Men’s Tennis Head Coach John Roddick Resigns, Koniecko Takes Over as Director

John Roddick, the UCF Knights’ Director of Tennis and Men’s Tennis Head Coach, resigned from his position Friday afternoon, per a press release from UCF.

Bryan Koniecko, UCF’s Women’s Tennis Head Coach, was promoted to succeed Roddick as Director of Tennis, overseeing both tennis programs. According to the press release, Koniecko will work alongside the UCF Athletics administration to hire a new men’s tennis head coach.

Roddick is the third UCF head coach to be replaced heading into the Knights’ first athletic year in the Big 12, after Baseball’s Greg Lovelady and Rowing’s Becky Cramer (Bryan Jackson, who led UCF’s Cross Country team, also left the program for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but he technically was not the team’s head coach).

As of this article’s publishing, Roddick has not been connected to another coaching job.

“I would like to thank Terry Mohajir and Danny White for the opportunity to represent UCF,” Roddick said in a press release. “It was an exciting time to be at UCF and witness the trajectory of UCF athletics. I am grateful to all of my players who worked so hard to put UCF tennis on the map.”

“I’m very proud of all of those guys,” he said.

Roddick hired Koniecko to coach the women’s tennis team back in 2016, right after his arrival. Koniecko has since led the Knights to two AAC titles (2019 and 2021), their first conference titles since 2002, and five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (2018-2023; 2020 tournament canceled due to COVID), including their first win in 2018. He also coached the program’s first-ever All-American selections in doubles pair Rebeka Stolmar and Marie Mattel in 2020.

“A tremendous amount of gratitude goes to John Roddick for the chance he gave me seven years ago,” Koniecko said in a press release on his promotion. “His mentorship and friendship have been invaluable to me in my journey. Under Coach Roddick’s guidance, UCF tennis has transformed into a national brand, and the wealth of knowledge I’ve gained from him is immeasurable.”

Since arriving in Orlando in May 2016, Roddick has led the men’s tennis program to an AAC title in 2021, its first conference title since 2005, and three NCAA Tournament appearances, doubling its all-time total. He also coached five of the seven players in program history to get selected as an All-American (Korey Lovett, Eero Vasa, Gabriel Decamps, Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel).

Also in 2021, he was named the AAC’s Coach of the Year, led the Knights to their first NCAA Tournament win, a 4-0 sweep of Monmouth as a first-time national seed, and coached Gabriel Decamps, a two-time All-American, to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championship.

“We’re extremely grateful for all that John [Roddick] has done with both our tennis programs,” Mohajir said in a press release on Roddick’s resignation. “He helped our men’s squads achieve new accomplishments in terms of NCAA success. We wish him all the best in his next chapter.”

Roddick, of course, is the brother of American tennis great Andy Roddick.

Update (8/16):

Twelve days following Roddick’s resignation, tennis insider Parsa Nemati reported that he signed with Auburn to become its new Men’s Tennis associate head coach.

The move would reunite him with Bobby Reynolds, Auburn’s head men’s tennis coach and former assistant of Roddick’s at Oklahoma during the 2015-2016 season.

Roddick becomes the third former UCF head coach to find his way to Auburn, joining Women’s Soccer’s Karen Richter Hoppa and Men’s Golf’s Nick Clinard.