Tyler McKay Returns to Alabama to Take Over Wheelchair Tennis Program
The start of the 2023-2024 season saw the return of Tyler McKay.
McKay had been a volunteer coach for the University of
Alabama wheelchair tennis team for two seasons and then an assistant coach for
the next two seasons. After a couple years away from the university, he returned
to the Alabama Adapted Athletics program as the head coach for the wheelchair
tennis team.
McKay takes over for Evan Enquist, who spent eight seasons
as the head coach of Alabama’s wheelchair tennis team and left at the end of
the 2022-2023 season to become the United States Tennis Association’s National Manager
for Wheelchair Tennis.
The search process to find a new head coach followed the standard
University of Alabama process. First a search committee was assembled. Then the
job was posted on several websites including Indeed and the USTA’s website. Some
applicants were given a video interview, and a few were invited to the campus
for an in-person interview.
“When we talked about Tyler, it became really apparent that
he checked all the boxes,” said Alabama Adapted Athletics director Brent
Hardin. “He really had everything that we were looking for. He was an
experienced and certified tennis coach. He had experience coaching wheelchair
tennis at the collegiate level and at the USTA level.”
McKay got a call from Hardin over the summer informing him
that he got the job. The first thing an excited McKay did was call his parents
and tell them the news.
Since Enquist was no longer an employee of the university,
he could not be on the search committee or play any official role in the
university’s search process.
But McKay said Enquist played an enormous role in him ending
up where he is.
The two were childhood friends who grew up in the same city,
Rochester, Minn., and went to the same high school. It was at Enquist’s encouragement
that McKay started as a volunteer coach at Alabama in 2016.
“I’m pretty aware of that, but I’m trying to put any
pressure based on what’s happened in the past,” said McKay. “But, obviously,
because of the success of past seasons, there’s a very high bar. The goal at
this point is not to be pressured by that but to set a similar expectation for
myself and for the program.”
Hardin acknowledged that McKay’s previous ties to Alabama
was a positive, saying, “when you’re making a big decision like that, it’s
always nice to have a known commodity, to see somebody that we know was really
successful working with the student-athletes before, somebody that we enjoyed
working with somebody who had demonstrated his competency.”
McKay also came recommended by multiple former Alabama
wheelchair tennis players who he had coached.
The season is already underway.
“Everything’s happening really quickly, from knowing the job
was open, applying for it, getting the position, to our first day of practice;
it seemed like it really flew by,” said McKay. “But, at the same time, I’ve
kind of always been ready for an opportunity like this to come up.”
“Tyler’s filling really big shoes because Evan was such an
incredible coach and did so many wonderful things for our program,” Hardin
concluded. “It’s a big deal to follow such a successful coach, but I feel
confident that Tyler’s going to do a great job!”
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