Beckham's Contract Extension Approved by ULAA Board of Directors

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville Athletic Association voted Mark Beckham a contract extension as the Cardinals' head women's tennis coach through 2023. Beckham was elevated to the head coach position for the women in 2007 after 15 years as an assistant with the men's program.

"I am excited and thankful for the trust shown by my administration and Vince Tyra," said Beckham. "I am in a unique position because not only am I a fan of the University of Louisville but I am also the women's head tennis coach. I grew up in the city and grew up watching and loving basketball all the way back to Coach Denny Crum, Darrell Griffith and Pervis Ellison and all the great Cardinal teams. I have also been here long enough as a player and a coach to see the transformation into one of the best athletic departments in the country. So there is a lot of pride in this place for me. I want nothing but the best for the University of Louisville. This is home for me. I don't take my position for granted and I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to lead the Louisville Women's Tennis Team."

Beckham is one of just 17 ACC Black head coaches and one of just three Black women's tennis head coaches at the Power Five level. The extension comes as the Cardinals are coming off a strong performance in the COVID shortened season. In 2020-21, Beckham had two doubles teams in the national rankings with Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova, who ranked as high as No. 13 and earned a bid to the NCAA Doubles Championships. Another duo, Andrea Di Palma and Rhea Verma, were nationally ranked as well. Di Palma, a candidate for ACC Freshman of the Year, broke into the singles national rankings. The team spent three weeks in the national ranking and ended the regular season with a 9-14 record. Di Palma earned Third Team All-ACC honors after posting a 10-6 record at No. 2 singles. The Cardinals were ranked No. 4 as a team in the Ohio Valley Region with Di Palma (No. 9) and Neely (No. 16) earning Top 20 rankings in the region. The doubles pairs of Simova and Neely was ranked No. 2 in the Region and No. 17 nationally. Rhea Verma and Di Palma were No. 8 in the region as a duo.

In his first year as head coach, he took the Cardinal women's team to their first NCAA appearance in program history. The Cardinals, after posting a 16-8 mark and achieving their highest ever national ranking of No. 38, were selected at-large to the NCAAs, where they played Indiana in Evanston, Ill. His success was recognized as he was named the 2008 USTA Kentucky Coach of the Year.

In his second year, he led the Cardinals to third place in the BIG EAST powered by an upset win over No. 3 seeded USF and placed eight Cardinals on the BIG EAST Academic team. Bianca Gorbea was named All-Conference. His third year, he led the team to 11 wins and saw then-freshman Mandy Brown rise to a No. 13 ranking in the region.
In 2011-12, with the infusion of young talent, Beckham coached the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in Julia Fellerhoff and a No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. He had the then-highest nationally ranked doubles team of Mandy Brown and Julia Fellerhoff, the highest ranked singles player in Becca Shine with Shine making the quarter finals of the ITA Singles Regional and Fellerhoff making the ITA Singles Regional Semi-Finals. Manuela Velasquez and Amelia Harris made the ITA regional semi-finals as a doubles team in Fall 2011 and Fellerhoff and Shine were invited to the ITA All-American Tournament. Fellerhoff and Shine both were named to the All-BIG EAST first team.

In 2012-13, Beckham led the Cardinals to an unbeaten record at home and a semi-final finish in the BIG EAST. Highlights in the spring of 2013 included upset wins over the Big Ten's Minnesota and Wisconsin and the ACC's Wake Forest. Fellerhoff and Shine were both ranked by the ITA in the Top 100 in singles going into the spring season and were both named to the All-BIG EAST Team. In the fall of 2013, Fellerhoff and Shine won the ITA Regional Doubles Championship and advanced to the ITA National Indoor Championship where they finished as runners-up, earning a No. 2 ranking, the highest ever doubles ranking in Cardinal history in either men's or women's tennis. To top it off, Beckham put together the No. 16 ranked recruiting class in the nation.

The next year, the Cardinals saw their famous pair of Fellerhoff and Shine earn All-AAC honors, with Shine being named ITA Most Improved Senior. Shine reached the century mark in doubles wins became the all-time singles wins leader at 104. She also notched her 102nd victory in doubles placing her second on the all-time doubles list. Fellerhoff and Shine became the first Cardinals ever to advance to the NCAA National Championship and the No. 20-ranked pair competed as a doubles team. Fellerhoff went undefeated at home in singles over her last two seasons with a perfect 16-0 record at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

Beckham saw Ola Mally and Caroline Walter named to the ACC All-Academic squad while the Cards posted a perfect APR in 2014-15. Going 12-17 for the season, the Cards beat Syracuse in the first round of the Cards' first-ever ACC tournament before falling to Clemson. The season saw Beckham earn his 100^th win with a victory over Pitt.
The Cards placed seven on the All-ACC Academic squad in 2015-16. The next season, the Cards posted a sparkling 15-13 mark and pulled off an upset of nationally ranked Virginia at home during the regular season. The Cards had Mia Schmidt-Jorgensen as a finalist in the ITA Ohio Valley Regional and Beckham's squad upset Syracuse in the first round of the ACC Tournament before bowing out to Wake Forest. The Cards earned a perfect mark for Graduation Success Rate (GSR). Ola Mally, Olivia Boesing, Mariana Humberg and Abbie Pahz all earned ITA All-Academic Scholar Athlete accolades. Humberg earned a coveted spot on the ACC All-Academic spot. Pahz and Humberg made up a formidable doubles combination with a 15-7 mark at No. 1 in the ACC.

The 2017-18 season marked the first time the Cardinals had two different doubles teams in the national rankings with Humberg and Pahz being joined in the poll by Sena Suswam and Raven Neely. Humberg and Pahz amassed a 26-6 doubles record at the No. 1 slot that year and ended the season ranked at No. 46. UofL opened the ACC season with an upset of Notre Dame. Humberg, Pahz and Suswam all earned a spot on the All-ACC Academic roll.

In 2018-19, the Cardinals began the season with a 9-0 mark and were ranked as high as No. 49 nationally. UofL placed seven on the ACC Honor Roll.

The Cards' 2019-20 season came to a grinding halt in early March when the COVID pandemic shut the world down. Luckily, the Cardinals were able to take their long-awaited trip to Hawai'i before the shutdown. UofL was 8-6 when play was suspended nationwide. The Cardinals continued to excel in the classroom despite the quarantine, placing seven on the ACC Honor Roll and posted a perfect APR.

Beckham's Contract Extension Approved by ULAA Board of Directors

Players Mentioned

Andrea DiPalma

Raven Neely

Tatiana Simova

Rhea Verma

University of Louisville Athletics