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137 "Coach Houghton is a great role model on and off the court," said junior Dominic Patrick, who was recruited to Iowa by Houghton. "He taught me how to balance athletics and academics. He made my adjustment into college simple. He is a great guy and I appreciate all he has done for the tennis program." Houghton le the program in the hands of head coach Ross Wilson. So far this season the Hawkeyes have climbed as high as 45th nationally, the highest by an Iowa tennis team since rankings expanded to a top 75 format in 1997. "I was confident when Ross got the job and he's doing a great job," Houghton said. "Rankings- wise we are up further then we've been in a few years, which is great with a very young team. We are good now, and in the next few years I think we can be great. e program is in good hands." In addition to his coaching career, Houghton had a successful playing career at Iowa from 1969-71, lettering three years and winning the No. 5 singles title at the Big Ten championships. His career Big Ten singles record was 21-6, and his career winning percentage of .727 (40-15) is second-best in school history. Now that his reign at Iowa is over, Houghton enjoys time with his family. "Our eight grandchildren are one of the reasons I decided to retire, to spend more time with them," Houghton said. "It's nice to get up in the morning and not have to do anything in particular. It's nice to have time to relax and spend more time with my family, which was a big reason for making the change." I owa's victory over Wisconsin on March 22 was the Hawkeyes' Big Ten Conference home opener. e day was special for another reason, as the University of Iowa tennis program honored former head coach Steve Houghton. Before singles competition, Houghton was recognized for his accolades as both coach and player for the UI men's tennis program. Among those honoring Houghton were current and past players. "Today meant a lot to me," Houghton said. "e thing that was nice was the fact that many of our former players came back on short notice to do this. I was appreciative of that." Houghton amassed 354 victories in his tenure at the helm of the program, most of any coach in school history. Over his impressive three decade-plus coaching career, Houghton coached 20 All-Big Ten performers and his players received 109 Academic All-Big Ten honors. Several of his players went on to make tennis a profession, including Tyler Cleveland, who cracked the top 300 ATP in the world. "I always loved being around coach Houghton," said Tom Buetikofer, Class of 2001. "He was always a supportive coach, pushing us to give our all. As a team we were a unit and had great comradery and this was because of Houghton. He helped make my four years at Iowa the best experience." Before retiring last summer, Houghton led the Hawkeyes to 13 winning seasons. Two years aer taking over the program, the 1984 team won a school record 21 matches and finished fourth in the Big Ten. In 1989, Houghton was named NCAA Region IV Coach of the Year. APRIL SCHEDULE April 4 at Purdue April 5 at Indiana April 8 at Nebraska April 11 at Illinois April 12 at Northwestern April 17 Ohio State April 19 Penn State April 19 Chicago State April 23 Big Ten Tournament