In the Trenches: The Snowball Is Now an Avalanche

In the Trenches: The Snowball Is Now an Avalanche

By Susan Nardi

The news that the University of Arkansas is cutting both its men’s and women’s tennis programs should send a chill through every corner of American tennis. This isn’t just another mid-major quietly trimming budgets—this is an SEC power school. And it’s the first of its kind to eliminate tennis entirely.

That matters.

Because once a school at that level makes a move like this, it doesn’t happen in isolation. It sets a precedent. It gives cover. And it tells every athletic director in the country that cutting tennis is now on the table—no matter how big your program is.

Since 2020, roughly 180 college tennis programs have been cut. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a pattern. I felt it personally when Radford University—my alma mater—dropped both programs last year. Now the snowball isn’t just rolling downhill. It’s picking up speed, size, and force.

The justification? Money.

Arkansas says it will save $2.5 million annually by cutting tennis—money they claim will be reinvested into other sports. But let’s be honest about the math. We’re living in an era where football and basketball coaching salaries routinely sit in the $6.5–$8 million range. Add in NIL, and athletic departments are now in an arms race, pouring even more resources into revenue sports just to stay competitive.

In that environment, tennis—labeled “non-revenue”—becomes expendable.

But if we stop the conversation there, we’re missing the bigger problem.

Because this isn’t just about budgets. It’s about how the sport has positioned itself—and failed to protect itself—within that system.

Take the recent social media commentary from Patrick McEnroe, suggesting that international players are a central issue in college tennis. That argument doesn’t just miss the mark—it completely ignores reality.

Tennis is a global sport. Always has been. In many parts of Europe, it ranks just behind soccer and Formula 1 in popularity. So yes, there are international players on college rosters. A lot of them.

But let’s be clear: they are not the reason programs are being cut.

Coaches are hired to win. Their jobs depend on conference titles and NCAA tournament appearances. When their livelihoods are on the line, they recruit the best talent available—whether that player is from California, Texas, Spain, or Serbia.

If you were in that position, you’d do exactly the same thing.

Blaming international players is a convenient distraction from a much harder truth.

And here’s where that truth gets uncomfortable.

During his six years as head of U.S. player development with the United States Tennis Association, what meaningful impact was made on strengthening the college tennis pipeline?

Where was the emphasis on building a sustainable bridge between junior development and college programs?

Where was the system that consistently produced American players ready to compete at that level?

It’s hard to point to results.

Instead, the focus was heavily tilted toward producing top-level professional players. That’s a worthy goal—but it came at the expense of the broader ecosystem. College tennis wasn’t strengthened. The pipeline wasn’t deepened. And now, years later, we’re seeing the consequences.

You can’t neglect development at the base and expect the structure above it to hold.

And that brings us to the most overlooked issue of all—what’s happening on the ground.

In parks and recreation programs, clubs, and tennis centers across this country, the foundation is cracked. Too often, the least experienced coaches are placed with beginner players—the exact stage where development matters most. That’s where coordination is built. That’s where confidence is formed. That’s where athletes either fall in love with the game or walk away from it.

And we’re putting our weakest resources there.

Meanwhile, so-called “high-performance” programs are built around already-developed players. They don’t build—they select. They wait until someone else has done the hard, unglamorous work and then step in to polish the finished product.

Those of us in the trenches see it every day. We develop players from scratch—hours on court, fundamentals, patience, setbacks—only to watch them get recruited away with promises of something “better.”

And what happens next?

Too often, those players stagnate. Because development isn’t easy. It’s not flashy. And it can’t be rushed.

So when college coaches look at the American pipeline and don’t see enough ready-made players, they go international. Not because they want to—but because they have to.

That’s not a failure of recruiting. That’s a failure of development.

And until we address that, nothing changes.

The truth is, everyone in this ecosystem shares responsibility—national organizations, private academies, college programs, and yes, even those of us grinding it out on public courts every day.

Because if we keep pointing fingers at the wrong problems—NIL, international players, surface-level narratives—we’re going to miss the real issue entirely.

The foundation is weak.

And when the foundation is weak, everything built on top of it is at risk.

Right now, college tennis is feeling that reality.

The avalanche has started.

The only question is whether we’re finally ready to do the hard work to stop it.