Now entering his 26th season at Lamar University, David Wong has served as head coach of the Cardinals for the past 24 seasons. He originally came to Beaumont as an assistant coach for both the LU men’s and women’s teams. After two seasons as an assistant Wong took over as head coach for both programs in 2001. He remained head coach of both programs through the 2006 season when the two were split and Wong remained with the women’s team.
During his tenure with the Cardinals, Wong has become one of the all-time winningest coaches in Southland Conference history. His 256 wins - as a coach within the Southland Conference - ranks third all-time, and he is currently the third-active winning coach in the conference.
Wong, a former Cardinal tennis player himself, has become synonymous with Lamar University women's tennis after elevating the program back into a yearly Southland Conference contender. Wong took over a women’s program that just a couple seasons earlier won only six matches in two years. In his second season focusing just on the LU women’s team, Wong guided the Cardinals to a Southland Conference Championship. In 2008, the Cardinals recorded a 24-3 (.889) mark, a season that ended with a trip to the NCAA Championships.
The winningest coach in school history, Wong became the first LU coach to win 150 matches in 2012 with a victory over Arkansas State. He holds an overall record of 266-263 (.503) at LU (one season LU was a member of the WAC). With the 36 wins he recorded while coaching the LU men, he has nearly 300 career wins (281 total wins).
Wong produced three of the top players in the SLC in 2023, including one of the brightest freshmen. Junior Ana Jolic, sophomore Noelia Lorca and freshman Megan Do all received first-team all-conference honors. Jolic and Lorca received the honor in doubles while Do was named the league's top player at the No. 6 singles position.
The 2020 campaign was off to a great start and behind Wong’s trio of seniors appeared to have the makings of another run at the conference title. Big Red jumped out to an 8-4 (.667) record entering Southland play before the season was cut short due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The 2017 campaign was just another successful notch in Wong’s career. The Red and White posted a 17-8 (.680) overall record, and an 8-3 (.727) league mark to earn the Southland’s No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. The 17-win campaign was the most wins by an LU squad since 2011 and goes down in the history books as the fifth-best season in program history.
Following the season, Wong’s players were recognized for their hard work on the court. Led by senior Katya Lapayeva, who was named Southland Conference Player of the Year, the Cardinals landed five players on the All-Southland Conference team. Lapayeva became just the third player in program history to receive the league’s top individual honor, and the first since 2010 (Andrea Martinez – 2006 and Mariaryeni Gutierrez – 2010).
The five all-conference players only added to a long list of standouts Wong has produced during his career. In addition to team success, Big Red has had 30 players named All-Southland Conference to go along with 10 doubles teams. In addition to the all-conference athletes, Wong has produced three Southland Players of the Year, two SLC Newcomers of the year and two freshmen of the year.
The 2012 season represented Wong's eighth consecutive season of 12 or more wins. After a slow start to the campaign, All-Southland honorees Alessandra Pennesi and Hélène Czudek combined for a 15-win debut season to help LU to a 7-4 conference slate before being upended by UT Arlington at the Southland Championships.
Following a 14-9 season in 2010, the Cards took advantage of all-conference campaigns from Kaltrina Harbuzi, Gutierrez, Natalia Mayagoitia and Diana Mendez to post a 19-3 record in 2011 – one of the best seasons in school history. LU also tallied a 10-1 mark in Southland play for the third time in four seasons, tying for the best conference mark in school history.
Perhaps no two seasons standout as much in LU history as those of 2008 and 2009, which saw the Cardinals run out to a 41-9 (.820) record with an eye-popping 20-2 (.909) mark in Southland play. In 2008, LU went 24-3, which ranks as the best win percentage in school history, ending with a trip to the NCAA tournament following a conference tournament title. A season later, Big Red racked up 17 more victories to secure the first back-to-back seasons with 15 or more wins since 1983-84.
After going 5-17 and 1-23 in 2001 and 2002, respectively, 2007 marked one of the more impressive achievements of Wong's career as he guided the program to a third consecutive season of at least 12 wins, a feat that had not been matched in school history.
Andrea Martinez proved to be vital in the run, becoming the first three-time All-Southland honoree in school history and becoming the school's first ever league player of the year, earning it on the heels of the 2006 season.
A scholarship athlete for the LU men's tennis team from 1980-84, Wong played under the legendary Ron Wesbrooks, who led the Cards to five conference championships in 17 seasons. During his four years competing for the Red and White, the team was 57-43, and 1980 was one of three that saw LU record 20-or-more wins in a season.
In addition to Wesbrooks, Wong played for Kenny DeKoning, who was a former Davis Cup player and team captain for Holland, and later became one of the Davis Cup coaches for Venezuela versus the United States. He also trained under Humphrey Hose, a former number one player for Venezuela, who reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1975. Originally a native of Aruba, one of Wong's first coaches was Eddie Ras, who is widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the Caribbean.
As a player, Wong was ranked No. 2 in the state of Texas in men's 35 singles, and he and his wife were also the top-ranked husband/wife doubles team in the state.
Wong is a USPTA-certified tennis instructor, and he has worked with nationally-ranked junior players as well as adult teams at both local and national levels.
A 1997 graduate of LU, Wong currently resides in Nederland with his wife, Missy. He has three children - Michael, Sydney and Jayci (who is a former player, and current graduate assistant coach for the tennis team), and two stepchildren - Brandon and Mindy. The couple also has five grandchildren - Sage, Shaw, Tucker, Josie and Kai.
