Intercollegiate Tennis Association

“Winning Will Take Care of Itself….”

Audra Cohen, the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of Oklahoma, is no stranger to winning. In her freshman year at Northwestern, she won 51 singles matches. The following year she won an NCAA singles title at the University of Miami. She reached a career-high of #229 on the WTA tour before joining the college coaching ranks as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin. She took over the head coaching responsibilities at North Florida in 2011, where she was named a three-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the year winning four Atlantic Sun Tournament titles. Audra is now the head women’s coach at the University of Oklahoma, where she is having a breakout year, reaching the finals of the ITA National Indoor Championships in February, winning a Big-12 regular-season title, and will enter the NCAA tournament later this month as one of the favorites to win it all.

 

In this podcast, Audra shares many aspects of her coaching philosophy and processes for recruiting, doubles, and sports psychology, as well as her role as the CEO of the OU women’s tennis program.

 

Laying Down the Law with Ryan Ruzziconi

If you thought trying to win a dual match was a pressure-filled environment, try negotiating and drafting billion-dollar deals. That is exactly what today’s guest was doing before joining the college coaching ranks. Ryan Ruzziconi is the head women’s tennis coach at Saginaw Valley State University. He gave up his career in the legal profession to pursue his true passion for coaching tennis which he has done at all levels of the game. In this podcast we discuss what skills Ryan has brought from his past life as a lawyer to help him in his current role; his progression from high school tennis coaching to college coaching and how he and his community is dealing with the aftermath of a tragic mass shooting last November in Oxford, Michigan.

The Past, Present & Future with Alison Ojeda (University of Tennessee, Head Women’s Tennis Coach)

Alison Ojeda is currently the Head Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of Tennessee, where she was also a standout player. Her coaching career to date includes assistant coaching roles at Texas A & M, Alabama, and Baylor and a 5-year head coaching role at Middle Tennessee State University. Alison shares how she was a better assistant coach the second time around at Baylor and also a better head coach the second time around at the University of Tennessee; how her coaching style has changed through the years and how it might evolve further when she becomes a mother.

Rewriting Your Story; Defining your Culture & Managing Gen Z.

Dr. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist, authoring 17 books on a range of topics related to peak performance. This is Dr. Loehr’s second time on the ITA College Tennis Coaches Podcast. This time around we discuss what coaches need to do to move beyond any plateaus they face in their career; how to define and reinforce their culture; managing and coaching Gen Z student-athletes; and why he believes the Apeak App might just be the future of mental performance training.

Making Your Program Matter

Trey Morris was thrown into the deep end of his head coaching career when he signed on to be the assistant coach at Montana State and found out just weeks later that he was being promoted to interim head coach. Not only did Trey survive those first few months, he thrived, and the interim tag was removed.

Trey’s team currently holds a 7-1 record on the spring season. He has made his program a darling of the Montana State Athletic Department by engaging his community and caring deeply about his home match day product. His AD was recently quoted as saying his recent trip to one of Trey’s dual matches was one of the most entertaining sporting events he has been at in some time!

In this podcast we discuss how he adapted to the unexpected promotion early in his tenure at Montana State and how he is caught the attention of his community and Athletic Department.

Excelling as an Assistant Coach

Billy Pate and Damian Hume, the head men's coach and the assistant men's coach respectively at Princeton, join host Dave Mullins to discuss the in's and outs of the role of the assistant coach. Billy is entering his 27th year in college coaching and spent two of those years working under the legendary Bobby Bayliss at Notre Dame. Damian has served as an assistant coach at Boise State, Michigan State and is now in his 8th year as Billy's assistant at Princeton.

 

In this podcast they discuss the pathway to becoming a head coach; some mistakes assistant coaches can make; how assistant coaches can get more involved within their athletic departments and lots more helpful advice for assistant coaches.

Fighting For Olympic Sports

Many of you will have seen Arthur Bryant’s name mentioned in stories about reinstated college programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Law Journal has twice named him one of the 100 most influential attorneys in America. Recently, he has led ground-breaking settlements at eight universities that announced they were eliminating women’s varsity intercollegiate athletic teams. He also led a historic settlement – the first Title IX victory for male student-athletes – with Clemson University, reinstating men’s track field and cross country in April, 2021.

In this podcast we discuss some possibilities as to why tennis was singled out for elimination during the early days of COVID-19; his advice for insulating your college tennis program from threats; what you should do if you were ever to be told that your program has been eliminated and some advice on leading high performing organizations.

Breaking The Mold

Somadi Druker has been the head men’s tennis coach at Queens College in New York since 2015. She has already claimed three East Coast Conference coach of the year honors by winning conference titles and taking her team to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Championships on several occasions. In this podcast we discuss why Somadi is an outlier in the world of college tennis, and college sports in general, as a woman coaching a men’s team; her advice to other woman coaches interested in coaching on the men’s side and how she stays involved and committed to many faucets of the tennis industry.

Always be Refining

Josh Goffi has been the head men's coach at the University of South Carolina since 2010. He also served as an assistant coach for the men's team at Duke from 2008-2010 and for the women's team at Arizona State from 2006-2008.

 

He was a successful player at Clemson and reached a career high ATP doubles ranking of 121 and a singles ranking of 488. In this podcast we discuss his father's influence on his coaching philosophy and gather his thoughts on recruiting, player development and intentionally managing your culture.

 

You can also find some additional tips from Josh about Player Development in Chapter 9 of the Coach Masterclass.

Positivity & Passion

Sujay Lama, the head women's coach at North Texas, has a fascinating background having lived in three continents and is fluent in four languages. He grew up in Nepal and earned a tennis scholarship to Luther College in 1988. Since then, he has coached some of the top WTA tour players at Grand Slam events, won National Championships as an assistant coach at Florida, and now has 23 years head coaching experience at the University of Illinois and North Texas.

In this podcast we discuss what he learned from several mentors within the tennis industry, his thoughts on international recruiting, advice for younger coaches and many other interesting topics.