ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Erica Perkins Jasper, who served as the head women’s tennis coach for the past three seasons and led the team to its first ever conference championship, has resigned to become the new Chief Operating Officer of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. In conjunction with the move, UNM Athletics Chief Operations Officer Tim Cass has announced that Associate Head Coach Kelcy McKenna will take over and become the fifth head coach in the program’s history.
McKenna will take over a team that went 16-10 last season and won the Mountain West Tournament championship with a 4-2 win over Wyoming. McKenna is obviously no stranger to the program, working with Perkins Jasper over the past three years, two as the Associate Head Coach. She also served as the interim head coach during Perkins Jasper’s pregnancy last year, and she also led the team in the quarterfinals of this year’s Mountain West Tournament as Perkins Jasper missed with an illness.
“Our program is in great hands with Kelcy McKenna as our head coach,” said Cass. “Kelcy has been an intergral part of our team from coaching to recruiting to scheduling. She was soon to be a Division I head coach as several schools have been interested in her. I think we are very fortunate to have Kelcy lead our program and I feel she will continue our progress.”
“It is a real privilege to be named the new Head Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of New Mexico,” said McKenna. “I am incredibly thankful to Tim Cass and the entire Lobo Athletic Family for affording me this opportunity. Erica Perkins Jasper has created a fantastic foundation for Lobo Women’s Tennis. I could not be more excited to continue working with our new and returning players here at UNM. Go Lobos!”
McKenna, who came to UNM from serving as an assistant coach at Marshall University, was named the 2014 ITA Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year. She was an All-American player at Arizona State in both singles and doubles. She was also ranked as high as No. 3 in the country in singles and No. 16 in doubles while at ASU, and won multiple tournaments including the 2009 ITA Riviera All-American Tournament, the 2010 Thunderbird and the 2010 Cal Nike Invitational.
McKenna was also a frequent NCAA participant as a Sun Devil, having qualified four times as a team participant, three times as a singles participant and twice as a doubles participant. While at ASU, McKenna was a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year as well as a Pac-10 All-Conference First-Team Selection in 2009 and 2011.
In May 2013, McKenna won the US Open National Playoff Southwest Section Qualifying Tournament and earned a spot to compete in the US Open National Playoffs. She competed in singles and doubles.
Jasper went 40-33 over her three seasons with UNM after the program won just 17 matches the previous three seasons before her arrival. In just her second season at the helm Jasper led the Lobos to the 2014 Mountain West championship match where UNM lost to Fresno State. This past season UNM went 16-10, earning the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Tournament before winning it all, advancing to the NCAA Tournament, where UNM lost to LSU at Texas Tech.
UNM climbed as high as No. 34 in the ITA rankings and defeated several nationally-ranked teams throughout the season, including Denver, Utah, Houston and Kansas. Jasper was the ITA Mountain Region Coach of the Year in 2015. She has also served as the tournament director for the 2014 USTA/ITA Mountain Regional Championships, the first time ever that the event was hosted in Albuquerque, on the USTA Collegiate Varsity National Committee (2013-14), on the USTA Pro Circuit National Committee (2015-present), as a member of the ITA Board of Directors 2014-present, as a member of the ITA Operating Committee (2013-present) and as the ITA Mountain Region Chair (2013-present).
Tim Cass, Chief Operating Officer of University of New Mexico Athletics, said, “Erica will be greatly missed at UNM. She completely turned around our women’s tennis program in three short years and put UNM tennis back in the national picture by winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament Championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament this year.”
“While I have mixed emotions about Erica leaving the coaching world because she is so good with student-athletes, I am very excited about this unique opportunity for her at the ITA. Her skill set and personality are ideal for her upcoming responsibilities, as she is extremely well respected by women’s and men’s coaches across the country. Her past experiences in leading the collegiate efforts with the USTA will also prove to be invaluable to her in this new role.”
Jasper will start with the ITA on July 1.
Timothy Russell, the ITA’s CEO-Designate, in announcing the appointed, remarked, “Erica is absolutely the perfect person to join our team in this important role. Her extensive experience as a successful coach, a leader with the ITA, and as a proven administrator with the United States Tennis Association, makes her an ideal partner as together we will work tirelessly on behalf of college tennis to move our sport forward.”
Erica recently completed three years as the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of New Mexico. Formerly she served as the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Michigan State University, the Assistant Women’s Tennis Coach at The College of William Mary, and the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at Georgia Southern University.
Erica received both her B.A. in History from the Honors College, graduating Summa Cum Laude, and her
M. Ed. in Athletic Administration from Washington State University, where she will be inducted into their sports Hall of Fame in September. During her collegiate career she was a First Team Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American and The Sporting News Socrates Award Finalist.
UNM Women’s Tennis Coaching History
| Coach | Years | Seasons | W | L | .PCT |
| Helen Horn | 1982-1985 | 4 Seasons | 65 | 59 | .524 |
| Kathy Kolankiewicz | 1986-2009 | 24 seasons | 404 | 260 | .608 |
| Roy Canada | 2009-2012 | 3 seasons | 17 | 49 | .258 |
| Erica Perkins Jasper | 2012-2015 | 3 seasons | 40 | 33 | .548 |
| Kelcy McKenna | 2015-present |