Johnson C. Smith tennis coach James Cuthbertson is very excited about the future of the Johnson C. Smith University tennis programs. "We want to continue our journey down the long road of respectability with the hope of making our programs two of the top programs in the NCAA and the Mid Atlantic Region, "Cuthbertson said.
Cuthbertson has been the men's coach for seventeen years and women's coach for fourteen years. His tennis career began at Olympic High School (Charlotte, NC) in 1967 when he became a member of the Olympic High tennis team where he lettered at number three as a senior. When UNC Charlotte resurrected its tennis program in 1971, Cuthbertson , a junior, joined the program, lettering in 1972 as a senior. He was named 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003 Men's Coach of the Year after leading his men's team to six straight CIAA championships in 1999,2000,2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. His career record overall is 238-171 and 179-43 in the CIAA.
The men won 84 straight CIAA conference matches and nine straight Western Division Championships. Cuthbertson won his 200th men's tennis match with a 9-0 victory over Saint Augustine's College in April, 2008. In 2008, the board of trustees decided to name the tennis courts on campus the Coleman/Cuthbertson tennis courts in honor of the late Dr. Winston R. Coleman and current coach James Cuthbertson, Jr. In 1998, Cuthbertson became the coach of the inaugural women's program at Johnson C. Smith University. His career record overall is 142-179 and 112-41 in the CIAA.
The women's team were the CIAA runners-up in 2002 at the inaugural women's championships. They won 14 straight CIAA conference games and the western division title in the process to finish 14-0.
Cuthbertson holds a BA in history from UNC Charlotte and an MA in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has had further training at Howard University, Galludet University, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the University of New Orleans and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He has also visited the Saddlebrook Country Club and resort in Tampa, Florida for workshops with Dennis Van der Meer and Nick Bolliteri.
He is a member of the Charlotte Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and at Johnson C. Smith also serves as Disability Services Coordinator, Reading Language Specialist, Learning Resource Coordinator, Transfer Mentor and advisor to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
