Legendary UT Martin Tennis Coach Dennis Taylor To Be Inducted Into Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame
4/16/2026 12:00:00 PM | General, Tennis
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference unveiled its Hall of Fame Class of 2026 honorees today and longtime University of Tennessee at Martin head tennis coach Dennis Taylor is one of three selections into the exclusive club.
Taylor will join the late Southeast Missouri administrator Ron Hines and former Southeast Missouri head softball coach in the OVC Hall of Fame as this year's ceremony will take place on Thursday, May 28 at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, Tenn.
Taylor will be the fifth Skyhawk to be enshrined into the OVC Hall of Fame, which was established in 1977 and will now feature 103 members. Taylor joins Dr. Margaret N. Perry (1998), Cal Luther (2000), Phil Dane (2021) and Jerry Carpenter (2023) as UT Martin representatives in the league's Hall of Fame, which is limited to coaches, administrators, faculty and staff members who have been associated with the OVC for at least five years and have had extensive outstanding service to the Conference.
A Lawrenceburg, Tenn. native, Taylor served as the Skyhawks' head women's tennis coach for 32 seasons and the head men's coach for 22 seasons. He accumulated nine total conference championships and 535 career victories, which ranked fifth amongst active NCAA Division I head women's tennis coaches before his retirement on Dec. 31, 2019. He nabbed seven OVC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year accolades (most in league history) as part of the 10 total conference Coach of the Year awards over his remarkable career.
The Skyhawk women's tennis squad qualified for the OVC Championship tournament 26 out of 27 seasons under Taylor, winning league titles in 1994, 1995, 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2016. UT Martin made its first-ever NCAA Regional appearance as Division I members in 2005. Overall, the Skyhawk women's team won 72.9 percent (172-64 record) of their OVC decisions under Taylor.
In his illustrious career, Taylor coached a pair of national champions, 13 All-Americans, five OVC Players of the Year, three OVC Freshmen of the Year 74 all-conference honorees.
A 1973 UT Martin graduate, Taylor's teams also developed a reputation as one of the top academic programs in the nation. The Skyhawks routinely generated a 3.75 team GPA or better during Taylor's coaching tenure, leading to five OVC Scholar-Athletes and four OVC Team Academic Awards.
Taylor raised the standard of Skyhawk tennis in all areas, including facility upgrades at the Skyhawk Tennis Complex and James C. Henson Tennis Center, an improved strength of schedule and an expanded recruiting base that included many international student-athletes.
Already a member of the Martin Methodist College Hall of Fame (where he began his collegiate playing career before transferring to UT Martin), Taylor was inducted into the Skyhawk Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021 – joining nine of his former student-athletes.
Taylor will join the late Southeast Missouri administrator Ron Hines and former Southeast Missouri head softball coach in the OVC Hall of Fame as this year's ceremony will take place on Thursday, May 28 at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, Tenn.
Taylor will be the fifth Skyhawk to be enshrined into the OVC Hall of Fame, which was established in 1977 and will now feature 103 members. Taylor joins Dr. Margaret N. Perry (1998), Cal Luther (2000), Phil Dane (2021) and Jerry Carpenter (2023) as UT Martin representatives in the league's Hall of Fame, which is limited to coaches, administrators, faculty and staff members who have been associated with the OVC for at least five years and have had extensive outstanding service to the Conference.
A Lawrenceburg, Tenn. native, Taylor served as the Skyhawks' head women's tennis coach for 32 seasons and the head men's coach for 22 seasons. He accumulated nine total conference championships and 535 career victories, which ranked fifth amongst active NCAA Division I head women's tennis coaches before his retirement on Dec. 31, 2019. He nabbed seven OVC Women's Tennis Coach of the Year accolades (most in league history) as part of the 10 total conference Coach of the Year awards over his remarkable career.
The Skyhawk women's tennis squad qualified for the OVC Championship tournament 26 out of 27 seasons under Taylor, winning league titles in 1994, 1995, 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2016. UT Martin made its first-ever NCAA Regional appearance as Division I members in 2005. Overall, the Skyhawk women's team won 72.9 percent (172-64 record) of their OVC decisions under Taylor.
In his illustrious career, Taylor coached a pair of national champions, 13 All-Americans, five OVC Players of the Year, three OVC Freshmen of the Year 74 all-conference honorees.
A 1973 UT Martin graduate, Taylor's teams also developed a reputation as one of the top academic programs in the nation. The Skyhawks routinely generated a 3.75 team GPA or better during Taylor's coaching tenure, leading to five OVC Scholar-Athletes and four OVC Team Academic Awards.
Taylor raised the standard of Skyhawk tennis in all areas, including facility upgrades at the Skyhawk Tennis Complex and James C. Henson Tennis Center, an improved strength of schedule and an expanded recruiting base that included many international student-athletes.
Already a member of the Martin Methodist College Hall of Fame (where he began his collegiate playing career before transferring to UT Martin), Taylor was inducted into the Skyhawk Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021 – joining nine of his former student-athletes.
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