Tim Morey has been named head women's tennis coach at Calvin University.
Morey takes over the reins of the program from Kevin Van Haitsma who stepped down from the position this past fall. Morey comes to Calvin after previously serving as head boys and girls tennis coach at Grand Rapids Christian High School.
Morey is no stranger to West Michigan as he grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central High School.
Morey later graduated from the University of Notre Dame where he walked onto the men's tennis program which captured Big East Conference titles in 1998 and 1999.
Morey graduated from Notre Dame with a double major of government & international studies and computer science. He later earned his J.D. degree from the University of Iowa in 2004.
He has served an associate tennis professional at East Hills Athletic Club and later at MVP Sportsplex. Morey also served as a USTA Junior Team Tennis Coach from 2011 to 2016, with the 2015 team finishing in 4th place at the National Team Tennis Finals.
For the past six years, Morey has been the head boys and girls tennis coach at Grand Rapids Christian High School. Morey has led the girls team to six straight top-four team finishes at the Division III state finals including second place finishes in 2015, 2016 and 2017. On the boys side, Morey led the Eagles to four appearances at the Division III state finals including a fourth place finish in 2018.
"I am extremely excited and honored to accept the head women's tennis coaching position at Calvin University," said Morey. "When the position opened, I put all my efforts into earning the opportunity to coach at the collegiate level here because it is a perfect fit. Calvin is an outstanding academic, athletic and spiritual institution with a strong culture of social support."
According to Morey, a chief tenet of the program will be valuing performance over outcomes with a strong emphasis on building the expertise and skill sets of our players in a positive environment. Additionally, Morey says "I work hard to build strong relationships with my players, because to see those student-athletes succeed in any of their endeavors on or off the court is a major reason why I coach."
Calvin Director of Athletics Dr. Jim Timmer is also excited to have Morey join the Calvin Athletics Department. "I am thrilled to announce Tim Morey as our new women's tennis coach," said Timmer. "He has a passion for student-athletes, an outstanding tennis background as both a player and a coach and he is committed to the mission of Calvin University. I am confident he will do an outstanding job leading our women's tennis program."
Morey takes over a Calvin women's tennis program that finished 14-7 a year ago including 5-3 in conference play that was good for a fourth-place finish in the final MIAA standings.
"I am stepping into a great situation and I want to thank Coach (Kevin) Van Haitsma for his outstanding work with this program over the last several years and his continued support," said Morey. "Our league is very competitive but the identity of our team will be an attitude of competing with anyone, anywhere, anytime. We will accept any challenge across the net with tenacity and will never give up."
Calvin is scheduled to open the 2020 portion of its 2019-20 schedule on February 6 when it hosts Cornerstone University at 6 p.m.
Release provided by Calvin University athletics.
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