Head coach Jim Corn is completed his 17th season as the head coach of the Gardner-Webb women’s tennis program for the 2022-23 school year, having previously been an assistant and associate head coach for both the men and women’s tennis programs from 2002-2006.
In 2023, Corn helped guide the team to their third consecutive appearance in the Big South Tournament Semifinals as they finished at 3-3 against league opponents. Gardner-Webb was the #3 seed in the tournament after winning a three-way tiebreaker. Overall, they were 7-9 on the season as Corn helped the team to win nine weekly awards from the conference along with four players earning All-Conference selections with earn notching a spot on one of the singles teams.
During in the spring of 2022, Corn helped the team hit historic numbers in the 2021-2022 year. The team finished conference play with a 6-3 record and earning the #3 seed for the Big South Tournament, each marked new program bests. The Runnin' Bulldogs knocked off #6 Radford in the first round of the tournament and advanced to the finals of the event for the first time in GWU history and fell in the championship to #1 Charleston Southern.
The 2020-2021 season saw Corn lead the 'Dogs to the team's first Big South Conference Tournament Semifinal appearance since 2011 after clinching the #4 seed for the event. The team ended the year at 5-7 overall and had eight of its matches decided by 4-3 scores.
In the 2019-2020 season, the team finished the shortened season with a 5-4 record including a three-game win streak in late February against Hampton, UNCG, and Radford.
His teams over the past several season have traditionally been among the strongest on campus academically and have shown tremendous competitiveness on the court.
After a tough 2017-18 season that saw his team win just four matches, Corn led the Runnin' Bulldogs to another double-digit win season in the spring of 2019. Under his guidance, Gardner-Webb finished 10-9 overall and 6-3 in the Big South, earning the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament, its highest ever seed since joining the Big South. Daniela Naupari and Milijana Ristic were named Second-Team All-Big South Conference for doubles, while Ristic was a Second-Team singles member. A sophomore, Valentine Limauge, represnted the 'Dogs on the All-Academic team.
In the spring of 2016, Corn's squad finished 8-14 (3-6 Big South) but one season later, he guided the Runnin' Bulldogs to a 12-6 overall mark and .303 increase in winning percentage. His 2016-17 team went 5-3 in Big South play and made the tournament in as the No. 5 seed but fell to UNC Asheville in the quarterfinals.
In 2014-15, his ninth season in charge, the Runnin’ Bulldogs had two upperclassman competing and Coach Corn guided GWU to a 9-12 record and a 2-7 mark in conference play. GWU defeated Presbyterian, 4-0 to advance to the Big South Tournament for a second-straight season. Rokia Sacko garnered All-Academic honors, and as a team, GWU was named to the ITA All-Academic Team.
His eighth team in 2013-2014 won 11 matches and saw Rokia Sacko rank among the best nationally all season long in her flight. Corn’s charges got off to a 7-2 start in February, highlighted by wins over Western Carolina (6-1) and USC Upstate (4-3). The squad also picked up a first-round win in the Big South Conference Tournament, hosted by GWU in Boiling Springs.
During the 2012-13 season, Corn guided a resilient undermanned squad to an 8-win campaign highlighted by Gardner-Webb’s first-ever Big South Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Year award-winner. Under Corn’s watch, Erica White capped a brilliant four-year career with an 18-3 mark at No. 1 singles, as well as a 16-3 record at No. 1 doubles alongside junior Jenny Lunde, to earn the Conference’s top individual honor for women’s tennis. Led by his standout senior, Corn engineered unlikely upsets over nationally-ranked Appalachian State (5-2) and Charlotte (4-3) to defend the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ home court in his seventh season in Boiling Springs.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs enjoyed a 13-win season under Corn’s watch during the 2011-12 campaign. Led by a pair of 15+ winners in singles play, Alice Hopkins and Erica White, Gardner-Webb earned the the Big South Conference Tournament’s No. 5 seed for the second consecutive season. Although GWU fell to No. 4 seed Radford in the Tournament’s 1st Round, Corn’s squad earned arguably the most successful season in his tenure in Boiling Springs. White earned All-Conference Singles honors, Hopkins was named the Big South’s Freshman of the Year, and senior Ioana Oprea landed on the the League’s All-Academic Team. The 2010-11 season marked a drastic turnaround for Corn and Gardner-Webb women’s tennis in the Big South Conference, as the Runnin’ Bulldgos’ head coach earned Big South Co-Coach of the Year honors. Under Corn’s direction, the Runnin’ Bulldogs improved to an 11-6 overall record, the best winning percentage (65%) since Corn first took over at GWU in 2006. Gardner-Webb also posted an improved 3-4 mark in Big South play, up from its 1-6 mark a year earlier. Corn’s postseason honor was not the only such highlight for GWU in 2011, as student-athletes Rita Gouveia (Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year) and Erica White (All-Conference Singles) were honored for outstanding seasons.
In his fourth season as head coach, Corn led the Runnin’ Bulldogs to 12 victories, the most in one season for GWU women’s tennis since becoming a Division I member in 2002. He also guided Erica White into becoming the Big South Conference Co-Freshman of the Year, a first for the program.During his third season, which was the team’s first as a member of the Big South Conference, Corn led the Runnin’ Bulldogs to 10 victories. The squad entered the 2009 Big South Conference Championship as a No. 7 seed. During his second season, Corn led the Runnin’ Bulldogs to seven wins in the squad’s last year in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He coached one of the youngest teams in Division I, with the majority of his team being underclassmen. Corn’s team earned the No. 6 seed at the conference tournament, tying its highest seeding in the postseason tournament.
In his first season as the Gardner-Webb head coach, Corn guided the squad to eight wins. Under Corn’s direction, GWU reached the 2007 Atlantic Sun Conference tournament as the No. 6 seed, the program’s highest seeding ever in the post-season event. In 2006-07, Corn had two players receive honors as Laura Kriett was named first-team All-Atlantic Sun and the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team while Jenny Gomez was named as the Atlantic Sun’s Player of the Week for women’s tennis in March. The honor was the first time in GWU’s history that a female tennis player had earned the weekly honor.
Corn has a legendary background in the sport of tennis, having earned All-ACC honors four times during his career at the University of North Carolina (1969-1972). The 1968 Shelby High graduate was the first person to earn a tennis scholarship at UNC and also set the school’s record for wins during his career. He is also the only player in ACC history to win four individual singles championships in the league at their position.
Corn graduated from North Carolina in 1972 and was the recipient of the Educational Foundation’s award for tennis. He captained the Tar Heels in 1971 and was co-captain in 1972. During his last three years at UNC, the Tar Heels finished 20th, 10th and fifth nationally. There is a court named for him at the Cone Tennis Center on the UNC Campus in Chapel Hill. In 2009, Corn was honored by being inducted into the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame.
Corn has coached two future All-Americans and one ACC Rookie of the Year during their high school careers, as well as having guided the Raleigh Edge to the world championship finals in 1990. The players he has worked with include Tim Wilkinson (pro) and All-American’s Bryan Jones (UNC) and Peter Ayers (Duke). Both Jones and Ayers went on to earn spots on the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Team after their careers ended.
The Shelby, N.C. native has previously served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing & Promotions after serving as the Executive Director of the Bulldog Club at Gardner-Webb. He currently serves on the North Carolina Tennis Foundation Board of Directors and is a member of the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame committee. Corn and his wife, Penny, have two sons, Hunter and Will. Will currently serves as the Gardner-Webb athletics Facilities Coordinator.
