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Men's tennis next head coach potential candidates
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Men's tennis next head coach potential candidates


May 9, 2019, 10:35 AM

Ok so I have put some thought into this and have compiled a list of candidates I would consider if I was in DRad's position.

current non head coaches:

Matt Knoll - He coached at Baylor for 22 seasons before stepping away at the end of last year. He won the 2004 national title with Baylor and had them as a consistent top 10 program. He had a strong and consistent recruiting pipeline to Germany and Eastern Europe, one that I believe he could easily maintain at a new school. He claims to have stepped away from coaching college tennis and is on to other opportunities but I would still make a call.

Sam Winterbotham - Former Tennessee head coach who was fired at the 2nd of the 2017 season. He led the Vols to the national title match in 2009 and had them as a top 5 program for a few years before dropping off at the end of his tenure which led to his firing. He is akin to Amanda Butler as far as plateauing at a previous school after syccess, except he had even more success did than Butler did while at his previous school. I believe he could recapture some of his earlier success that he had at Tennessee, he still has good recruiting connections to the UK and Australia (he is from England originally).

Jermaine Jenkins - Former All-American Clemson player from 2003 to 2007. He has worked with Venus Williams in the past and is now the coach of WTA world #1, US Open and Australian Open champion, Naomi Osaka. His younger brother is Jarmere Jenkins who was one of Virginia's best players ever during their national title runs in the early 2010s. I am not sure if he would want a college coaching job as he currently has a good gig, also am not sure what recruiting pipelines he would bring but he is an interesting candidate to consider. More about himhttps://www.wtatennis.com/news/jermaine-jenkins-college-champ-osakas-new-coach



Current head coaches to poach:

Mark Booras - Current coach at Tulane. He had Tulane a match point away from upsetting Texas to advance to the sweet 16 a couple of seasons ago and has made Tulane one of the strongest mid-major programs in recent years. He has been a Tulane man for many years and stuck with them through the program shutting down for a few seasons after Hurricane Katrina, so it would probably take a lot to lure him to Clemson as he did not consider previous openings in recent years at LSU, Auburn, Miami etc.

Paul Goebel - Current coach at Memphis. Has led Memphis to a sweet 16 appearance before and always has Memphis as a top 40 type of team. He has strong recruiting connections to the UK and can consistently get some of the best players from there to the US.


Mid major coaches:

Nick Brochu - South Alabama
Jimmy Borendame - Middle Tennessee
Matt Dubois - UNCW
Dominik Mueller - Old Dominion
Jonathan Wolff - Georgia State

All of these coaches have had similar decent success at smaller programs, not overwhelming standout success but could up their game if given the keys to a big program like Clemson. Mueller probably the strongest candidate on his list, former Baylor player and ODU has had some good ranked players recently.


Top assistants:

Chris Eaton - Current Wake Forest Assistant. Was the assistant for the Wake national title team last year and the current team who is looking to make a run at defending their national title. He brings good recruiting ties. Wake head coach Tony Bresky was an assistant at Virginia, who was the dominant ACC team then, before taking over at Wake and making them the dominant program. Maybe Eaton could mirror that here at Clemson.

Tanner Stump - Florida assistant. The Gators are one of the teams that could win the national title this year and Stump has had a lot of assistant success in the past at a variety of schools. He has good connections to US recruiting and is known for player development.

Andrew Goodwin - Miss State assistant. Miss State is one of the most impressive programs in the country. They are top 10 this year and despite having high player attrition each year, they find a way to replace players to always have good teams. Plug and play system. A lot of that could be attributed to Goodwin as assistant. He is a part of the string culture at MSU and could bring some of that to Clemson.


these are the ones that I would consider right now. A few I decided not to add and if I think of any more I will add them. Who knows where Drad is looking. I would prefer a coach with strong college tennis connections and experience over just a "tennis guy" which is a route that some schools take (like Auburn with their hire of former pro player, Bobby Reynolds which so far has not worked as they went 0-12 in SEC play this year).

Let me know what you think.

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Re: Men's tennis next head coach potential candidates


May 9, 2019, 10:37 AM

I know nothing about it but TU for your effort on informing us about a Clemson sport.

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Re: Men's tennis next head coach potential candidates


May 9, 2019, 11:08 AM

Well done...that's quite an extensive list. I would like to add some prominent names not on your list that should've been contacted when Coach Kriese retired. (they were not due to what was IMO a lazy, POS Asst. AD who was over the tennis program at the time).

Jean Desdunes - former Clemson All-American, forner head coach @ GaTech, currently working for the USTA Developmental Program, currently a member of IPTAY Board.

Jay Berger - former Clemson All-American, Former Top Ten ranked ATP player, former head coach at Fla. Int., former Davis Cup Assistant Coach, Former head of Men's Development at USTA Developmental Program.

Kent Kinnear - former Clemson All-American, Former, ranked ATP player, currently working for the USTA Developmental Program. (Not sure what his other positions were)


These were/are all viable, serious candidates that never even got a phone call - even though they were all on a list Kriese offered to the administration when he retired. I certainly hope they will be in consideration this time around.

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Those are good names and each have big tennis experience


May 9, 2019, 11:18 AM

the only concern I would have about those names is that they are what I referred to as "tennis guys" as opposed to college coaches. (except Desdunes)

There is a difference between developing junior players and managing a team in a college setting. We have seen programs go after tennis guys without college coaching experience before and it's been a mixed bag of results. Recruiting is key in the world of college tennis.

