On July 19, girls tennis coach/English teacher Alex Hollis gathered his team at the court. He had some sad news to break.

From then on, he would only be known as English teacher Alex Hollis.

After 16 years of coaching tennis and 8 years wrestling, Hollis announced that he was stepping down from coaching.

“I have the opportunity now, I am going to take it,” he said. “I need time to work on my doctorate and spend time with my daughter. I don’t want to miss the most important time of her life.”

Hollis’s coaching retirement will be felt.

“I hate that he is not going to be here,” Athletic Director Coach Wilson said. “He did a tremendous job with both programs over the course of his time. He has the distinction of being able to do both.”

Hollis’s players said that they will miss him.

“I am going to miss his personality and how much he cares for people,” freshman Molly Foxworth said.

Hollis said that he is definitely going to miss his team and the memories he made with his players.

“I will miss the relationships I had with the players a lot,” Hollis said. “The long-distance road trips and deep talks will definitely be something that I will never forget.”

Just as Hollis has made an impact on coaching, so too has coaching made an impact on him. “Just being around coaches from other sports and the general dynamic of us being here after school means I have made a lot of close friends over the years,” he said.