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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Walker Leaves Memphis for TCU, New Mexico's Dils Retires; BB&T in Atlanta Awards Qualifying Wild Cards to Rakitt, O'Shaughnessey and Tiafoe; College Tennis Combine Debuts Next Month in Cerritos, Calif.

One Division I coaching job was filled today and another one opened, with Lee Taylor Walker leaving the University of Memphis for the TCU women's head coaching job and Alan Dils retiring as men's tennis coach after 18 seasons at New Mexico.

Walker replaces David Borelli at TCU, although I was unable to find any official announcement of Borelli's departure and there is no mention of him in the release announcing Walker's hire. Here is the April article from the school's newspaper that revealed Borelli's retirement.

Dils will be replaced by associate head coach Bart Scott, who has been announced as the interim head coach for the 2014-15 season.

In other Division I college news, the new tennis facility at the University of Nebraska is now expected to be completed for the 2015 outdoor season, according to this release. I assume that's April of next year, if the outdoor season there is similar to what it is in the rest of the Big Ten conference.


The ATP tournament in Atlanta next month, the BB&T Open, has announced three qualifying wild cards.  Georgia Tech's Nathan Rakitt and Alabama's Becker O'Shaughnessey have received qualifying wild cards, as has Francis Tiafoe.  Both Rakitt(Marietta) and O'Shaughnessey(Macon) grew up in Georgia. For more on the field, see this article from the tournament.

A new event is taking place in Cerritos, California next month called the College Tennis Combine.  Scheduled for July 5 and 6 at the Cerritos Tennis Center, the event has invited college tennis coaches to evaluate potential recruits based on fitness and skill tests.  The fee to participate is $350.  For more on the event, see this release.

5 comments:

russ said...

College Tennis Combine? Hahahahahaha

Marty Collins said...

What's up Russ? Enlighten us on why it is laughable? Seems like a no excuses opportunity to show ones wares.

russ said...

Martyn: Have you looked at the press release and the website for the schedule of activities? I'll assume that you have and that you endorse the validity of evaluating a tennis player by side arm medicine ball throws from both the left and right side, by how far and high he can jump, by how flexible a hamstring is and how firmly he can grip racket. And then on the second day they'll have a mini tournament. Not a real USTA or ITF tournament, but a faux tournament with probably a modified scoring system. And for this a junior has to pay $350? Plus overnight lodging and transportation. Laughable. BTW: I'm not a real fan of the NFL and NBA combines either, and for tennis the correlation between the activities and how good a player is is even more remote.

A chance to shine said...

To get in front of some great coaches and not have to make it to the final of a tournament that they happen to be attending in order to show them my stuff seems a deal to me. Ask the top players about the correlation between their fitness and tennis. Their athleticism is absolutely the key to their talent and potential. I like it.

Marty Collins said...

Russ,

Everyone is sharp enough to look at how they respond athletically and cross reference with their competitive record and UTR. No raw athlete is going to dupe tennis coaches. Would it be cool for someone to blow the doors off? Sure, but I don't think that is what organizers or coaches expect. They do hope to find some competitive talent that can round out a roster and solidify a team.
On the harshness quotient of your comment, no worries. I've come to learn tennis peeps are a tough lot to sell to. Our skepticism is steeped in a love of the game.