Jan. 4, 2011
Columbia, Mo. – The University of Missouri Department of Athletics will conduct a national search to select its next head tennis coach, after being informed by Blake Starkey that he is resigning his position. Starkey has accepted the position of Director of Tennis at the Country Club of Little Rock, in Little Rock, Ark.
Steven Stuckenschneider, who serves as the Green Tennis Center Manager, has been named Interim Head Coach to help guide the program until Starkey's successor is identified, while current Assistant Coach Helen Besovic has been named Interim Associate Head Coach.
After 14 years, Starkey steps down as the longest-serving coach of the MU women's tennis team. He joined the program in the spring of 1997, inheriting a team which went 0-16 the year before he came to Columbia. He quickly got the Tigers on the road to respectability, and after putting together winning seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02, the Tigers surged to national prominence in 2002-03, when Starkey helped lead the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. That team finished 5th in the Big 12 Conference with an overall record of 14-5, and a final ITA ranking of 41st in the nation. Starkey's doubles teams have always been strong. He recruited Urska Juric and Katka Sevcikova who won two ITA Central Region Championships, two Big 12 doubles titles, and shot up to #3 in the nation following their semi-final win over #1 Stanford at the 2004 ITA National Indoors. He has also paired current Tigers Kaitlyn Ritchie and Mallory Weber the past two seasons who have two top-20 wins.
Additionally, Starkey's Tigers have had a particularly solid run over rival Kansas, winning seven of the last eight meetings with the Jayhawks.
Starkey was an instrumental figure in the Green Tennis Center facility project and served as the first manager of the indoor/outdoor facility when it came online in the spring of 2002. Academically, Starkey's teams have always been strong performers in the classroom. He has had several teams achieve ITA Academic All-American status. Andrea Friedman and Urska Juric were individual ITA Academic All-Americans. Starkey's Tigers have produced numerous All Big 12 Academic performers.
“I genuinely want to thank the administration for the opportunity to come to Mizzou,” said Starkey. “I have so many wonderful memories of my time in Columbia. I will always be a Missouri Tiger, and I will always be a Tiger tennis fan. Words cannot describe what the relationships with my players have meant to me. That will be the hardest part, but I am looking forward to the next chapter in my family's life. I wish the next coach the absolute best.”
“Coach Starkey has been an integral member of our coaching staff at Mizzou over the years, and there's no question that he leaves the tennis program in much better shape than it was when he took over, both in terms of a competitive standpoint, as well as our much-improved facilities,” said Senior Associate Athletic Director Mary Austin. “We're very appreciative of Coach Starkey's efforts to help build things here, and we wish him nothing but the best in his new career. He's helped give Mizzou a solid program that we feel will be an attractive one to some outstanding coaching candidates going forward,” Austin said.