Elon University Men’s Tennis Coach Michael Leonard will retire after 20 years of coaching at Elon following the 2024 season. Leonard is the winningest coach in Elon men's tennis history with a record of 295-173 over his 20-year career. He is a seven-time conference Coach of the Year and led Elon to six regular season championships. With a win on April 20 in the semifinals of the 2024 CAA Men’s Tennis Championship, Leonard reached the significant milestone of 300 career wins. Under Leonard's mentorship, the program had 74 all-conference selections, six conference Players of the Year and six conference Rookies of the Year.
You rarely hear a southern accent around the Moseley Student Center or Alamance Building. If a drawl echoes, it’s usually a campus employee. Each time there is an accent, I think of growing up in the South and feel that mix of dread and nostalgia. Time in the South gets you acquainted with those two feelings. The South is both a good memory and a bad one. Once I heard a friend say, “I know about the South, I go to Elon.” As a South Carolinian, that phrase struck me as a little strange. I crunched some numbers.
