Connor Barnard was announced as Wichita State's assistant men's tennis coach on Aug. 19, 2022.
"I'm very excited to have Connor join our program," head coach Darragh Glavin said. "From our first conversation, I could tell he's passionate about coaching college tennis and developing our student athletes on and off the court."
In his first year as the Shocker men's tennis assistant, Barnard helped guide the Shockers to an 11-16 record, including an excellent 8-3 record in home matches. Barnard helped coach the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Central Region Freshman of the Year in Alejandro Jacome and he helped coach the duo of Kristof Minarik and Alex Richards to a final ranking of 8th in the ITA's Central Region Doubles Rankings.
Â
Barnard joins the Shockers after serving as the volunteer assistant coach at UTSA during the 2021-22 season. He previously coached at Cedar Falls High School and brings two years of certified personal training experience.
Â
"I'm really excited to be joining the WSU community," Barnard said. "Wichita State men's tennis has been a very successful program over the last number of years, and I am thrilled to help continue their success. Darragh has amazing experience, and I am ready to work with him to build something very special here."
Â
As a collegiate tennis player, Barnard was named the Simpson College Freshman of the Year before transferring to Wartburg College where he was a three-time all-conference doubles player in the American Rivers Conference and earned all-conference honors in singles as a senior captain.
Â
"He is young, hungry and determined to help this program get better," Glavin said. "Connor will bring great experience, and I'm looking forward to working alongside him each day."
Â
Barnard graduated from Wartburg College with a bachelor's degree in fitness management with minors in leadership and business administration and went on to earn his master's in kinesiology and sport performance from Northern Iowa.
