THE FLATS – Bryan Shelton, a former Georgia Tech student-athlete and coach, has been inducted into the Southern Tennis Foundation (STF) Hall of Fame. Shelton is joined by Eddie Gonzalez and Paul Pittman, and the trio will be officially honored at a ceremony on January 18, 2025, at the Lucy Garvin Southern Tennis Hall of Fame Banquet in Atlanta.
Shelton, a two-time ATP Tour singles champion, reached as high as No. 55 in the world during the height of his playing career.
On The Flats as a student athlete, Shelton wracked up 101 total wins, which sits third in program history. His freshman year (1985), Shelton won the ACC title at number one singles, the first individual ACC title in school history. In May of that same year, he went on to make his first NCAA appearance, which was also the first NCAA appearance by a Tech player since 1971.
During his four-year stint in Atlanta, Shelton was a four-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection, helping guide the Jackets to a school-record 27 dual-match wins as a senior in 1988. Shelton was ACC Player of the Year and singles champion in 1985, as well as an ACC doubles champion in 1986 with Richy Gilbert. In his senior season, he was named an ITA All-American, aside current men’s head coach Kenny Thorne.
Shelton earned a B.A. in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech in March 1990.
Ahead of the 2000 season, Shelton returned to The Flats to take over the women’s tennis program. In 13 seasons at the helm, Shelton led Tech to a 227-108 (.678) record and qualified for the NCAA tournament every year. The Yellow Jackets won a national title in 2007, four-straight regular-season ACC Championships (2005-08), four ACC Tournament titles (2005-07, 2010) and back-to-back ITA National Indoor Championships (2007-08).
The 2007 national title was Georgia Tech’s first NCAA team title in any sport in school history. Shelton was named the 2007 ITA National Coach of the Year and the ACC Coach of the Year four times (2002, 05, 07, 08). He was also named the ITA South Region Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006. In 2008, Shelton coached sophomore Amanda McDowell through the 2008 NCAA Singles Championships, helping her claim the first NCAA individual title in school history.
Following his 13-season stint with Georgia Tech, Shelton became the head coach of the men’s team at Florida.
There, he became the first head coach in DI college tennis history to win a women’s national title (Georgia Tech, 2007) and a men’s national championship (Florida, 2021). He is the 24th coach across all NCAA sports to lead two different programs to a national team title. Of those 24, Shelton is the fifth to coach a national championship team in a men’s and women’s sport.
In June 2023, Shelton resigned from his Florida position to take on the role of full-time coach for his son Ben, who played in the 2024 US Open and is currently ranked No. 17 in the world.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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