Deep inside the University of Oklahoma men’s tennis facility, on most days you can find Coach John Roddick prepping his team for another day of practice by throwing a football at his players as they warm up and stretch.
He may even crack a joke or two, laughing and smiling, enjoying the game he grew up with. Many do not see this side of Roddick, but behind his steely-eyed, intense demeanor, lies a passionate caring man, with a deep love for his players and the sport of tennis.
Roddick is a self-proclaimed tennis player. With his older brother being a diver, Roddick quickly realized that path was not for him.
“I did not have the temperament to be a diver because if you have any apprehension when you are jumping off of a 10-meter high diving board, it’s not going to end well,” he said. “After that, my mom signed me up for tennis and here we are.”
Playing tennis quickly became a passion and emotional outlet for Roddick.
“I started to just play all the time,” he said. “I realized this was the sport for me. I started winning all the time, and I noticed that I was ranked two or three in the nation [in tennis], and I don’t think I am in the top two or three basketball players in the nation.”
Even though he was on multiple baseball, basketball and soccer teams, tennis was a year-round passion for the young star, and other sports started to take a back seat.
“It just became my outlet. I went to school and played tennis, it’s just what I did," Roddick said.
When people hear the name Roddick, they think of Andy Roddick, tennis major champion. Most do not think of his brother, John, but what many do not know is John coached Andy all through school.
Andy showed his potential early. He didn't lose a single match at the age of 12, quickly surpassing his older brother. John was never envious of his younger sibling though.
“I worked with him so much that I just wanted to see him with that success,” Roddick said.
John knew he wanted to go into coaching later in life, thus, when the OU position opened up, Roddick was at the front of the pack.
“I pushed for [the job] really hard when it opened up,” he said. “I had to convince them that I was the right man for the job and rightly so, they do a very good job in their search process [at OU]. “
Even after coaching a pro, Roddick always loved college tennis the most.
“There are three levels — high teen, college and pro,” Roddick said. “College is the most fun and my favorite. Here, you have them for four years and you can implement your plan, while in the private world, they can leave after two months, before you get anything done.”
Roddick prefers a more dry and blunt approach to his players and what they need to work on.
“I’m not going to tell them something unless I 100 percent believe it,” he said. “A lot of coaches want to change tiny details, but we are more focused on the broad things. If someone is disagreeing, I will enact some sort of common sense analogy that they can’t argue with, and then they get it,” Roddick said with a grin.
Assistant coach Bo Hodge, who played under Roddick at Georgia on a national championship team, knows why the athletes love playing for Roddick.
“John wears his emotions on his sleeve,” Hodge said. “ He can’t hold things back, and the guys know it’s to better them. They see how important this team and school are to him. They know that when they go out there, if they do not give everything they have, he is not going to let it happen, because anything less than their best is not acceptable.”
“John leads by example,” he said. “His results speak for themselves, and he earns the guys respect by how he goes about his business every day.”
Since Roddick has taken over the tennis program, OU has gotten better in record every year. The team recorded its highest finish in school history as a national runner-up in 2014. In addition, the team reached number one nationally for the first time in school history under Roddick and has spent many weeks there. The team received its first ever championship in tennis, winning the 2014 ITA Indoor National Championship.
Hodge thinks that the general image of Roddick is a little skewed though.
“Everyone sees John as this guy who never smiles, and he is exactly the opposite,” he said. “He is always joking around and having fun with the guys, but when you step on the court, it’s time to work.”
While he can be serious and conducts his practices in that manner, Roddick has a few fun activities hidden up his sleeve.
“I know the NFL draft is coming up, so I have been working on my arm by throwing the football around before matches and practices,” Roddick said. “I’m trying to get my 10,000 hours in before the 2024 draft, so you can tell coach Stoops that my arm is really coming along if he needs anyone to step in.”
Even though he loves his players, that doesn’t stop Roddick from having a little fun with them.
“It’s fun to see all the international guys try to throw a football,” he said. “Then they bring out the soccer ball, and it’s their way of getting back at us, but you will see some of the ugliest football throws in America right in this tennis facility.”
When asked what tennis is to him, coach Roddick showed his true feelings for tennis.
“To me, tennis is one of the ultimate mental games,” he said. “You have to think so much and it’s so physical, if you added in tackling I think we would have the greatest sport on earth.”
Roddick believes his team takes after him and that they share the same passion that he has.
“I value every point of every guy’s match, and I think our team has taken on that mindset,” he said. “We are gritty and we don’t give up. There’s no letting up until it’s all over. We do not give up, ever.”
Coach Roddick has a message for anyone out there that has a yearning to be successful at anything.
“Just work hard and you should succeed,” he said. “It’s not that hard to have success, you should have success when you put the work in. You should have it, and you start to expect it after you achieve it.”
