Tufts Mourns the Passing of Former Tennis Coach Jim Watson

MEDFORD, MA (February 18, 2026) - Tufts Athletics is mourning the loss of former tennis coach Jim Watson, who passed away on February 14. He was 86.

Watson started a long tenure at Tufts University in 1981. Hired as a Spanish professor, he soon turned his other great passion—tennis—into a position as head coach of the Jumbo men's and women's teams. Twenty-four years later, he retired in 2005 as one of the nation's most successful teachers of the game.

"It's been a great ride," Watson said at the time of his retirement, looking back on a coaching career that included 370 victories with both teams. "You can't predict what's going to happen to you in life, but coming to Tufts and being here with so many great people for a quarter-century has been a wonderful experience."

Watson earned the 200th victory of his career with the Tufts men's team against Division I Boston University on April 20, 2005. In anticipation of his retirement, he stepped down as the women's tennis coach in 2004, after compiling 169 victories. Watson also coached squash at Tufts from 1981 until 1987. 

He guided the men's tennis team to six NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994, 1996-97 and 2002-04. He directed the women's team to five New England titles and four NCAA Tournament berths. Watson earned two New England Coach of the Year awards with the men (1989 and 1994) and two with the women (1989 and 2000).

Watson's 1994 men's team was the first at Tufts to earn an NCAA Tournament berth after the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) lifted its ban against teams participating in national tournaments. In 1996, he was featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" after earning his 100th victory with the women's team.

He took the tennis teams to an even higher level almost immediately. His third women's team in 1983 won the first of four consecutive New England Championships. They added another in 1989. The men's team won NESCAC titles in 1984, 1986 and 1989. Several individuals and doubles pairs qualified for NCAA Tournament play under his guidance. After NESCAC lifted its ban on NCAA team competition, Watson guided 10 of his men's and women's teams into the national team tournament.

"Under Jim's direction, Tufts tennis has been among the very best programs in New England for more than 20 years running," Bill Gehling, Athletics Director at Tufts from 1999-2015, said upon Watson's retirement. "He's an outstanding tennis player in his own right, a great teacher on and off the court and a very passionate person. In addition to their outstanding achievements, his teams always represented Tufts with the highest standard of sportsmanship."