COLUMBUS — “It feels good to be around the tennis world again.”
Hayden Embry is returning to the sport he loves at the Mississippi University for Women.
The Philadelphia, Miss., native was named the new head coach for both men’s and women’s tennis at The W last week. It offered a return to the court for the former junior college and high school tennis player, but it also offered an opportunity he’s wanted since his own playing days ended.
“I’ve been away from it on the collegiate level since I stopped playing and it’s always been my dream to be a head coach at a college,” he said. “I’m obsessed with it and I’m glad to be back in it.”
Embry arrives at a young MUW tennis program that has lacked consistency and leadership. Neither the men’s or women’s team has had a winning season since the programs began in 2018, and last season Assistant Athletic Director Brian Merkel had to step in as interim head coach to lead the program.
“It was one of those things where our previous coach left a time that left us without much time to find another coach,” Merkel told The Dispatch. “I’ve always liked tennis, I like to watch it, I play it, but in terms of coaching and knowledge of that, it was slim. I’ve coached different sports for a long time, and I was excited to step in. The kids are great to be around and I was happy to help provide them with a good experience.”
Coaching tennis might have been new to him, but coaching wasn’t, and that experience gave him another perspective of the student-athlete experience and the demands of the job he was hiring for.
He was previously the men’s basketball head coach from 2018-2021, and then took the same role at Starkville Academy for two years, before returning to The W in an administrative role.
“As an assistant AD, you’re not around student-athletes on a day-to-day basis as much as coaches, and this really allowed me to get to know them on a more personal level,” Merkel said. “With tennis too, we don’t play a ton of matches at home. It was one of those sports where I didn’t know them very well, so it brought me into their world and into a sport I hadn’t really gotten to know that well before.”
Merkel was happy to bring in someone like Embry, who can give the program the specialist leadership it deserves as well as ambition to take the teams to greater heights. Both he and Athletic Director Buddy Foster cited a unique quality in Embry: his “energy.”
“We’re incredibly excited,” Merkel said of Embry’s arrival. “We were looking for someone to come and revitalize the program, put some energy behind it, because we feel as though there is a lot of potential there. Getting someone like Hayden to come in full time, ready to go, we’re excited and I know our student athletes are as well.”
Embry cited Merkel as a big help in the transition process, someone who has helped evaluate the current program and refine his vision for moving it forward.
There is still plenty of work to do, but that’s what Embry was looking for in his first head-coaching job. He wanted to find somewhere that required his energy; somewhere he could make his mark and help shape a legacy.
“I really wanted to build something,” Embry said. “Not necessarily from scratch, but to be somewhere I could make a name for myself and build something up. This is somewhere I’m the first full-time head coach. I knew they were taking it seriously and wanting to build this, and that’s what I want to do and leave my name on something as well.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
