The upcoming spring sports season will mark the start of a new era for the area’s high school tennis programs.

TCAPS recently announced the hires of two new head tennis coaches at Traverse City West Senior High School. Tim Sutherland will be taking over as the head coach for the varsity girls tennis team this spring, while Ed Bernard will inherit the head coaching position for the varsity boys team next fall. 

Sutherland is no stranger to tennis in northern Michigan. Since 2010, he has coached the varsity tennis teams for Glen Lake High School’s co-op, co-ed program. In addition, he held the role of Tennis Director at the Glen Lake Yacht Club from 2006 to 2018.

Bernard, meanwhile, is taking a promotion to become the head coach for boys tennis. He spent 2017 as an assistant coach for both the boys and girls teams at TC West.

The new hires at West come just two months after TCAPS announced that Shane Dilloway would be taking over the head coaching position for Traverse City Central’s girls tennis program. Dilloway has been coaching the boys team since 2014, when longtime head coach Larry Nykerk semi-retired. Nykerk continued to coach the girls team, but officially ended his 50-year tenure with TCAPS in October. All told, Nykerk walked away with 1,050 wins—the most of any prep tennis head coach in Michigan history.