Welcome to The Phoenix’s weekly digest. Every week during the quarter, you can expect our writers’ takes on some campus happenings.

This week, Audrey Brunner exposes the University’s silence around the sudden departure of women’s tennis coach Jay Tee.

There’s a curiously vacant spot on the women’s tennis roster: that of former head coach Jay Tee. Tee, who has coached here since 2011, is no longer listed as a coach of the tennis team in any capacity. Instead, men’s head coach Matt Brisotti—hired by UChicago in 2023—is now listed as Interim Head Women’s Tennis Coach on the UChicago Athletics website. Tee was featured on UChicago Tennis’s Instagram account as recently as September 4; however, the University has said nothing about the circumstances surrounding his departure.

If there’s one sports team people care about at UChicago, it might be tennis. Over the last decade, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams have been among our most successful, at a school whose student body largely shuns school-sponsored athletics. Everyone’s seen a point or two, and you’ll see more than a few of your fellow students posting an Instagram story from the stands of major tournaments. And since 2022, UChicago’s teams have won a combined three national titles.

 Students told me that when they arrived for preseason in early September, they were informed that Tee had been fired. This is alarming considering the success Tee has brought since becoming head coach over a decade ago. From 2011 to 2023, he was head coach of both the men’s and women’s teams. During his tenure, the men’s team won its first national title in school history in 2022. Then, in 2023, Tee pivoted to solely coaching the women’s team, who won their first national title the following year. Alumna Rena Lin also won the women’s singles national title the same year. Tee’s success is not only remarkable, but recent. So, if not for a lack of success, why is Tee no longer involved with UChicago Tennis? 

When asked for comment, Gerald McSwiggan, the University’s director for public affairs, responded that “the University of Chicago does not comment on individual personnel matters,” adding, “Coach Matt Brisotti will serve as interim head coach as the University conducts a national search for a new head coach.”

The University’s response and Tee’s continued presence on the UChicago Athletics website point to an abrupt chain of events culminating in a sudden decision on the part of either Tee or UChicago Athletics. As of the writing of this article, Tee still has a page and full bio on the website that states, “Jay Tee enters his 14^th year as the Head Women’s Tennis Coach and Assistant Men’s Tennis Coach at the University of Chicago in the 2025-26 academic year.” 

Until The Phoenix reached out, the University had not indicated that there had been any sort of coaching change. Either UChicago Athletics forgot about the 1,300-word bio page of their former head coach, or his exit from the school was so abrupt that they’ve been left scrambling.

Unfortunately, this is the type of obscurity to which we UChicago students have become accustomed. In HUM, we are taught to write clearly, then receive emails from President Alivisatos about AI in the classroom that provide no clarification on the University’s policy on AI in the classroom. At Aims of Athletics, a mandatory event for every athlete at which Tee spoke last year, Alivisatos told student-athletes that we’re “central.” However, we deal with the same lack of communication regarding athletic matters as the rest of the student body. That is often how it feels to be a student at UChicago right now—the case of the missing tennis coach is just one more example.

Stay tuned for next week’s edition. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts, disagreements, or words of support, we want to hear them! Write to us at thechicagophoenix@gmail.com.