North Carolina A&T

North Carolina A&T Director of Athletics Earl M. Hilton III named Dejon Bivens as North Carolina A&T's head men's and women's coach on August 16, 2021. Bivens received the promotion after serving on an interim basis. Bivens became a part of the program in 2017 as a volunteer assistant coach and then an assistant coach under former head men's and women's tennis coach William Crutchfield. 

Bivens started his coaching career at A&T as a volunteer assistant coach for the men's tennis programs for two seasons before his promotion. He aided in Vasil Ivanov's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) rookie of the year season in 2019. In addition, Ivanov earned first-team All-MEAC honors in 2019 and All-MEAC second-team in 2021.  

During his time at A&T, coach Bivens has helped both teams end long-time losing streaks and earn first-time victories over teams such as Queens University of Charlotte, Davidson College and Gardner Webb University. During his first year as the men's coach, Big South Conference head coaches predicted the Aggies would finish seventh out of eight teams.

During the 2022 Big South Conference Championship Tournament, coach Bivens led the team to the program's first win over Gardner Webb to reach the semifinals before falling to tournament champion Radford. The team has garnered accolades on and off the court. Eder Blanco was named Big South freshman of the week twice during the 2022 season. He was also named A&T Athletics' Rookie of the Year. Vasil Ivanov earned Athletics' 2022 Senior Male Athlete of the Year honor.

The women's team earned the department's Academic Team of the Year award for the highest grade point average in 2022. Coach Bivens emphasizes giving back to the community. The men and women's teams earned A&T Athletics' Community Service Award in 2022.

Coach Bivens played tennis at North Carolina State University before finishing his collegiate career at Winthrop University. He played on the conference championship team, leading to his participation in the NCAA national championship against the University of Tennessee in an unfinished match against Tenny Sandgren.

Sports & Awards

· Big South Presidential Honor Roll 

· Big South Regular Single's Flight Champion

· ITA Scholar-Athlete

· Fall Georgia Tech Invitational Flight Winner

· ITA Mary Washington University Tournament Winner

· ITA UNC-Chapel Hill Finalist Tennis Tournament

· Charlotte Observer Player of the Year.

· North Carolina Tennis Sportsman of the Year

· First Ever Rhodes Scholarship Finalist in Winthrop's History

· Pi Gama Mu Honor Society present

· Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society present Phi Kappa Phi present

· Sunbelt Rental Scholarship Recipient,

· Alice Anderson Gill Scholarship Recipient, 

· G. Lefvendahl Scholarship Recipient,

· The Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Senior Scholarship, 

· 4x President's Honor Roll, Winthrop University

· Best Delegate United Nations Conference XXXIV, Winthrop University 

· Mass Mutual Scholarship Award

· North Carolina State University's Wolf pack Speaks Award Winner

· F.F.A. (Future Farmers of America)    

· Dean's List University North Carolina at Greensboro 

· Dean's List North Carolina State University

· McNair Scholar, Winthrop University 

- Selected to Represent the United States as a Junior Delegate during the A.P.E.C. Conference in Hawaii (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference)

Coach Bivens graduated from Winthrop University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in pre-law political science.