Tennis

The 2012-2013 campaign will mark Coach Sujay Lama's seventh season as the women's tennis head coach at North Texas. Lama was named North Texas' head coach on June 14, 2006 after spending eight years as the head coach at The University of Illinois.

It didn't take long for Lama's to leave his mark on the program. In his first four seasons, Lama took the Mean Green from last in the Sun Belt to first. In 2012, the Mean Green won their second conference championship in three years, defeating Florida International 4-2.The Mean Green went on to play Nebraska in the NCAA tournament, losing 4-0.

The 2012 squad also produced the program's highest ranking of No. 40, finishing the season at No. 55. This comes just two seasons, after the Mean Green received its' first national ranking of No. 66.

In just six seasons, Lama has become the program's winningest coach with a 77-60 record, bringing his career record to 185-144. This includes his first season when the Mean Green went just 2-19 before turning the program around.

Lama also became the first coach in program history to receive Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors twice, in 2010 and 2012. Lama was named the USPTA Collegiate Coach of the Year for the state of Texas in 2009.

The 2011 season was marred by illness and injury for the Mean Green as North Texas finished with a 10-12 record.

2010 was a breakout year for Lama and the Mean Green. The team captured the program's first Sun Belt Conference Champion with a win over No. 49 FIU. The conference championship earned the team an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament appearance, the first ever in school history. After a loss to No. 32 Tulsa, North Texas finished its historic season with a 17-7 record.

Lama was also named a finalist for the prestigious Giant Steps Award during 2009. In the fall of 2008, the Mean Green tallied individual wins over national contenders such as LSU, Ohio State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, SMU, Rice, and Houston.

Lama led North Texas to a 13-9 record in the spring of 2008, its best record since 1986-87. In 2007, he led the program to its best fall season in history. The Mean Green turned the heads of the nation's premier programs, notching individual wins over Ohio State, Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech and many others.

North Texas success has not been limited to the court, as the Mean Green finished five out of the last six seasons with ITA All-Academic team honors.

Prior to North Texas' 10th coach in program history, Lama spent eight years as the women's tennis head coach at the University of Illinois.

The Fighting Illini saw significant improvement with Lama at the helm. In his first year, Lama transformed the Illini from 8-13, 4-7 in Big Ten play, and ninth in the conference the previous season to a squad that was ranked No. 10 in the region and No. 75 in that nation.

The Illini continued to see significant improvement during Lama's eight years. In 2003-04 the Illini went 17-6, posting their best winning percentage since Illinois's first team went 6-0 in 1975. Lama's 2003-04 squad also earned the highest national ranking in program history, No. 16. In 2003, the Orange and Blue knocked off top-ranked Duke, 4-3, at the UI Atkins Tennis Center.

Lama's teams reached a number of milestones during his eight years in Champaign-Urbana. The Illini won their first NCAA Tournament match in May 2001. The program also had their first Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the Rookie of the Year in the Midwest Region, ten All-Big Ten players, four Big Ten Medal of Honor players, 13 ITA Scholar-Athletes and two Academic All-Americans. UI's women's tennis players earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition 39 times under Lama.

During Lama's eight years at Illinois, the Illini went 108-84 with a Big Ten record of 60-34. He produced squads that made five NCAA team tournament appearances as well as five NCAA individual tournament appearances.

Before his stint at Illinois, Lama served as the top assistant under then-Florida coach Andy Brandi from 1995-98, helping the Gators win two NCAA titles, three SEC crowns and post three undefeated dual match seasons, including the 1998 campaign. Lama was honored for his contributions as the 1997 ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year in the South Region.

Prior to Florida, Lama was the Senior Staff Professional at the Van Der Meer Tennis Center in Hilton Head, S.C., where he worked with the elite player development program (for touring pros and top junior players) from 1992-95. A noted teacher and clinician, Lama has worked at tennis camps across the United States, Europe and Asia. He has earned the highest certification level with the USPTR and the USPTA, and is a USTA Certified High Performance Coach.

He was a traveling coach on the WTA tour for several players including two top twenty ranked Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) and Naoko Sawamatsu (Japan). Lama has coached at 12 grand slam events including Wimbledon, U.S Open, Australian Open and French Open.

In his playing career, Lama was the top-ranked player in Nepal from 1989-91 and reached No. 50 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior world singles rankings. He represented his country in several international tournaments, including the Asian Games in Beijing, China in 1990.

In his playing career, Lama was the top-ranked player in Nepal from 1989-91 and reached No. 50 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior world singles rankings. He represented his country in several international tournaments, including the Asian Games in Beijing, China in 1990.

The Nepal native attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, from 1988-92 and was a two-time Volvo Collegiate All-American in singles (1991-92). He also earned Senior Player of the Year honors in the Midwest Region in 1992 and was ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division III singles. Lama dominated the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference the four years he competed at Luther.

He won the league's singles and doubles titles and took conference MVP honors all four years of his collegiate career, leading his team to four IIAC titles. Lama put together a career singles record of 104-18 and captured two Rolex Midwest Regionals (1989 and 1991), while advancing to the semifinals of the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship in 1991. Lama also made three NCAA Tournament appearances. He was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in the fall of 2002.

He earned his bachelor's degree in Public Communications/Political Science from Luther College in 1992, earning GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors during his time there. He was the recipient of the U.S./Nepal Educational Foundation Scholarship from 1990-92. Lama has traveled in more than 50 countries and is fluent in English, German, Hindi and Nepalese. He has lived five or more years on three continents (Asia, Europe and North America).

Recently, Lama has lent his time and expertise to a unique venture he calls "Project Nepal". He has helped raise over $12,000 each year to fund the education of 67 orphanage children in his hometown of Nepal (www.supportprojectnepal.com).

Lama and his wife, Lynne, reside in Denton with their 12-year-old daughter, Priya, and seven-year-old son, Siddhartha.