Women's Tennis

RICK CRUZ
Head Coach
(2001-)

Associated with George Fox University tennis as both a player and a coach since its inception in 1996, Rick Cruz enters his eighth season as the women's tennis coach in 2007 and 10th season as the men's tennis coach at his alma mater.

Adding the women's program to the duties he already had as the men's tennis coach in time for the 2001 season, he has directed the Bruins to a 34-88 (.279) record in seven years. Their best season came in 2004 when a senior-laden team went 9-12, finished fifth in the Northwest Conference with a 7-9 league mark, then upset Pacific Lutheran in the first round of the NWC Tournament and wound up fourth, the Bruins' best showing ever in the tournament.

With the men's program, Cruz's teams have posted a 34-104 (.246) record in 8 1/2 years. While serving as an assistant coach, he stepped into the breech left when former coach Josh Schweitz resigned in the middle of the 1999 season. The men's best season since then was in 2000 when they went 8-12 overall and 6-6 in the conference to finish fifth, then went 1-2 in the NWC Tournament to come in sixth.

As a player for the Bruins, Cruz rotated among the No. 1, 2, and 3 singles positions during the first three years of the program (1996-98). He compiled an overall singles record of 15-30 and a doubles record of 11-32, with his best season being his senior year when he went 8-10 in singles and 7-11 in doubles. He graduated from George Fox with a B.A. in business in 1998.

Cruz comes from an athletic family. His identical (mirror) twin brother, Rob, is his assistant coach after also playing tennis at George Fox (1996-98). His younger brother, Ryan, played basketball and tennis for three years at George Fox (1998-2000) before transferring to Linfield College for his senior season.

A 1994 graduate of Hillsboro (Ore.) High School, Cruz still resides in Hillsboro and is a co-owner with his brother Rob of two Cold Stone Creamery stores in the Beaverton-Hillsboro area.