Intercollegiate Tennis Association

Coaching the Modern Day Student-Athlete with Dr. Tiff Jones

Today I am joined by Dr. Tiff Jones, a certified mental performance consultant and founder of X-Factor Performance Consulting. As you will hear she is a former varsity soccer player and college coach, and specializes in mental skills training for athletes, teams, coaches and corporations. She works with a number of college tennis teams so is very familiar with our space. I think coaches will walk away from this conversation with lots of things to think about as we pack in a lot in a relatively short amount of time. 

College Tennis & the Tennis EcoSystem with Dave Fish & Steve Smith

Dave Fish and Steve Smith have worked tirelessly for many decades to make tennis more accessible to the masses. Dave Fish is the former head men's coach at Harvard winning 21 Ivy League titles during his 42 year tenure. After his retirement from college coaching he served as Director of Development for UTR. He was also inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame in 2019.

 

Steve Smith is the founder and co-director of GreatBase tennis and has spent almost 50 years studying the game of tennis, developing tennis players and educating coaches. He has worked as a tennis educator for families, federations, universities and associations in over 30 countries.

 

In this podcast we discuss many different matters, including what role college coaches play in the advancement of the sport of tennis and how coaches can become better teachers of the game to their teams and community members.

An Athletic Director's Perspective with Erica Perkins Jasper

Today, we’re talking with Erica Perkins Jasper, a leader in intercollegiate tennis, a successful Division I head coach, and distinguished student-athlete, who is now entering her third year as the Director of Athletics at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

In this episode, Dave and Erica chat about the pathway from student-athlete to head coach and head coach to director of athletics. In this interview, you’ll learn more about how you as a coach can improve your relationships with athletics administration and what athletic directors are looking for in a coach.

Grinding Your Way to the Top with Boomer Saia

Boomer Saia (pronounced CY-uh) has orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in college tennis since arriving at Iowa State.

In his three seasons leading the program, Saia has led the Cyclones to a 17-match home winning streak, a school-record four conference wins in 2021, the first Big 12 Conference Tournament win in school history, and the first NCAA Tournament berth in school history.

One of the nation’s brightest young coaches and an integral part of teams that have reached the Final Four at Vanderbilt and most recently the Elite Eight at Texas Tech, Saia was named Iowa State head coach on June 14, 2018, and the Cyclones have been on an upward trajectory ever since. The 2020-21 Cyclones rewrote the record books with a historic season.

Saia earned Big 12 Coach of the Year and Wilson ITA Central Region Coach of the Year honors after leading Iowa State to a 14-8 overall record and the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2020-21. Iowa State went undefeated at home (8-0) for the second-straight season and finished the season ranked.

Saia possesses a great familiarity with the Big 12 Conference, having spent much of his professional career in the league. He has been on staff as an assistant at Oklahoma (2014-16) and also worked in a volunteer role at his alma mater Kansas (2010-14), where both programs ranked inside the top-35 during his tenure.

Creating A New Path with Grant Chen

Grant Chen has followed Emerson's advice of "do not go where the path may lead but go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Grant started his college career on the UCLA club team before joining the UCLA tennis team staff as a student-manager. He then advanced to Director of Operations, Assistant Coach, Associate Head Coach, and was named the head men's coach at SMU in 2018. Grant is the epitome of the modern-day college coach. He is a true CEO, managing and excelling at all aspects of his role and finding ways to give back to the sport he loves in his limited free time.

"What Sacrifices Are You Willing to Make?" with Lloyd Bruce-Burgess

In 2019, Lloyd Bruce Burgess gave up his comfortable well paying job as the Director of Tennis for Genesis Health Clubs in order to pursue his dream of becoming a head college tennis coach. He joined the University of South Florida staff as a volunteer assistant where he served for 5 months before being named the men's assistant coach at the University of Iowa in January 2020. He helped the Hawkeyes to a historic season before learning last summer that the program would be eliminated at the end of the 2021 season.

In this podcast, we discuss Lloyd's decision to step away from a successful career to join the college coaching ranks; how his years in management apply to his role as a college coach; and how he is dealing with having his career disrupted once again, this time through no fault of his own.

 

Finding the Right Fit - Danielle Lund McNamara

Danielle McNamara is in her second stint as the head women's tennis coach at Yale. From 2006 to 2014 she led the team to four Ivy League titles and a 124-49 record. She returned to Yale in 2016 and her team was experiencing one the best seasons during Danielle's tenure before the season shut down due to Covid-19.

In this podcast, we discuss Danielle's move into the head coaching role at Yale at just 25 years old; her decision to step away from college coaching only to be lured back in by the University of Texas. She also shares why Yale was ultimately the best fit for her; how other coaches can think about where to take their talents and some ideas she has implemented at Yale to grow closer connections with her community.

 

The Power of Great Sportsmanship with Dr. Tommy Valentini

This podcast with Dr. Tommy Valentini builds on some of the topics discussed in Chapter 16 of the ITA Coach Masterclass on Ethical Decision Making & Sportsmanship. Tommy is not only the head men's tennis coach at Gustavus Adolphus but is also a Professor of Sports Ethics. Tommy is currently undefeated in Conference Play (95-0) in his 11 years as a head coach!

 

In this podcast, Dave & Tommy discuss why teaching the sport of tennis alone is not enough to build the character of an individual or team, what Tommy learned from the legendary Dr. Steve Wilkinson, and how coaches can build a winning program on a strong foundation of exemplary sportsmanship.

 

From NAIA Player to Coaching at DII & DI with Anthony Pham

Anthony Nguyen Pham has covered a lot of ground during his time in college tennis. He played at NAIA, Baker University; got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at NCAA Division II Drury; moved on to be a head coach of both the men's and women's teams at NCAA Division I Niagara; transitioned to the assistant coach position at NCAA Division I Purdue and then the associate head coaching role at NCAA Division I Wisconsin. He recently moved from Madison, Wisconsin to Boulder, Colorado to take on the role of assistant coach of the University of Colorado women's tennis team.

In this podcast, Dave and Anthony discuss some of the similarities and differences between coaching at the different divisions and levels, Anthony's thoughts on the limited diversity within the coaching ranks, and what career advice he would provide young minority coaches looking to carve out a career as a college tennis coach.

 

Don't Set Limits On Yourself Or Your Program - Chris Young

Dave Mullins was very fortunate to coach against Chris Young for eight years while he was at the University of Oklahoma. Dave witnessed firsthand the amazing impact Chris has had on the Oklahoma State women’s tennis program and is thrilled that he is able to share some of his insights with a larger audience today.

Chris is now the Director of Tennis at Oklahoma State and has managed to turn a very average Power 5 program into a national powerhouse coming within a hair of capturing an NCAA team title in 2016. He was instrumental in fundraising and building an incredible tennis facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and has made college tennis one of the most relevant sports in the minds of his Athletic Department, University, and greater Oklahoma tennis community.