Going into five hours of singles play, University of Maryland Baltimore Country head men's and women's tennis coach Rob Hubbard stood on the south side of the edge of the fifth court at UTPA's Orville Cox Tennis Center, as his team and UTPA contended the deciding point of the match.

Hubbard has been the head coach at UMBC for three years. Before that, UTPA was “his team.”

“I was very nervous leaving the hotel this morning… but then it got really weird because we had to warm up on the back three courts and I've always been used to warming up in the front three,” he said. “But it was really exciting to be here. It's always an honor.”

Hubbard's history at UTPA began when he got recruited to play at Pan American University in 1974. He played until 1978. During that time, he was the No. 1 player on a team that was ranked in the top-10 nationally during the 1978 season. Hubbard even had the opportunity to individually represent UTPA at the NCAA Division I Championships.

In 1978, he joined the ATP tour and was ranked as high as 290^th in the world. Hubbard participated in the US Open in 1979 and 1980. During his post-professional playing days, he was a two-time USTA National Champion and was selected to represent the United States at the Italia Cup, which was a 35-and-over Davis Cup competition. He was also the USPTA Maryland Pro of the Year in 2000 and was the USPTA Mid-Atlantic 35-and-over Player of the Year during his elite playing career.

In 1981, Hubbard's coaching career started when he became an Assistant Tennis Professional at the Wimbledon Racquet Club in Arlington, Texas, and then served as Head Tennis Professional at the Orchard Indoor Tennis Club from 1989 to 1993. At the same time, he co-owned the Tennis Institute Tennis Camp for six years.

Hubbard spent seven years as the Director of Tennis at the Elkridge Club, where he developed senior, adult and junior events, programs, clinics and lessons. He served as co-head coach of the USTA Junior Player Development Training Center in Baltimore from 1992 through 1994.

He then owned and directed the Tournament Tough Training Center in Baltimore, where he produced more than 25 nationally-ranked players, and was the head coach at Gopher College, leading them to a top-30 rank in the NCAA Division III polls and their first NCAA Championships appearance during the 2005 season.

That December, Hubbard returned to his alma mater to become the men's and women's head coach at UTPA.

HOME, SWEET HOME

“I got a call to see if I would come back to coach here and I didn't hesitate,” he said. “I was called, I flew in for an interview, I was offered the job, and moved here all within three weeks. I couldn't wait to get here, it was exciting to come back and coach at my alma mater.”

In 2006, the women's team had their highest win total in five years with seven, and both teams were one of 22 programs in the nation to have both squads selected as All-Academic Scholar Teams by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

During his last year leading the Broncs, the men's team was  ranked 12th in the South Central Region for the fifth time in seven seasons, the women's team finished at 17-8 and earned a spot on the 2008 Women's Division I final regional rankings in 15th place. In addition, the women's team received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Team award for the 2007-2008 academic year for their excellence in the classroom.

During his last year as UTPA head coach, Hubbard recruited Beau Bernstein and Malin Andersen. The two players are seniors and hold the No. 1 position on their respective squads.

Although many things in the Rio Grande Valley changed from the time he left the school in the late 70s to his second arrival more than 25 years later, he realized that the essence of the area was still the same.

“When I came down as a coach about six or seven years ago now it changed a lot,” he said. “It was a big change when I came back, but then there were still so many things that were the same and I love it.”

A native of Maryland, Hubbard left UTPA to became the head coach at UMBC in late 2008, but he did not leave alone. Hubbard took a piece of UTPA with him.

A semester after he became the coach at UMBC, Hubbard's former player and graduate assistant coach moved to Maryland and to become his assistant.

OLIVER STEIL

Oliver Steil was part of the UTPA tennis team from 2003-to-2006. A chance interaction with one of UTPA's players led him to become a Bronc.

“The winter before I got here, I played a guy who was with the team for four years… and I beat him, so we started talking afterwards and that's how we got the connection together. He told the coach about me,” he said.

Although Steil admitted that he did not know the RGV existed, he embraced it, adopted it as his home, and was the top player for the Broncs throughout his entire collegiate career.

When Hubbard became head coach, he was Steil's fourth coach in the four years. The senior's attitude towards the program's situation immediately caught Hubbard's attention. After Steil got a degree in Kinesiology, he continued to pursue a master's degree in the same field. That's when he became part of the coaching staff.

“The team wasn't in good shape... there wasn't a very good forecast for the season and Oli, as a senior, could've laid down on me and I couldn't have done anything about it because we didn't have enough guys if someone left,” Hubbard said. “But Oli showed me so much character and so much integrity that when he graduated, we had a very small amount of money that was supposed to be for an assistant. I turned it into a grad. assistant position and we offered it to Oli because he's very mature for his age. He was UTPA through and through. He's just as proud about being back here.”

Steil said that coming back raised mixed emotions of excitement and nervousness. Similar to what he felt when he first arrived almost ten years ago, when, although he the Valley was not what he expected, it became his home.
“It brings back memories,” he said. “It was a change for me, but I love it down here. It's a whole different mentality down here. I love it. I wish I could've stayed longer.”

Hubbard mentioned that, although he and his assistant, who he described as his Radar O'Reilly (from the show Mash) because “he knows what I want before I ask for it,” are now dedicated to their new institution, they are and always will be Broncs at heart.

“We are at UMBC, but on our favorites, on our computers is UTPA Athletics. We're checking how they do on baseball, how did they do on basketball, how's the tennis team…” Hubbard said. “We're rooting for the tennis team here, except when we play them. We're UTPA, green, orange and white, through and through. He's another UTPA guy. It's awesome.”

MEMORIES

Hubbard is all UTPA. Even when he came back to coach in 2005, he took a few classes to be able to finish his bachelor's degree, which he couldn't conclude because he left to play professionally.

“I'm really proud to get my degree from here,” he said. “I'm really, really proud of UT-Pan American. It holds a really special place in my heart.”
It holds such a special place in his heart that in March 2007, he married his wife, Robin, at the UTPA Chapel.

Robin Hubbard, who played for the University of North Texas in the 70s, and Rob Hubbard were dating while they were both in school. But the distance took a toll on the relationship in a time where cellphones and the internet weren't around.

The two tennis enthusiasts lost contact with each other for more than 20 years, but it was when Hubbard came down to coach at UTPA that the couple reunited again.

“I met her at a club that we were practicing at, and the sparks were still there,” he said. “Next thing we know, she moved down and we got married in the chapel, with the team.

“It was a fun time. We had a women's match that morning and the women beat Central Arkansas just before the rain came and then we all hustled over, showered real quick, went to the chapel for the service, and I rented out the restaurant across the street and we had a good old party. So this place is very, very special for me.”

Robin Hubbard is now an assistant coach at Towson University in Maryland.

Steil, who attended the wedding as a guest then, said that coming down to the Valley again is an opportunity for both him and Hubbard to make more UTPA memories.

“I'm coming back as a guest almost, as a visitor, but I'll still take memories,” he said. “It's good to see familiar faces and just make memories and seeing Pan Am going in the right direction… it looks like you guys are turning things around for the better and that's great because it's still my alma matter, so I want Pan Am to do well.”

For Hubbard, the opportunity to bring his current athletes to UTPA and show them a big piece of his history was definitely worthwhile.

“I'm really proud of my university, UTPA. I'm really proud that I was a student here and then a coach,” he said. “I had the opportunity to bring my team down and play, show them where I played, and the memories and traditions that we had.”