Twitter Rules for Student-Athletes; Doebler Leaves Penn State; Juniors Have Little Success in Pro Qualifying

CNBC's sports business reporter Darren Rovell put out 100 Rules for Twitter early this month, and inspired by that list, Tom Satkowiak of the University of Tennessee's athletic media relations responded with 50 Twitter Rules for Division I Student Athletes. I have to say Twitter wouldn't be quite as much fun as it is if everyone followed these rules, but it's important for student-athletes (and anyone else for that matter) to know what is considered appropriate in the ever-expanding social media sphere, and this list does a very good job of establishing the straight-and-narrow.

Division III Colorado College announced that Todd Doebler, who was Penn State men's coach for the past five years, has been hired as director of tennis. He will coach both the men's and women's tennis teams. The Penn State release reveals that assistant Brendan Lynch is also departing, and will become assistant at Cornell.

In two other assistant coaching moves, Baylor's Chris Brandi is leaving the Bears and tennis to take a position with Oracle in Austin, Texas, while Sean Maymi has left the assistant's position for University of Michigan men's team.

And outside college tennis news, Liam Smith, formerly of the Harold Solomon Institute in Ft. Lauderdale, has been named Head Coach of Tennis Australia's National Academy in Sydney.

Qualifying for the Mercury Insurance Open, the WTA event in Carlsbad, Calif., and the ATP Legg Mason in Washington, D.C. began today, with many junior and college players in the draws. Most were not able to progress to the second round of qualifying, but Jessica Pegula and Zoe Scandalis did win their opening matches in California, with Pegula beating No. 16 seed Tammi Patterson of Australia 6-4, 6-1 and Scandalis, a USC incoming freshman, defeating No. 5 seed and WTA No. 147 Kai-Chen Chang of Taiwan 7-5, 6-1.

The three junior boys in the Legg Mason qualifying--Andrew Adams, Henry Steer and Mitchell Frank--will not have to worry about getting to Kalamazoo in a hurry, as they all lost in the first round today. Frank took No. 1 seed Matthew Ebden of Australia, ranked 139, to three sets, but fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The University of Virginia trio of Michael Shabaz, Jarmere Jenkins and Alex Domijan also failed to advance.

There is also qualifying going on in Vancouver's Pro Circuit challenger for men and women, which are both now $100,000 events. The men's qualifying began today; the women's will start tomorrow. The tournament announced on twitter today (@VanOpen) that Bradley Klahn and Steve Johnson were both given main draw wild cards. Irina Falconi, who lost to No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova of Russia 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals of the WTA's CitiOpen today, is also in the field.

College players will win the Futures events in the Midwest this week, with Fresno State alum Rudy Siwy taking on Tennessee junior Tennys Sandgren in Godfrey, Illinois' $10K final, and Michigan graduate Denise Muresan facing 2008 NCAA champion from Georgia Tech Amanda McDowell for the title at the $10K in St. Joseph, Missouri. 2011 NCAA champions Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek won the doubles title in Godfrey.

For complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.