Bill Carey is in his fifth year as head coach of the Transylvania women’s tennis program for the 2023-24 season.
Carey is a 2x HCAC Coach of The Year, having earned the honors in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Under Carey, the Women's Tennis program has reached the NCAA postseason tournament in back to back seasons heading into the 2023-24 campaign.
Carey’s arrival to Lexington has sparked a sharp ascent for the Transylvania women’s tennis team into a national contender. Carey guides the Pioneers into the latest season coming off three consecutive Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament championships and three straight NCAA Tournament berths.
In his first full season at the helm of the Pioneers, the Pioneers recaptured the HCAC Tournament crown for the first time in eight seasons in the fall of 2019. The Pioneers earned a subsequent NCAA Tournament berth, eventually left unfulfilled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Carey steered the Pioneers through an ensuing season of uncertainty to repeat as conference champions in the spring of 2021, resulting in back-to-back conference championships and another ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Carey’s 2020-21 squad set new program bests as the Pioneers delivered their first four NCAA Tournament match victories in program history before being narrowly edged by Moravian College in an NCAA first round thriller, setting the stage for the program’s latest chapter.
Under Carey, the Pioneers won the 2020-21 HCAC regular season and conference tournament champions while furnishing HCAC Player of the Year, Porsche Robinson, four All-HCAC Team selections, and six All-Conference awardees overall. Freshman Grace Gardner captured HCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors in her first campaign with the Pioneers under Carey’s tutelage. The 9-2 season for Carey’s Pioneers included a perfect 5-0 mark at Top Seed Tennis Club and an undefeated record in HCAC regular season and tournament play.
In the 2021-2022 season Carey coached Transylvania through another excellent season, going 15-5 overall and 4-0 in conference play. Carey was named the 2022 HCAC Coach of the Year, with his team also earning prestigious honors. Porsche Robinson repeated as HCAC Player of the Year, becoming just the second Pioneer to do so. Three other Pioneers were named to the First Team, as well as two honorable mentions. The Carey-led team clinched their third straight HCAC title, along with another berth in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
In his first full season with the Pioneers, Carey continued to guide the ascent of the Transylvania women’s tennis team, which produced one of the best seasons of the decade.
Under Carey during the 2019-20 season, Transylvania produced a 15-6 record, including a 6-2 record in HCAC regular-season play to clinch a top-3 finish in conference. Carey guided the Pioneers towards a brilliant finish to conference play in fall 2019 as the Pioneers swept all three opponents at Top Seed Tennis Club to capture the HCAC Tournament championship, along with the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Carey produced four All-HCAC Team winners at the end of his first conference regular season, including All-Conference first team selections Porsche Robinson and Jessica Burton.
Carey has transformed the Pioneers into a fortified team at home which reeled off a 6-1 record in the Bluegrass and rose to championship contenders immediately upon taking command of the Transylvania women’s tennis program. Carey took the reins of the Transylvania women’s tennis in January 2019 from current Transylvania men’s tennis head coach and Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Calhoun and continued the championship trajectory of the team.
“I am thrilled that Bill will be leading the women’s tennis program,” states Transylvania men’s tennis head coach and Assistant Athletic Director for Sport Administration, Kevin Calhoun. “His energy and passion are contagious and he will be an outstanding leader for our student-athletes.”
Carey joined the Pioneers women’s tennis program from Bellarmine University in nearby Louisville, where he was part of the Bellarmine men’s and women’s tennis coaching staffs from 2016 through January 2019; Carey spent his most recent year at Bellarmine as the head coach of the women’s tennis team.
The Charlottesville, Virginia native arrived to a Transylvania women’s tennis program coming off of a 6-2 run in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play during the 2018-19 conference season and its first appearance in the HCAC Tournament Championship match in seven seasons. Carey’s coaching experience multiple levels, including high school, college, and work with youth and adult players in club environments, adding a diverse insight to his new role at Transylvania.
“One of the most exciting aspects of coaching at Transylvania is being part of the D-III environment,” added Carey. “This community carries the right balance between athletics and academics within the scope of the college experience and it was one of the reasons I wanted to be at Transy.”
Team growth, development, and versatility have been recurring components of Carey’s coaching resume at each of his previous stops.
At Bellarmine, Carey was part of two coaching staffs, most recently with the women’s tennis program as its head coach, and for three years with the men’s tennis coaching staff, helping to rebuild the Knights men’s tennis program. Both programs made significant strides during Carey’s tenure as doubles teams from both the men’s and women’s squads became nationally ranked.
Carey extols a passionate brand of team-focused tennis, a mindset he espouses in his coaching style. “I want to continue the tradition of lifting up our teammates and vocally supporting one another as we compete for every single ball and point,” Carey described.
Along with his coaching endeavors at Bellarmine, Carey has been heavily involved in the tennis ecosystem in the state of Kentucky over the past five years. Since February 2014, Carey has served as the head tennis coach at the Collegiate School in Louisville and has been instrumental in driving the program’s growth, more than doubling the roster size during that time. Carey has grown The Collegiate School into a regional power, elevating the boy’s tennis team to a top-3 team in the region. Since 2015, Carey has also applied his teachings at the Louisville Tennis Center, working with a wide demographic of beginners and advanced players.
Carey’s other coaching credentials include certification as a teaching professional with the United States Professional Tennis Association. Carey serves on the board of the USPTA as the Vice President for the Kentucky Chapter.
In his playing days, Carey competed as a student-athlete at Division III Bard College before earning a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and later earned a master’s degree in Jazz Composition from DePaul University.