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Re: Those are good names and each have big tennis experience


May 9, 2019, 11:38 AM

I agree about recruiting. As a former player, I can tell you I wanted someone who could get me to the next level. Someone who's been there successfully is certainly a person who understands what it takes.

If the Davis Cup Assistant Coach and former top ten player in the world were recruiting me, I'd definitely take notice. Same with people who have been in charge of developing America's top players over the past decade.

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Re: Those are good names and each have big tennis experience


May 9, 2019, 11:46 AM

good point but we will cheap out so maybe get someone named Davis Cup and hope players dont notice its their name not experience

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Can we get a female coach with big ####?


May 9, 2019, 11:12 AM

That would make tennis more appealing.

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Snowflake Basher........Out


Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####?


May 9, 2019, 11:15 AM

Wow. No pun or anything. You just went straight for it.


Bold move.

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Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####?


May 9, 2019, 11:35 AM



2024 purple level memberbadge-donor-05yr.jpgringofhonor-classof1994.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

Why do dogs always race to the door when the doorbell rings? It's almost never for them.


Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####?


May 9, 2019, 11:37 AM

NO WAY SHE PLAYS OR COACHES TENNIS IN THAT SHIRT!!!

Does she?

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Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####?


May 9, 2019, 4:06 PM [ in reply to Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####? ]

she looks like the girl at the massage parlor on my way home from work.

badge-donor-10yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

^^^Stops at the massage parlor on his way home from work.***


May 9, 2019, 4:13 PM



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https://as1.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/00/81/16/28/1000_F_81162810_8TlZDomtVuVGlyqWL2I4HA7Wlqw7cr5a.jpg


how's bob kraft***


May 9, 2019, 5:10 PM [ in reply to Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####? ]



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Re: Can we get a female coach with big ####?


Jun 1, 2019, 2:45 PM [ in reply to Can we get a female coach with big ####? ]



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Re: Men's tennis next head coach potential candidates


May 9, 2019, 12:07 PM

Not a close follower of tennis, but it seems most of the highly successful programs have coaches who can bring in top international talent. Think the best fit would be a well connected assistant who was part of a consistently ranked program or a current head coach. Considering the former coach, a bit skeptical of former CU players who have little or no coaching experience at the college level.

Message was edited by: BerlinSPY73®


2024 white level memberbadge-donor-20yr.jpg flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

the only good politician is a dead politician.


thats kinda how I feel too


May 9, 2019, 2:53 PM

I think I would prefer an entirely new direction.

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Thanks for the civil discussion and weathering


Jun 1, 2019, 5:13 PM

the hijack attempt!

Not being familiar with the tennis scene and apologizing in advance if this question is utterly stupid . . . Since the better squads rely on foreign talent, would a foreign coach with connections overseas work?




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Murphy Jensen would get along great with Dabo


May 9, 2019, 12:22 PM

we could find out if Dabo is a better chucker or a hacker, since he hasn't shown any tennis moves yet

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Re: Murphy Jensen would get along great with Dabo


May 9, 2019, 3:28 PM

Funny story about Murphy.

He came on a recruiting trip when I was there, and of course, we took him out. But we kinda "lost" him at some point during the night. When we finally found him the next day (or he found us), we asked where he slept that night. He said he slept in a dumpster.

Dude was all about some partying back then.

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Great list...


May 9, 2019, 7:41 PM

If you are the AD, who are your top 3? Who do you think is the most realistic top pick?

Based off of what you wrote, I'm most interested in the following:
Winterbotham
Eaton
Stump

I think my first pick would be Eaton, but I'd be happy with any of those 3. I'd put Jenkins high on the list, but given that most of his coaching work is with women maybe he's a better option if/when Nancy Harris ever leaves.

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I think I would put Eaton #1 as well


May 10, 2019, 2:30 PM

Mainly because Wake has been able to get recruits from all over the world, which is usually something that an assistant plays a big role in. Stump would be good as well but it would be a bit harder to attract top Americans to Clemson right off the bat with competition from several other schools.

I would have to look back and remind myself what led to the downfall of Winterbotham at Tennessee in his last couple years in 2015 and 2016. He had the national runner up team with 4 guys who would go on to get close to the ATP top 100. Loaded team.

But he had good teams after that as well, infact when I was team manager in 2013 we lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to Tennessee in the NCAA tournament 2nd round. So the Vols were a sweet 16 level program then as well.

The mid major coaches I listed would be solid hires but more like 2nd choice type candidates. They could elevate our program to NCAA tournament level but not sure if they could make us top 20 or beyond which I think Eaton, Stump or Winterbotham could potentially do

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getting close to a month now


Jun 1, 2019, 1:38 PM

still now word...

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Great list....especially Osaka’s coach. Something I didn’t know until this FOpen


Jun 1, 2019, 4:25 PM

This guy played at Clemson:

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/five-things-to-know-about-yannick-maden

Pretty cool
We evidently had some serious talent back in this timeframe.

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Thank you for posting this.


Jun 1, 2019, 4:46 PM

I don’t keep up with college tennis, so your posts are helpful to me.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but is the head coaching position for Clemson tennis considered a big time job? I know we’ve had some good teams and various points in our history, but I don’t know how we are perceived in the tennis world. Are we a “tennis school” or no?

Regardless, I hope we get a coach with a good balance of coaching experience and international connections. It seems that success in tennis is reliant upon getting international players rather than relying too heavily on U.S. talent.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


Re: Men's tennis next head coach potential candidates


Jun 1, 2019, 6:01 PM

Thank you for all the amazing notes!

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