Kurt Bishop comes to Ottawa University from Arizona Christian University, where he served as the assistant coach for the men’s and women’s tennis teams for the past two seasons. While at ACU, Kurt helped coach the women’s team to the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title in 2016 as well as back to back trips to the NAIA National Tennis Championships in 2016 and 2017. The women finished in the NAIA Top 20 national rankings. In 2017, the men’s team went undefeated in conference play and won the GSAC men’s regular season title and its first ever trip to the NAIA National Tennis Championships. The men finished in the Top 10 nationally.
Kurt was selected as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s NAIA Western Region’s Men’s Tennis Assistant Coach of the Year and was a finalist for National Assistant Coach of the Year Award.
Prior to ACU, Kurt was the Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at Glendale Community College. In his three seasons at GCC, the men’s team finished in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Top 25 rankings one time (2014) and in the NJCAA Top 20 two consecutive years (2015, 2016). The men finished the 2016 season as the NJCAA Region 1 regular season runner’s up and took 2nd place in the conference tournament. Kurt was named the NJCAA Region 1 Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year two consecutive years – 2015 and 2016.
Kurt is a native of Phoenix, Arizona and graduated from Greenway High School. He then played for Scottsdale Community College and was ranked in the NJCAA Top 20 in singles and Top 10 in doubles in 1987.
Kurt has over 20 years teaching experience and has worked with players of all ages and levels, specializing in High Performance juniors and college players. Kurt has achieved multiple Professional ratings with the Professional Tennis Registry and has had extensive training through the USTA High Performance Coaching program.
Kurt has been married to his wife Joan since 1999. They have one son, Brian. Kurt is an ordained Southern Baptist minister and is serving actively at First Baptist Church, Chandler.
