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Rex Ecarma Hometown: Louisville, Ky. Last College: Louisville '88 Position: Head Coach Experience: 18 years Career Record: 268-202

Rex Ecarma is entering his 20th season as head coach of the University of Louisville. During his time at U of L, the Cards have won two conference championships and have made six NCAA regional appearances including three regional finals. Louisville is coming off of a 21-8 season and competed in the team, singles and doubles NCAA Championships marking the fourth year in a row the Cards have had a doubles team in the championship and the third time in four years a singles player has been selected.

The 2009 season marked one of the most successful seasons in program history in which the Cards reached as high as No. 14 and finished the year at No. 22 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.

The remarkable year saw Louisville with three ranked singles players and doubles teams, three All-BIG EAST selections and Austen Childs earning league Player of the Year honors. For the second season in a row, Childs earned a spot in the NCAA singles championship and teamed with fellow sophomore Simon Childs for a doubles appearance. The duo also achieved the program's highest ranking at No. 6 and finished the season at No. 29.

In 2007, Ecarma oversaw the Cardinals to a runner-up finish in the BIG EAST tournament and guided seniors Damar Johnson and Slavko Radman to Louisville's second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championship. The pair also reached the program's highest doubles rankings at number seven.

In 2006, the Cardinals opened their first season in the BIG EAST Conference by capturing the tournament title and earning their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance - the school's fifth appearance since 1998. U of L was also selected to host the 2006 NCAA first and second rounds for the first time in school history and advanced to the second round of the regional for the second season in a row. In addition, the Cardinals won the 2006 HEB National Invitational and achieved the highest team ranking in program history at No. 12 and had three singles players and two doubles teams ranked.

The record-setting 2006 season, culminated in Ecarma being named BIG EAST Coach of the Year. In 2005, Ecarma posted his 200th career win, becoming one of the youngest NCAA Division I coaches to reach that milestone.

Ecarma was named Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2000 after guiding the Cardinals to their first ever conference title and their second NCAA tournament appearance in three years. Ecarma led the Cards to more overall team wins (162) than any other Conference USA team since 1996, the league's inaugural season.

In 1990, he became one of the youngest head coaches in Division I tennis in the country at the age of 23. Under Ecarma's tutelage, the school has attained its highest national ranking at No. 12 in the ITA computer rankings, while spending several weeks among the nation's top 25.

Fourteen of his former players have continued their careers professionally and earned ATP points at the Futures/Challenger level. He coached former touring professionals Andy Schrecker, Russell Schutzman, Michael Mather and Cody Conley. He also coached former NCAA All-Americans Scott Campbell and Mather. Thirty-seven of his former players have gone on to become tennis coaches.

Ecarma, the 2000 Kentucky Tennis Association Coach of the Year, also received the honor in 1998 after he led the Cardinals to an 18-8 season and the program's first NCAA tournament appearance. Ecarma has been on the NCAA Tournament Regional Selections Committee four times. He was selected as the 2005 Chairman of the Conference USA coaches, a position which he also held in 2003 and 1997. He is currently serving on the Midwest Regional ranking committee.

Ecarma serves as the director of the national award winning Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, for which he designed the operations manual and business plan. Before the center was built, he was instrumental in sharing his vision of a top facility with boosters and the university and hired the original staff. He also aided the development of the tennis center by raising money with the help of boosters, U of L officials and the Louisville community. The $3.75 million facility was constructed in his fifth season at U of L. Recently, Ecarma assisted in the development of the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center's outdoor court expansion, scoreboard and stadium seating.

Ecarma's successes are not limited to coaching. In November, 2000, he was given the Distinguished Filipino-American Award by the Filipino Medicine Association of Kentucky and Indiana. A sought-after motivational speaker, he was named among the Who's Who for Executive Managers in 1999. In 1998, he was named to Business First's "40 Under 40" list, as one of the top young leaders in the Louisville area. That same year, he was a member of the International Who's Who. Ecarma also earned the Outstanding Teacher Award in 1997-98; the Community Service Award, 1996-98 and Mentor Appreciation Award in 1998. The Doss High School graduate was inducted in the All-Time Outstanding Graduates of Jefferson County Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame with other Louisville athletes such as Wes Unseld, Darrell Griffith and Phil Simms, New York Knicks star Allan Houston, Portland Trailblazers' Derek Anderson and former WNBA star Kym Hampton.

As a result of all of his coaching and playing achievements - as well as his involvement in the local tennis community, Ecarma was inducted into the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame in February, 2007.

Before embarking on his successful coaching career, Ecarma was a standout player for U of L. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother Reggie, who was a letterwinner for the Cards from 1980-82. Coach Ecarma is currently ranked second on the school's career doubles wins list with 92. As a junior, Ecarma compiled 58 total singles and doubles wins, placing him second in all-time combined wins in a single season. During his time as a player, he also posted 17 wins over players from top 25 teams.

His senior year, the Cards qualified for the National Indoor Qualifying Team Championships for the top six teams in the Southeast. In 1987, they recorded the school's first win over a top 25 team, defeating SEC Champion and 25th ranked Auburn. Ecarma was runner-up in his position in the Metro Conference Individual Tournament in 1985 and 1987 and placed third in 1986.

A Louisville native, Ecarma earned his Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of Louisville, where he was the 1987 recipient of the coveted Ed Kallay Award which honors the top student-athlete in the University. He earned a Master's Degree in Entrepreneurial Management from Regent University in 1995. In 1996, he married Melissa Guess. They have three children: Alexis (9), Donovan (7) and Landon (3).