Grant Roberts to Succeed Beyers as Head Coach
After 24 seasons and more than 300 wins, Ole Miss Women’s Tennis head coach Mark Beyers will retire following the conclusion of the 2024–25 season.
Beyers left an indelible mark on Ole Miss, departing as the winningest coach in women’s tennis history, and has been so since 2019. He guided the Rebels to 12 NCAA Tournaments, coached 17 players in the NCAA Individual Tournament and shaped the careers of eight All-Americans, including the program’s only individual national champion.
Beyers’ 24 seasons at the helm makes him the sixth-longest tenured head coach for any Ole Miss varsity sport in school history, alongside Billy Chadwick (men’s and women’s tennis, 34 years), Joe Walker (track & field, 30 years), John Vaught (football, 25 years), Junie Hovious (men’s golf, 25 years), and Mike Bianco (baseball, 25 years).
“Ole Miss will be forever grateful to Mark for his leadership and grace in guiding our women’s program the last 24 years,” said Keith Carter, Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics. “In the decades that I’ve known Mark, I’ve seen first hand his ability to develop and nurture young people into highly successful student-athletes that now passionately support our teams. His impact on the court and classroom is only matched by his presence in the Oxford-University community, and we hope that continues into retirement for Mark and Lauren.”
“There are countless people to thank for making the last three decades as memorable and rewarding as they have been,” Beyers said. “It starts with the players, and we have been blessed with so many talented ones that brought prestige to our program and tremendous joy to my life. I have also enjoyed amazing support from our coaching staff, administration, fans, and most of all my wife Lauren, whose encouragement has been instrumental to our success.
“I am grateful to have spent almost all of my career with one school and especially a place as special as Ole Miss and Oxford. Lauren and I look forward to remaining a part of the community while watching this program continue to grow under Grant’s leadership.”
At the conclusion of this campaign, Grant Roberts will be elevated to head coach after working under Beyers for the past eight seasons. He will serve as the fourth head coach in Ole Miss women’s tennis history. Roberts has assisted in coaching six student athletes in their quest for an individual title, including Ole Miss’ first women’s tennis national champion, Arianne Hartono, in 2018.
“As excited as we are for Mark as he enters this next chapter of his life, we have the same joy for our program to move under Grant’s leadership,” Carter said. “When you talk to individuals in the college tennis community, you learn very quickly the level of respect and adoration that Grant has achieved at a young age. Both as a player and coach, he has made an immediate and positive impact on every facet of the teams he has joined. Simply put, Grant knows championship tennis, and we can’t wait to see him build on our remarkable tradition in the years ahead.”
“First, I’d like to give a huge thank you to Keith Carter, Jennifer Saxon and Wesley Owen for this opportunity,” Roberts said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at Ole Miss, and I am very excited to continue my career here in this new role. I feel honored to lead this incredible group of student athletes and continue to work alongside some of the best staff in the country.
“Second, I want to thank Mark Beyers. It’s hard to put into words how grateful I am that you took a chance and brought me to Ole Miss seven years ago. You’ve been an incredible coach, mentor and friend to me since my first day in Oxford, and I’m going to miss working with you every day. You’re one of the all-time greats in our sport, and I’ll do everything I can to fill your shoes and continue the legacy that you’re leaving behind.”
Beyers’ Historic Accomplishments
Beyers directed the Rebels to at least 10 dual wins in 20 of his 24 years, the last five of which have been consecutively. He’s the only head coach in Ole Miss Women’s Tennis history to accumulate more than 300 wins for the program. In his final season guiding the Rebels, he became the only active SEC coach to earn more than 300 career wins exclusively at their current institution.
At the beginning of his Ole Miss head-coaching tenure in 2001–02, Beyers coached Mira Radu in a remarkable finish to her career. Radu was an All-American in her final two years in Oxford under Beyers and became the fourth Rebel to ever eclipse 100 career singles victories. In 2003, Radu was named the NCAA Woman of the Year in Mississippi after advancing to the quarterfinals of the National Singles Tournament.
