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Now the university is dropping the program.

The Radford athletic department announced Monday that it has decided to drop both the men's and women's tennis programs. Those teams will not be back for the 2025-26 school year.

"That is a shame because we really had it rolling when I was there,"Ìý Mike Anderson, who retired in 2017 after coaching the Radford men's tennis team for 21 years, said Monday in a phone interview. "It's very sad.

"I'm extremely disappointed. I just think that's awful. It's kind of like I wasted all my time there developing something that was very highly regarded in the NCAA tennis communities. … A sign of the times, I guess."

Radford also announced Monday it has decided to add three sports.

The Big South school is bringing back men's indoor and outdoor track and field for the 2025-26 school year. Radford had dropped those teams after the 2013-14 school year.

Radford will make those two track teams "distance focused," meaning the squads will consist only of runners from the Radford men's cross-country team. Fifteen cross-country runners will also run during the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Radford won't be devoting additional scholarship money to men's track and field at this time, although it will hire one additional full-time track coach.

The university has no timetable for expanding the men's indoor and outdoor track rosters beyond distance runners, although it hopes to eventually do so.

Radford is also adding women's flag football for the 2025-26 school year. The team will initially be a club sport, but Radford hopes to eventually bring it up to varsity status.

Radford becomes the third school in Southwest Virginia to decide to add women's flag football, following Hollins and Ferrum.

The Radford Board of Visitors will vote on the athletic department's decisions next month.

Radford athletic director Robert Lineburg did not answer phone calls or a text message Monday seeking an interview. A Radford spokesman said he was not available.

"As college athletics evolves, the costs of scholarships, dedicated facilities, travel expenses and overall operating budgets continue to escalate," Lineburg said Monday in the RU news release about the decisions. "In this environment, the allocation of resources requires greater strategic focus.

"By establishing Division I scholarship programs for men's indoor and outdoor track and field along with a women's flag football program, we will meet the needs and interests of more student-athletes."

The decisions came as part of the athletic department's five-year strategic planning process.

"We made the difficult decision to discontinue our tennis program following a thoughtful analysis and with a heavy heart," Lineburg said in the news release.

"We have determined that the tennis programs would likely continue to struggle to remain competitive in the coming years at current funding levels, with existing facilities. Discontinuing tennis will enable the reallocation of resources to other competitive sports programs with broader appeal."

Radford has had men's and women's tennis teams since 1974.

Men's and women's tennis are the first sports to be dropped by Radford since field hockey, men's indoor and outdoor track and field and women's swimming and diving were dropped by the school in 2014.

A total of nine players on the two tennis teams will be affected by the decision — eight players who were set to return for the 2025-26 school year and one signee. Radford will honor the players' scholarships if any decide to remain at Radford to finish work on their degrees.

There were six players on this year's men's tennis roster, including two seniors. There were also six players on the women's tennis roster this year, including two seniors. Each team had $100,000 in scholarship money.

Radford did not even play men's tennis this spring. The school announced in February that it was cancelling the season because it did not have enough available players because of injuries.

During Anderson's reign, the Radford men's tennis team won six Big South regular-season titles and five Big South tournament crowns. The team made five NCAA tournament appearances.

"When I was coaching there, we represented the university on a national scale," Anderson said. "We spread the name of Radford all over the country and overseas. We played Cambridge at Cambridge one year and London Metropolitan in London. We played the Naval Academy at the Pearl Harbor naval base. … That's what college athletics is supposed to do, enhance the stature of the university, and we did a really good job of that."

During Rob Bareford's four-year coaching reign, the Radford men's tennis team won the 2019 and 2022 Big South tournaments and advanced to the NCAAs both years.

"(RU dropping tennis is) incredibly disappointing," Bareford said in a phone interview. "Heartbroken for not just the players on the team now but the ones that have played there and created the legacy they have in both men's and women's (tennis).

"It's definitely a trend.Ìý… With the House (v. NCAA) settlement and the ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics, it's not good for the smaller nonrevenue sports.

"It seems like more of a blood sacrifice than anything. Our operating budget when I was there was extremely small. I don't think that's going to be saving anything or contributing too much to the other programs."

Bareford stepped down as the Radford men’s and women’s coach in July 2022 to become the men’s tennis coach at Montana State. He is now the men's tennis coach at New Mexico.

Radford had a men's tennis player compete in the NCAA singles championships seven times, most recently in 2012, and sent one doubles duo to the NCAA doubles championships. The late Martin Sayer was a four-time Big South player of the year who not only competed in the NCAAs with Radford teams but in singles and doubles as well.

The Radford women's tennis team won the Big South tournament in 1990.

By restoring men's indoor and outdoor track and field, Radford will no longer be the only Big South school without those sports.

Radford figures it will have 20-30 members on its new flag football team.

There are no NCAA playoffs in flag football. But the NCAA might eventually give women’s flag football emerging-sport status. That could result in more schools adding the sport. Radford plans to upgrade flag football to varsity status once flag football gains NCAA emerging-sports status.