FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Andy Jackson will be in familiar surroundings when his men's tennis team plays at Florida today.
Jackson was Florida's coach for 11 years and led the Gators to a 90-32 SEC record and 11 NCAA Tournament appearances before being fired after the 2012 season.
Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long hired Jackson a year later to rebuild the program, and in his third season on the job Jackson has the No. 13 Razorbacks (13-3, 3-1 SEC) ranked in the top 15 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.
The Gators (7-4, 2-1) are ranked No. 24.
If Arkansas beats Florida, the Razorbacks will have won four consecutive SEC matches for the first time since joining the conference in 1992.
The Razorbacks' three-match winning streak features 5-2 victories over Tennessee, No. 7 Texas A&M and LSU. They beat No. 10 Oklahoma earlier this season.
"I'm happy to go back to Florida with my head held high as opposed to my tail between my legs," Jackson said. "It's not that I wish bad things for Florida. I'm just glad we're doing well at Arkansas."
The Razorbacks are ranked in the top 15 nationally for the the first time since 2006, which is the last time they finished with a winning SEC record (6-5) and played in the NCAA Tournament.
"It feels great to be ranked this high," Jackson said. "It's good for the team's confidence."
Jackson, 54, said he believes the Razorbacks will return to the NCAA Tournament this season, but that's just a starting point.
"This team is good enough that we can have some goals beyond that," he said. "We want to make it, and we'd like to host an NCAA regional and advance in the tournament. We have the ability to do it."
Arkansas is led by a group of talented transfers with junior Mike Redlicki (10-1 in singles play) coming from Duke; junior Jose Salazar (9-3) from Oklahoma; and senior William Albanese (7-3) from Miami.
Redshirt freshman Adam Sanjurjo is 8-4, and seniors Giammarco Micolani and Santiago Munoz are 6-6 and 4-6. Junior Johan den Toom has teamed with Munoz for an 8-2 doubles record.
The influx of newcomers and improvement of returning players have helped the Razorbacks -- who were 3-9 in SEC play in 2014 and 1-11 last year -- to their strong conference start. Jackson credits assistant coach Nester Briceno, who played for him at Florida, with helping raise the roster's talent level.
"Probably the best thing I've done since I've been at Arkansas was to hire Nester," Jackson said. "He's been an unbelievable recruiter. He's plugged in everywhere."
Florida has struggled -- by its standards -- since Athletic Director Jeremy Foley decided to replace Jackson with Bryan Shelton, who had been the women's coach at Georgia Tech.
Jackson led Florida to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 eight times and the Final Four in 2005. Florida has made the NCAA Tournament in each of Shelton's first three seasons, but it has two first-round losses with just one Sweet 16 appearance.
Florida was coming off a 16-10 record and Sweet 16 loss to Ohio State in 2012 when Jackson said Foley told him he was making a coaching change.
"Jeremy was very up front," Jackson said. "I was brought to Florida to win the NCAA championship, and we didn't win it. You can't argue with that.
"It would be a lie to say that being fired doesn't hurt, but I feel Jeremy is really good at his job, and he did what he thought was right.
"I was treated very fairly at Florida, but it's a demanding place. You don't take a job there if you're afraid of being fired. I went there with my eyes open."
Jackson said he left Florida on good terms with Foley and credited his old boss for talking to Long on his behalf and offering a strong recommendation.
Robert Cox, the Razorbacks' coach for 27 seasons before resigning after the 2013 season to take an administrative position in the athletic department, helped persuade Jackson to be his replacement.
"Robert called me five or six times that year I was out of coaching," Jackson said. "He was saying, 'I know you want to get back in the SEC and this would be a great spot.' The way Robert spoke about Arkansas made me realize it would be a good place for me."
Jackson has a 486-223 record in 27 seasons as an SEC men's coach at Mississippi State, Florida and Arkansas. He coached Mississippi State for 13 years and went to the NCAA Tournament in his final 11 seasons with the Bulldogs before going to Florida. He's the only men's tennis coach to win SEC titles at two schools -- in 1993 at Mississippi State and 2003 and 2005 at Florida -- and hopes to make it three at Arkansas.
The Razorbacks' last championships came in 1988 and 1989 under Cox in the Southwest Conference.
"Rebuilding the program here has been fun and exciting," Jackson said. "Being ranked No. 13 a few years ago at Florida wouldn't have felt so good, but being No. 13 now after being down is a good feeling.
"We're on the way up."
Sports on 03/18/2016