ACA Director of Athletics William Payne selected a veteran coach to lead the Armada and build the tennis program in Dr. Michael A. Roberts. The plan is for Roberts to get the girls’ program up and running this year before launching a boys program for the 2025-26 school year.
A native of Raeford, NC, Roberts has coached at every level, with stints as a collegiate coach, high school coach and in the US Tennis Association.
“After a lengthy search, we found the right person to not only build the foundation of the tennis program at ACA but also be at the helm for the long term,” Payne said. “Coach Roberts comes to ACA with extensive collegiate coaching experience as well as playing experience and we are thrilled he is here. We are excited to welcome Coach Roberts to the ACA family!”
Most recently, Roberts, who earn his undergraduate degree Cum Laude with a double major in English and History from St. Andrews University, has served as an English professor at Horry-Georgetown Technical College for the last 20 years. In addition to teaching and coaching, Roberts is a best-selling poet whose collection of poetry, The Sounds a Shadow Makes, reached the top 10 on the Amazon best-seller list. His most recent work, Aftermath: A Collection of Near-Life Experiences, was released in April.
As a college player, Roberts was a standout performer in both singles and doubles. He was ranked among the top 10 player in North Carolina and was ranked as high as No. 20 in the nation in 1997.
“My partner and I were a very unlikely pair, but we approached school records with conference/overall wins, as well as defeated teams from bigger, nationally ranked universities,” Roberts said. “He was my assistant pro for years after graduating, and I was the best man at his wedding.”
In addition to his B.A. from St. Andrews, Roberts earned a Master of Arts in English Education from UNC Pembroke in 2002 and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Curriculum and Instruction in 2007.
Roberts began his coaching career before he even graduated from college in 1990. He first became an assistant teaching pro at the Scotland Tennis Center in Laurinburg, NC, before becoming tennis director at Highland Country Club in Fayetteville, NC, following completion of his undergraduate education. At the same time, he coached the Marlboro Academy girls’ varsity team.
After eight years at Highland CC, during which time he earned his USPTR Professional Certification, he moved his family to Charleston, WV, to become the Director of Adult Tennis at the Charleston Family YMCA. He went on to become the head men’s tennis coach at Methodist University in 2001, with coaching stops at UNC Pembroke and Campbell University after. He earned his USPTA-P1 certification as well as his USTA Professional certification, in 2001.
Roberts was named the girls’ tennis coach at Lumberton High School in 2007, a position he held until 2011.
In addition to his coaching and education, Roberts also was an M1 Tank crewman as part of the North Carolina National Guard. He earned the Army Service Medal and was an Honors graduate of the Army’s One Station Unit Training Course.
As a coach, he has helped players who reached a No. 20 USPTA national ranking in doubles and a top 10 individual ranking in North Carolina. He has had players ranked as high as No. 1 in the state across various age group, top 10 ranking in the Southern Region and a couple who achieved top 10 national rankings. His teams at Methodist University earned four consecutive USA Athletic Conference championships and his girls’ team at Lumberton High earned a Cape Fear Conference title. He has coached multiple All-Conference performers as well as conference and state champions as well as USTA championships.
He has worked with players who went on to earn scholarships to play collegiately at schools like N.C. State, Wake Forest, College of Charleston, East Carolina, West Virginia and Charleston Southern.
Roberts said it was the ACA Mission Statement that attracted him back to coaching.
“I connected with the mission statement, that athletic and academic excellence are complementary endeavors and goals,” Roberts said. “As a player, I always enjoyed practice more than games because it allowed me and closest friends and opportunity to learn about the sports we loved.
“When I was growing up, we played every sport imaginable with friends in the neighborhood, but there were no organized sports camps or sports specialists.”
In addition to his own writing, Roberts is an avid reader who is especially drawn to the works of ee cummings and Kurt Vonnegut, the latter of which he is currently researching for a future book project. He is also a history buff who is currently reading “The Idiot” by 19th century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky while also doing research for a book on Stonewall Jackson.
“I have always been drawn to literature and writing, and I have always been fascinated by history,” Roberts said. “I was always an avid reader, so I always wanted to be a writer.”
Roberts was one of three boys who were raised by their mother after their father was killed in Vietnam.
“She taught us determination, the importance of character and integrity, and the importance of seeing past obstacles,” Roberts said.
Roberts, who is engaged to Angela Barnes, a fourth-grade teacher at River Oaks Elementary, has two daughters, Cayce and Kathryn. Cayce was a state champion tennis player at Myrtle Beach High before going on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business at the University of South Carolina. She was also an All-State softball player and was selected as the Region Athlete of the Year in 2016. His younger daughter, Kathryn, is a business student at HGTC.
A fan of Pink Floyd, Roberts is a sometime drummer who also has a four-pound Shi-poo named Sheldon.
