For the first time in seven years, the Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams at Southwest will be under new leadership. FitlifeSportsplex Tennis Pro Dean Clower takes over for Joyce Mabry, who was the coach since the sport returned to Southwest.

Since taking over the role in early June, Clower has felt many different emotions. “Excitement, opportunity, growth, continuing a program that Coach Mabry (coached),” he said.

Clower adds that he is extremely grateful for the work that Mabry put in during her run and looks to build upon the groundwork that she laid.

Even though this is his first time being a coach on the collegiate level, Clower brings years of experience as an instructor, working with a number of age groups. Prior to taking over the tennis program at FitLife in McComb, Clower spent several years coaching tennis in Tulsa, OK.

“We were at a club called Shadow Mountain and was a huge club with seven indoor courts and 16 outdoor courts,” he said. “Prior to that, I started a club called Indian Spring Country Club. We coached anywhere between 130-160 juniors. We had several, several D-I college players come through there. We had an adult program with 48 USDA adult leagues there.”

While being the pro at FitLife, Clower also had the opportunity to work with members of the Southwest Tennis team. “I have been working with college kids for probably the past six years,” he said.

As soon as Clower was hired, he hit the ground running as far as recruiting, trying to find future Bears for his men’s and women’s programs. Overall, he said that the process has been very busy. “It has been non-stop!,” he said. “And when you are recruiting international players, 8:00 in the morning for us is 1:00 for them. There have been several mornings where I have been up at 3:00-4:00 a.m. recruiting.”

One aspect that has helped Clower in the process is his son, Dean Jr. who is the head coach of the women’s tennis team at the University of Wyoming. Clower adds that he has consulted with his son several times and he is very thankful for the advice he has received.

“In fact, I’ve reached out to him several times,” he said. “He got me started because I wouldn’t have known where or how to begin recruiting internationals. He got me started there with some of his contacts, they would say ‘oh yeah, I know Dean Jr. and respect him’. That got me in the door.”

Southwest Ath-letic Director Ken Jackson said that he is thrilled to have Clower join the staff and that he checks many boxes as far as being a successful coach. “We are very excited to have Dean Clower as our new tennis coach,” he said. “Dean is very well-known in the area as a great tennis instructor and he will bring that experience into our program. Dean brings enthusiasm and passion for tennis and will be a great asset to the program.”

Southwest Pres-ident Dr. Steve Bishop echoes this adding that Coach Clower’s experience definitely stood out.

“I think that Coach Clower has a lot of experience when it comes to facility management for tennis leagues and things like that,” he said. “Also, he’s very organized and he has a lot of experience and a lot of connections. I think that the connections he has will help when it comes to recruiting both in Mississippi and out of state.”

Both Jackson and Dr. Bishop also wanted to thank Coach Mabry for the time and effort that she put in over the past several years, coaching the Southwest Tennis programs.

“I thank Coach Mabry for revitalizing the program,” Jackson said. “She has done a great job and has laid the groundwork to build the program.”