Interim coach for men's tennis

By Maggie Thach

When Greg Shearer started off the school year, he was supposed to be enjoying the benefits of three years of hard work on the court, not playing the worst tennis of his college career.

“It’s been since the start of the semester that we haven’t had a coach,” said Shearer, a senior who plans on transferring as soon as he is granted a release from his scholarship. “I haven’t played this bad since I got here. It’s ruining my senior year.”

For the past nine weeks, the men’s tennis team has played without a coach, or consistent organized team practices. The team had its first team practice last week before heading into its first tournament of the season.

“Everyone was not prepared,” said Sergiu Modoc, a third-year player. “It was pretty ugly.”

But one good thing resulted from the Wilson/ Intercollegiate tennis regionals held in Berkeley last weekend: They finally had a coach to guide them, even if it is only on a temporary basis.

Brad Stine, a former player and coach, agreed to be an interim coach until the athletic department finds a permanent replacement. Stine, despite turning down the full-time position earlier this year, wanted to help out as much as he could.

“My position will be short-lived, I hope,” said Stine. “The athletic administration should be making a decision in the very near future.”

The search committee interviewed two candidates last week and informed players that a decision will be reached very soon. But players don’t want to get their hopes up too soon.

“This is the third time we’ve heard that someone is going to be appointed,” Modoc said.

Shearer added: “They tell us we’re getting a coach and we get fired up. Then it falls through and we lose confidence.”

Both Modoc and Shearer say the prolonging of naming a head coach has left players feeling frustrated and under- appreciated.

“We feel that there’s not a big interest in our program since it has taken so long to find us a coach,” said Modoc. “We feel like we’re not as big of a priority.”

Some players say they feel their program isn’t as appreciated as others, such as football and basketball.

“It’s like having the football and basketball players naming their own starters. Would they still hold practices without a coach?” said Modoc. “A player can only push himself so much.”

Stine says he feels the early-season turbulence has affected the players because of the shortage of competitive match play. But he said he feels that as soon as a coach is hired and implements a direction for the program, the players will return to a sense of normalcy and their original form.