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In my 12 year college coaching career, I was fortunate to spend some time as a head men’s and women’s tennis coach. Coaching tennis really opened my eyes in a number of ways. First off, I was the guy in gym class who hit tennis balls over the fence. That was the extent of my experience with tennis.

When I was approached about taking over both programs at Marian University in the summer of 2014, we had just come off a tremendous run in men’s basketball. This was a way to get me into the athletic department as a full-time employee.

At first, I was hesitant because I had no knowledge of the sport. How do you score? How do you win a match? How many singles matches are there? How many doubles matches are there? Do we have any returning athletes?

Lots of questions as you can imagine.

I was told to provide a good experience and recruit the same way I’d done for the men’s basketball program. After accepting the job I instantly began using Google and YouTube as my friend. Trying to construct practice plans, schedule matches, order equipment (because we didn’t have much) and trying to figure out who would be playing tennis during that 2014-15 school year.

Having a really green team to start was actually a blessing. I was able to learn as they were. Shockingly enough we won our first match, 5-4 over Ripon College. We would lose the next 13 matches. In spring, we would go 0-14 on the men’s side. It was very humbling walking around the courts when we were struggling. Thankfully, recruiting changed that on the women’s side.

In the fall of 2015, we brought in nine new freshman to compliment our only returner. We instantly flipped the script from 1-13 to 10-9 (success would continue over the next few years). It wasn’t because of me. It was because of our players.

Although, as we started to see success it was also extremely challenging.

I now had a team full of talented young women. Many had played since grade school and had private lessons. Developing practice plans was hard because my knowledge was so limited. I was WAY too honest at times in recruiting but wanted to let them know, I was learning on the job, didn’t have all the answers and we were going to have FUN!

Many of those team members and I still text at least once a month. I owe them the moon.

I start with this because it is a shame to see tennis programs being cut at the highest level. We have seen this at the smaller levels as well. I believe there’s a huge opportunity for smaller institutions to double down on these sports (track, golf, tennis, swimming, wrestling).

I know this sounds difficult, but I do believe there are people out there who can do this. As programs go away at the highest level, this means more opportunity for smaller schools to strategize. Helping recruitment at their institutions and growing their athletic departments.

In this episode, Tyler Frings shares his journey from a college volleyball player at Carthage to then building a men's volleyball program from scratch at Marian University. He discusses the growth of men's volleyball, the importance of culture and community and insights into recruiting, program development, and the future of the sport.

We talk to Cory Marquardt on his journey from student manager to navigating coaching changes, building relationships and embracing life's uncertainties. This episode offers insights into resilience, adaptability and the power of relationships. We talk all things hoops, including Drake, being a head high school coach and UW-Stevens Point.

The other day I was talking with some friends about college football stadiums they have seen. We spoke of old Ryan Field. New Ryan Field is expected to open on October 2. This is one of my favorite books (bit dated). Some really good nuggets on turning a program around.

Really interesting when you consider how expedited the world is. We have interruptions all the time. You are interrupting your day by reading this newsletter…which I appreciate!

Next, it’s a text message. New email. Voicemail from a family member. Someone on your Ring camera. Trail cam update. Constant interruptions.

UC Berkeley Study

Quote from Andrew Whitworth on “The Playcallers” series.

"You get caught up in this world where you think that chasing success as a coach is actually going to make you better off the field, because you're going to be happier if you just get it better.

Like, if I can just do it better next week, I'll be more of a joy to be around.

But the reality is the energy, the passion, the young curiosity, and just zest for life you had before you knew all this stuff about this NFL business and the stresses of it and the pressures of it—that's actually what made you a great coach.

And it's like, how do you get back to chasing yourself as a person, and having a zest for life and an energy for what you do and just having fun? How do you find that as a person again?"

^{Fired Coaches Podcast started in May 2020. The podcast interviews coaches, scouts, media and others connected to the sports world that fell from the mountaintop. They were either fired, resigned or told that their contract would not be renewed. Level does not matter. The story does.}