B.A., Public Relations, Eastern Kentucky University
M.S., Sports Administration, Eastern Kentucky University
Blake Starkey is the Head Tennis Coach for the University of Missouri. His annual goal is turning a group of individuals into a "team" through various exercises and other "team secrets."
Blake was born in Palestine, Texas, and has been involved in tennis his entire life. He attended the John Newcombe Tennis Academy as a junior, and was a mainstay on the Texas junior circuit throughout his junior years.
He played collegiate tennis at Eastern Kentucky University under legendary coach Tom Higgins, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees.
Upon finishing school, Starkey's love of developing junior players led him back to Newk's (in Texas) where he worked with the Academy's Junior Development and Competitive Edge program.
In 1992, he was named the Assistant Coach at the University of Maryland. During his five years with the Terps, he helped them to their first top-30 national ranking and first two NCAA births.
Starkey came to Columbia in 1998 and inherited one of the weakest teams in the nation. At the time, the Tigers had not won a Big 8 or Big 12 team match since 1981. Similar to what occurred at Maryland, Starkey's Tigers have enjoyed a similar turnaround and his teams have been the strongest in program history. He credits this to teams being true "teams". He is pursuing 200 team wins and is the winningest tennis coach in Mizzou program history.
The Tigers have become a dangerous squad posing a threat to any team in the Big 12, as well as any in the country. His Tigers have defeated every Big 12 team with the exception of Baylor.
In 2003, his Tigers were unique in pulling off the NCAA trifecta - they sent an individual to the NCAA's in singles, a doubles team to the NCAA's, and the entire team competed for the NCAA Team Championships. This is a difficult feat, and has only been achieved by a handful of coaches. These NCAA appearances were firsts in Missouri program history. The Tigers reached their highest national team ranking in program history that year at No. 32 (out of 314 teams nationally) following their win over the Texas Longhorns. While he has coached a doubles tandem that reached a No. 3 national ranking and won the Big 12 twice, his ultimate coaching goal is to win a Big 12 team title.
What occurs off the court is also very important to Starkey. His Tigers have annually fielded one of the brightest athletic teams in the conference and are one of the brightest of all sports teams at Mizzou. The Tigers have been an Academic All-American Team for numerous years, and his players are regulars on Missouri Dean's lists and on the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll. He keeps the Tigers active in numerous community service efforts, but mostly services benefiting children.
Starkey's wife, Julie, is the Assistant Dean for Campus Life at Columbia College. They have two children; Emily (13), and Samuel (9). When Blake is not on or near a tennis court, he enjoys biking, cooking, playing chess and other strategy games, spending time with his kids, writing, photography, and tech gadgets. Among other community organizations, he is a member of Columbia's Northwest Rotary.
