SAN ANTONIO – Former UTSA tennis staff member Connor Barnard will return to San Antonio as women’s tennis coach Ki Kroll announced his hiring as the Roadrunners’ assistant coach ahead of the 2024-25 school year.
“I am thrilled to be back at UTSA, where my coaching career began,” Barnard said. “Ki has done a great job with the women’s tennis program and I am grateful for the opportunity to continue the success. I look forward to calling San Antonio home again. Go Roadrunners!”
Barnard served as an assistant coach for Wichita State’s men’s team for the past two seasons, helping to coach Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region Freshman of the Year Alejandro Jacome as well as regionally ranked doubles players Kristof Minarik and Alex Richards.
Before heading to Kansas, Barnard spent the 2021-22 season as a volunteer assistant coach in the Roadrunner men’s program under then-coach Sergey Avdeyev. A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Barnard was a graduate assistant at Northern Iowa from 2019-20 before joining the UTSA staff. Barnard worked as a tennis professional in Reno, Nevada, working with top-level high school athletes. He previously coached at Cedar Falls High School.
“I am extremely pleased to welcome Connor back to our Roadrunner family,” said Kroll. “His commitment to the sport of tennis is unparalleled and he is a great addition to our coaching staff. He is a great fit for us and I look forward to his future contributions to the success of this team.”
As a collegiate tennis player, Barnard was named Simpson College’s Freshman of the Year before transferring to Wartburg College, where he was a three-time American Rivers Conference all-conference doubles player and earned all-conference honors in singles as a senior captain. Barnard’s road to success began early when he won a state championship in high school before becoming one of the best players in Wartburg history, winning 47 singles points and 41 doubles decisions before graduating with a degree in fitness management with minors in leadership and business administration. While at UNI, he earned his master’s degree in kinesiology and sport performance.
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