When he is not managing the faculty in the College of Social Sciences, Dean Luis Miron is helping to manage the tennis team.
According to tennis coach Zubin Engineer, the Loyola tennis program was discontinued in 1997. As a part of the university’s mission to expand the athletic department, Engineer was offered the position of women’s tennis coach in 2009, and took on men’s tennis in 2010. Engineer also assists the athletic department with sports web content.
It would take more than Engineer to resurrect the Loyola tennis team. Luis Miron, dean of the College of Social Sciences, expressed interest in volunteering a few hours a week to Cissy Petty, vice president of Student Affairs and associate provost, who got Miron in touch with Engineer.
Miron said he served as head tennis coach for Loyola rival William Carey University, as well as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of New Orleans.
“Coach Miron will be a tremendous asset to both the men’s and women’s tennis teams, especially during our competition season,” Engineer said.
Miron said that both he and Engineer share the same coaching philosophies.
“We have quite compatible interests in teaching the whole student and cultivating the ‘spiritual side’ of sports,” Miron said.
Engineer said that having similar philosophies will help the team in terms of communication and structure.
By the end of this season, Engineer said he hopes to ensure that each team member has clear goals about how they will be playing based on their current skills level.
“I also hope that my team has an understanding about how the mind and body work in competition,” Engineer said.
As a brand new part of the team, Miron said he has high hopes for both the men’s and women’s teams—both on and off the tennis court.
“I firmly believe that sports provide a unique venue to nurture scholar-leaders, especially in an institution like Loyola that embraces issues of justice and social equality,” Miron said.
Loyola tennis will kick off its season on Feb. 11 against LSU at Shreveport.
Chelsey Richter can be reached at [email protected]
