Red Raiders, newly extended Sands begin season in Hawaii
Nine of the nation's top 18 teams in Golfweek's final poll of the 2022 fall season, including No. 3 Texas Tech, are entered in the Amer Ari Invitational that starts Tuesday.
It will be the Red Raiders' first tournament since coach Greg Sands signed a seven-year contract worth more than $2.8 million that Tech announced in November.
The field of 20 teams will play over three days at Hapuna Golf Course in Waimea, Hawaii. The Red Raiders' lineup order has Ludvig Aberg, Calum Scott, Baard Skogen, Jack Wall and Matthew Comegys. Tech's Gustav Andersson and Tyran Snyders will play as individual medalists.
Aberg is coming off an appearance at the Dubai Desert Classic at the end of January in which he was the 18-hole co-leader, made the cut and finished 3 under par for 72 holes. He tied for 70th place.
The other teams in the Amer Ari field that made the Golfweek top 25 at the end of the fall were No. 1 Auburn, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 5 Arizona State, No. 6 Stanford, No. 10 Georgia Tech, No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 16 Oklahoma State and No. 18 Texas.
Sands was given a contract extension in late November that carries him through Aug. 31, 2030. The contract years run from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31 each school year, starting Sands at $335,000 for 2023-24 with annual $10,000 increases that take him to $395,000 for 2029-30.
He also can earn retention bonuses by still being the Red Raiders' coach at the end of August every other year. Those bonuses are $35,000 if he remains in place through August 2024, $40,000 at the end of August 2026, $45,000 at the end of August 2028 and $50,000 at the end of August 2030.
In addition, the contract calls for Sands to receive a longevity bonus of $100,000 on Sept. 1, 2026 in recognition of 25 years as the Red Raiders' coach.
Sands has led the Tech men to 19 consecutive NCAA regional appearances, not counting the Covid-canceled 2022 postseason, and 10 trips to the NCAA championship final tournament.
Women's tennis
Virginia Brown, a Hall of Fame coach who finished up a 40-year career as the Texas Tech women's coach from 1999 to 2002, died Monday, the Tech athletics department announced. She was 85 and a Lubbock resident.
Brown, who coached collegiately and professionally, was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame in 2016.
Brown, a Texas doubles state champion from 1958-62, competed at Wimbledon in 1963 and reached a ranking of No. 5 in the nation as a professional before beginning her coaching career. She won eight women's and six men's junior-college national championships coaching at Odessa College between 1967 and 1980 and was named NJCAA coach of the year six times during the same time frame.
Brown also coached the women's team from 1974-88 at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, was named the NAIA coach of the year in 1985 and served as the UTPB athletics director in 1987-88.
She also coached with World Team Tennis and individual pros.
Tech hired Brown in August 1999.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tech sports roundup: Red Raiders, newly extended Sands begin season in Hawaii
