Rob Bareford

In winter of 2020, Rob Bareford was promoted to Director of Tennis to oversee both men's and women's tennis programs at Radford. Since being announced as the head coach of the men's tennis program in August, 2018, Bareford has had nothing but success.

Taking over a team that went without a win in conference play in 2017-18, Bareford led the Highlanders to a 17-7 overall record and a 5-3 mark against Big South competition in his very first season. It didn't end there, however, as Radford took his lead all the way to a Big South Championship with wins over the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 seeds in the conference tournament.

Radford made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2012 where the season came to a close again nationally-ranked Tennessee. Alexandros Caldwell made the All-Big South Second Team and All-Academic Team while the doubles team of Yevhen Sirous and Rodrigo Magalhaes earned Second Team All-Big South honors as well. The pairing thrived under Bareford and ended the season ranked eighth in the ITA Atlantic Region rankings.

Bareford continued his success into the 2019-20 season leading the team to a 10-1 overall record before the season was cut short due to threats of the COVID-19 virus.

Coming off a pandemic that took away fall play and presented many challenges, Bareford led both the men's and women's tennis teams to the Big South Championship match with wins over No. 3 Gardner-Webb (Men's) and No. 2 Presbyterian (Women's). The two teams combined for a 20-18 record and a 13-6 record on the home courts.

Bareford came to Radford from Hampden-Sydney College where he served as the Head Tennis Coach for four years. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in History from Virginia Tech in 2011 before earning his Master’s degree in Sports Industry Management at Georgetown last spring.

Adopting a struggling program at H-SC that recorded a combined four wins across 2015 and 2016, he turned things around in a major way, leading the Tigers to 12 wins in 2017 and 16 wins in 2018, the most wins for the team since 1992. The 2018 squad also advanced to the ODAC Championship match for the first time since 2011 after finishing third in the regular season and placing eight on All-ODAC teams.

Much of that improvement can be credited to a strong recruiting class arriving prior to the 2017 season. Four of Bareford’s student-athletes earned All-ODAC honors that year including a first-team duo at #1 doubles that went undefeated in conference play as well as a first-teamer at #2 singles. Bareford was rewarded for his efforts with a nomination for Division III National Coach of the Year by the ITA and was named USPTA Mid-Atlantic College Coach of the Year.

Prior to his time at Hampden-Sydney, Bareford was the Head Boys Tennis Coach at his alma mater, Monacan High School, in Chesterfield County from February 2012 to June 2012. As a student-athlete at Monacan, he was a District Champion, Player of the Year and All-Metro honoree.

Bareford played two years of collegiate tennis at University of Virginia’s College at Wise before transferring to Virginia Tech. As a Hokie, he led the Virginia Tech Club team to a 2009 Mid-Atlantic Championship title. He has a United States Tennis Association (USTA) Rating of 5.0 and is a certified tennis instructor by the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). Additionally, Bareford is also a certified personal trainer.

He also has an extensive 13-plus-year background in individual and group instruction and training with youths and adults. Bareford was the Director of Junior Tennis at Midlothian Athletic Club (May 2011 - October 2012), a Tennis Instructor at Midlothian Tennis Club (November 2008 - October 2011), a Tennis Instructor in the Virginia Tech Sports Recreation Department (September 2008-2009), and a Tennis Assistant for Salisbury Country Club in Midlothian, VA (May 2006 - August 2008).