The University of Virginia announced Friday the creation of a fund to permanently support its championship men’s tennis program, a first step toward a future in which UVA envisions self-sustaining operations for all Olympic sports.
The new Lockhart Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach Endowed Fund reflects a creative solution for collegiate sports, modeling an approach for athletics programs that share uncertain, rapidly changing futures and constrained funding, particularly for Olympic sports, according to UVA President Jim Ryan.
“The new architecture for funding Olympic sports at the University of Virginia is an innovative response to the unpredictable landscape of college athletics,” Ryan said. “Thanks to the generosity and partnership of our alumni and friends, like Terry and Gene Lockhart, UVA is creating a future in which our successful and beloved Olympic sports can focus completely on student-athletes and competition, thanks to the permanent support for operating needs from endowed funds.”
Enabled By Longtime UVA Leaders
The Lockhart Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach Endowed Fund was created through a gift from H. Eugene “Gene” Lockhart Jr. and Terry J. Lockhart. The couple are longtime supporters of many areas of UVA – and particularly of the tennis program, where Gene mentors and advises players weekly – and they have generously endowed scholarships.
Gene Lockhart earned his UVA engineering degree as well as an MBA from UVA’s Darden School of Business. Terry Lockhart is a graduate of the College of Arts & Sciences. Both Terry and Gene have been engaged across the Grounds, and the commonwealth, for decades as strong advocates for higher education.
The fund establishes an endowment that will, in perpetuity, provide funds for the men’s tennis program’s annual expenses. The initial gift provides a foundation – along with a number of scholarship endowments funded by the Lockharts and other UVA donors – to hopefully endow the entire men’s tennis program in the future.
“Terry and I are excited to partner with the University of Virginia, UVA Athletics and head tennis coach Andres Pedroso to forge a new path that benefits the team and the University,” Gene Lockhart said. “UVA men’s tennis is an incredibly successful program known for developing championship teams and outstanding people, especially under the inspiring leadership of Andres. We’re grateful to be involved in a new approach that helps sustain that excellence and solidify Virginia’s place as one of the top programs in the country.”
Focus on Student-Athletes
The Lockharts' gift immediately establishes a mechanism to produce additional funding for student-athlete scholarships, coaching staff salaries, operating budget supplements and facility enhancements. In an endowment, a base of funds is invested, and earnings provide ongoing funding while leaving the original amount untouched.
The proposed Olympic Sports Center, seen here in an artist’s rendering, is one part of UVA’s commitment to its Olympic sports. A new financial model also seeks to create “a future in which our successful and beloved Olympic sports can focus completely on student-athletes and competition, thanks to the permanent support for operating needs from endowed funds,” UVA President Jim Ryan said. (Contributed photo)
In the future, when the program is fully endowed, the collective endowments should generate enough income to cover the majority of player scholarships, program salaries and annual operating expenses without a need for annual fundraising or drawing on the UVA Athletics budget.
Over the past several years and through the generosity of UVA alumni, the head coaching positions for men’s tennis, men’s golf, football and men’s basketball have been endowed. UVA aims to endow all its head coaching positions and to have a greater emphasis on endowment fundraising through the Virginia Athletics Foundation over the next decade.
“Every Olympic sport program in America shares the challenge of competing for limited funds while pursuing the highest ambitions for its athletes and teams,” Pedroso said. “This approach empowers our coaches to fully focus on attracting and developing student-athletes at UVA. It’s incredibly exciting to be part of a new movement. I’m grateful to Gene and Terry Lockhart for their vision.”
Since becoming UVA’s head men’s tennis coach in 2017, Pedroso has led the program to Atlantic Coast Conference team championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and back-to-back NCAA championships in 2022 and 2023. At the same time, his team has consistently been one of the highest-achieving teams academically within UVA Athletics.
Responding to Changing Dynamics
A number of developments have introduced new dynamics and uncertainty into college athletics, disrupting traditional models and approaches for how university athletics programs and individual teams are funded and managed.
That financial pressure and uncertainty has prompted all Division I athletics programs to consider how best to sustain their programs, support student-athletes and remain competitive. This is especially important for UVA’s Olympic sports programs, which rely on multiple sources of funding, including institutional support, to remain both viable and competitive, as they do not generate adequate revenue to fully cover student scholarships, coaches’ salaries, and operating and capital expenses.
“We could not even consider these creative solutions without the generosity of our supporters, who sustain not only our Olympic sports but our entire athletics program,” Virginia Athletics Director Carla Williams said. “The generosity of donors like Gene and Terry allows us to compete at the highest levels and also to direct more energy into developing student-athletes who will lead impactful lives long after they are done competing here.”
The Virginia Athletics Foundation supports 27 men's and women's Division I teams and individual sports. Cavalier Olympic sports programs are among the most successful in the nation.
Among recent accomplishments: five consecutive NCAA team championships for women's swimming and diving, a No. 1 ranking for women's tennis for the first time in program history, and the best preseason ranking ever for softball (No. 24). Men's tennis is ranked No. 6 while both lacrosse programs are in the top 20. Men's and women's track and field athletes continue to set UVA and NCAA records, and men's and women's golf are ranked in the top 15.
