How USTA Tennis Venue Services helped to transform Middle Tennessee State University

The mandate was clear.

“To truly be a mainstay on a national stage,” said Middle Tennessee State University President Sidney A. McPhee, “we needed to develop an advanced facility capable of meeting all the competition and practice needs of our teams, one that would not only be the best in the conference, but would rival any program in the region.”

The campus has an eight-court indoor facility built about five years ago, but the outdoor complex of 14 asphalt courts was unplayable. The university had been envisioning a new facility since 2018 and contacted the USTA’s Tennis Venue Services (TVS) for help. In early 2020, just days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down, the USTA's collegiate and tennis venue design consultant Scott Treibly visited the campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to assess what the school needed in an outdoor facility.

Essentially, it needed everything.

“They started over,” Treibly said, “and bulldozed the 14 deteriorating courts.”

The new plan involved building eight post-tensioned concrete courts in two banks of four with seating in the middle, along with a large clubhouse with locker rooms. The project became part of MTSU’s “Build Blue” campaign in 2021 to transform the Blue Raiders’ athletic facilities.

This February, officials cut the ribbon on the new, $8 million Outdoor Tennis Complex. The facility will be the on-campus home of the men’s and women’s tennis programs, and features the 3,600-square-foot Allen Tennis Building with locker rooms, video analysis area, coaches’ offices, team lounge areas, room for concessions, stringing and storage areas.

The complex, with a $1 million LED lighting system, has elevated mezzanine seating for 250 fans and a VIP lounge for 50 spectators. There are six individual electronic scoreboards on the courts, and one master scoreboard that can show scores from six matches.

The facility already has hosted a major event, the 2024 Conference USA Men’s Tennis Championships in April, bringing in more than 300 people.

“Our new facility has been a long time in the making,” added head women’s tennis coach Tayo Bailey-Duvall. “The future of MTSU tennis is moving to higher levels, and our facilities will now match that growth.”

The planning also included looking years down the road, to when it’s time to expand.

“This was a phenomenal project right from the start. University administrators, athletes and the community really got behind it,” said Treibly, who oversees USTA TVS collegiate projects. “The facility will be utilized by the school teams, the public, for camps, clinics, leagues and more.”