
“The plan was to win the state title in tennis and then take time away from the game to play football,” said Scott. “But I never won state.”
Scott was tightly tied to tennis, but he also became tightly linked to New Mexico tennis. He played from 1999 to 2003 helping the Lobos win three Mountain West titles, included the first MW crown in 2000. He was a graduate assistant in 2003-04 before trying his luck – and skills – on the pro circuit while also giving lessons.
But Scott wanted to return to college ball.
“The best time I ever had in my life was when I played college tennis and I wanted to go back to that competitive outlet,” said Scott. The ex-Lobo got his chance at Oregon. The men’s program was looking for a head coach and Scott made an inquiry about the job. They suggested he start with an assistant’s spot. He got it.
When a spot became available on the New Mexico staff, he took a pay cut in order to return to his UNM roots. “It’s easy to come back to a place where you laid everything on the line for four years,” said Scott.
“People talk about getting burnt out on sports you grow up with, but I’ve never for one moment not loved the game and never for one moment wanted to do something else.”
Scott was a Lobo assistant from 2008-to-2012 and the Associate Head Coach from 2012-to-2014. He became the interim in July of 2014 and although he appeared to be a lock to replace Dils, he had a little proving to do.
He did it by leading the Lobos to the 2015 Mountain West regular-season title and into the NCAA playoffs. It is the first time the Lobos have reached the NCAA postseason since 2009. It’s the Lobos first league title since 2009. However, the Lobos haven’t won an NCAA regional match in their past four NCAA appearances. The last regional win came in 1998.
That NCAA history is something Scott plans to change.
“I want to win at the highest level and I put no limitation on what we can do here,” he said. “We will work hard and see where we go.
“We have to fight against negative recruiting here. There are no professional events at altitude and people use that against us. It’s really not a big deal, but we hear about it. But I see no reason we can’t be a Top 20 program.
“Things are good here and I’m happy and lucky to be here. This is where I want to be.”