Hartono’s development into an NCAA individual champion is a highlight of Beyers’ career at Ole Miss. In 2018, she won 37 singles matches, including 22 in dual competitions, en route to becoming Ole Miss’ first ever women’s singles champion. Along the way, Hartono earned the program’s first SEC Player of the Year accolade while also earning the Honda Sports Award (Tennis).
While at Ole Miss, Beyers is a three-time ITA South Region Coach of the Year. He most recently earned the accolade in 2018 while assisting Hartono in her successful senior year. That season, Ole Miss won 22 matches during the spring and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in program history and the second time under Beyers. Twenty-two wins served as the most by any Rebel team since 1999.
The first time Ole Miss reached the Sweet 16 of the tournament under Beyers was in 2010, Beyers’ first time receiving ITA’s regional coaching award. The Rebels went 17-6, capturing the SEC West Championship and reached the SEC tournament semifinals for the second year in a row. The Rebels ended the year ranked No. 17 in the nation, posted their best finish in the SEC (second) since 1999 and their best league record since 2000. Kristi Boxx and Karen Nijssen earned All-America honors that year, while Boxx was one of only nine players in the nation to earn the honor in both singles and doubles.
Beyers built Ole Miss into an academic powerhouse, garnering ITA All-Academic Team status 21 times in his 24 years. The ITA has recognized 40 of Beyers’ student-athletes as scholar-athletes since 2002. That number rises to over 50 for SEC Academic Honor Roll nods.
Other conference accolades include coaching 20 athletes to All-SEC selections, six players to the SEC All-Freshman Team and nearly 30 instances of an SEC Player or Freshman of the Week. Twelve Rebels earned a spot on the SEC Community Service Team under Beyers, further showcasing Beyers’ commitment to enhancing character as well as athletic achievements.
Beyers arrived in Oxford in 1995 as the men’s assistant coach. In his six years as an assistant coach with the Rebels, Ole Miss reached the final four twice (1997, 1999) and won three SEC titles (1996, 1997, 1999). In 1997, Beyers was the first recipient of the ITA Region III Assistant Coach-of-the-Year Award.
Prior to joining the Rebels, the Tilburg, Holland, native spent three years as the head coach of the women’s tennis team at his alma mater, Armstrong Atlantic State. During his three years, the team captured the NCAA Division II Championship, posted a 50-8 record and won the Peach Belt Conference each year. Beyers earned PBC Coach-of-the-Year honors in 1993, 1994 and 1995. In 1995, he received NCAA Division II South Regional Coach-of-the-Year honors. His teams ranked 10th, ninth and first respectively in the Division II national rankings.
Roberts’ Rise Up Coaching Ranks
Roberts came to Ole Miss following a stint as the women’s assistant coach at Colorado. He arrived there by way of Kentucky, where he served as a volunteer assistant coach for his alma mater.
A standout for Kentucky, Roberts helped lead the Wildcats to the 2012 SEC Championship and the NCAA Sweet 16 three times, including the quarterfinals in 2010. Roberts left Kentucky as the program’s all-time leader in matches clinched. He was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll three straight years.
Roberts made an immediate impact in his first season with Ole Miss. He assisted Beyers in leading the Rebels to their first 20-win season (22-7) since 1999, the NCAA Sweet 16, the most wins in SEC play (9-4), their best finish in the SEC (fifth) since 2012 and a final ranking of No. 8, the highest since 1999.
Roberts was on Hartono’s court when she made a historic run to the NCAA Singles Championship, becoming the first NCAA Champion in program history. He also helped coach All-SEC Alexa Bortles, Sabina Machalova, Tea Jandric and Anna Vrbenska.
The next season, Roberts helped guide Jandric to becoming the ITA Southern Region’s Most Improved Senior while also earning All-SEC Second Team status. Additionally, Machalova was named the ITA’s Regional Player to Watch after collecting 15 wins.
This season, Roberts assisted a trio of athletes to the NCAA Individual Championship. Ludmila Kareisová, Anaëlle Leclercq-Ficher and Lucie Petruzelova each made appearances in Waco, Texas, for a shot at an individual title. Sending three athletes to the individual tournament is the most by a Rebel team since 2000, and Ole Miss was tied for the most representatives in the tournament among all schools.
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For more information on Ole Miss Women’s Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis. Also follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.
