Derek is in his 7th year as the Head Coach at Liberty. He led the team to a number 39 national team ranking in 2021 and won the inaugural 2023 Universal Tennis NIT Title.

Before that, he spent five seasons as the Assistant Coach at Georgia Tech where he was instrumental in recruiting and developing Chris Eubanks who recently reached 31 in the world after making the quarterfinals last year at Wimbledon. Derek also had coaching stops at Fresno State and the University of Virginia.

Derek is nationally known for being strategic, a master problem solver, and a developer of talent. But in this episode you are going to hear:

• What was really going on behind the scenes as he was rising the coaching ranks
• What he learned from the legendary Coach Brian Boland and Tony Bresky
• How four men stepped into Derek’s life at Georgia Tech, completely transforming Derek and the trajectory or his life
• And much, much more!

This is episode 5 of our 8 episode series sharing faith filled stories of elite college tennis coaches. Join us for the entire series!

Derek shared about how the story of Unbroken impacted his life. Here is a link to the book. A slight warning to young readers, this book is quite heavy and contains language. Read with wisdom and caution. But it truly is an unbelievable story of perseverance and how God transforms lives.

Connect:

IG - @aiatennis

Email - chad.simpson@athletesinaction.org

Track: "The Rebel Flagship"

Music provided by https://slip.stream