The number of head coaching jobs at Power 5 schools is now up to six after LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva announced on Monday that men’s head coach Jeff Brown was resigning after 20 years. Brown won just over 60 percent of the 517 matches he coached and was an even .500 against SEC competition. Brown’s LSU teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament 17 times however this year the Tigers fell well short after going 10-17 overall and just 3-9 in the SEC. Brown’s best seasons in Baton Rouge came in his first two seasons when he led the Tigers to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA semifinals. Alleva called the resignation a “mutual decision” though I’m pretty sure Brown wasn’t the one to approach Alleva on the subject. Below is a quote from LSU’s release:
“It’s been a great run,” Brown said. “We had so much success and had so many great people come through our program. I’m proud of all the players that we coached here at LSU and all that we were able to accomplish as a program.”
The other Power 5 jobs currently open are: Virginia men, Virginia women, Tennessee men, USC women, and Minnesota women.
We’re only a few days away from the start of the NCAA Tournament so it’s time to take a look at each of the men’s regionals. I have the schedule of play listed on my NCAA Tournament page and in each regional preview I’ll list the singles records, singles UTRs, doubles records, UTR Team Power 6, plus I’ll make my prediction at the end. I’ll give the first one away for free but to see the rest you’ll need to be a CTT subscriber ($9.99 month/no long term commitment required).
Wake Forest Regional
Pos
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ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM |
ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM | |||
W | L | W | L | ||||||||||
1 | 5 | Petros Chrysochos | WF | 14.80 | 21 | 5 |
vs.
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Andres Torres | UNCW | 13.19 | 9 | 7 | |
2 | 45 | Borna Gojo | WF | 14.64 | 21 | 4 | Agustin Savarino | UNCW | 13.57 | 8 | 7 | ||
3 | 13 | Skander Mansouri | WF | 14.49 | 18 | 6 | Josh Hublitz | UNCW | 12.80 | 3 | 12 | ||
4 | 84 | Christian Seraphim | WF | 14.13 | 19 | 8 | Ignasi De Rueda | UNCW | 13.02 | 14 | 4 | ||
5 | Dennis Uspensky | WF | 14.07 | 18 | 5 | Raphael Calzi | UNCW | 13.37 | 3 | 4 | |||
6 | Alan Gadjiev | WF | 13.92 | 16 | 7 | Daniel Groom | UNCW | 12.60 | 11 | 5 | |||
Bench Players | |||||||||||||
7 | Max Kan | WF | 12.61 | 2 | 1 | Michael Copeland | UNCW | 13.16 | 8 | 3 | |||
8 | Charlie Parry | WF | 12.13 | 0 | 2 | Leon Back | UNCW | 12.80 | 6 | 5 |
Pos
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ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM |
ITA Rank
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Player
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UTR
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W | L | W | L | ||||||||||
1 | 17 | William Bushamuka | Kentucky | 13.71 | 12 | 7 |
vs.
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95 | Zack Kennedy | Ga State | 13.58 | 15 | 9 |
2 | 66 | Ryotaro Matsumura | Kentucky | 13.82 | 11 | 9 | Andrei Andrukhou | Ga State | 13.56 | 13 | 6 | ||
3 | Beck Pennington | Kentucky | 14.05 | 16 | 7 | Jannis Koeke | Ga State | 13.37 | 9 | 9 | |||
4 | Nils Ellefsen | Kentucky | 13.83 | 16 | 6 | Quentin Coulaud | Ga State | 12.67 | 10 | 9 | |||
5 | 106 | Trey Yates | Kentucky | 13.95 | 11 | 9 | Sebastian Acuna | Ga State | 13.58 | 16 | 4 | ||
6 | Enzo Wallart | Kentucky | 14.09 | 11 | 7 | Felipe Jaworksi | Ga State | 13.29 | 10 | 2 | |||
Bench Players | |||||||||||||
7 | Alex Dominguez | Kentucky | 12.95 | 1 | 0 | Jack Macfarlane | Ga State | 12.85 | 8 | 5 | |||
8 | Gus Benson | Kentucky | 12.74 | 1 | 1 | Giles Hussey | Ga State | 12.41 | 0 | 0 |
Regional Final: Wake nearly got taken out in the second round last year by Michigan but it won’t that close this year. Prediction: Wake Forest 4-0
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Stanford Regional
Pos
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ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM |
ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM | |||
W | L | W | L | ||||||||||
1 | 11 | Tom Fawcett | Stanford | 14.43 | 10 | 5 |
vs.
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Mark Kovacs | Idaho | 13.09 | 14 | 7 | |
2 | Sameer Kumar | Stanford | 14.21 | 10 | 9 | Felipe Fonseca | Idaho | 13.03 | 19 | 2 | |||
3 | David Wilczynski | Stanford | 14.07 | 16 | 3 | Carlos Longhi Neto | Idaho | 12.78 | 15 | 6 | |||
4 | Michael Genender | Stanford | 13.82 | 6 | 7 | Esteban Santibanez | Idaho | 12.58 | 18 | 5 | |||
5 | Brandon Sutter | Stanford | 13.87 | 14 | 7 | Lucas Coutinho | Idaho | 12.17 | 9 | 12 | |||
6 | William Genesen | Stanford | 13.43 | 8 | 2 | Guilherme Scarpelli | Idaho | 12.20 | 11 | 7 | |||
Bench Players | |||||||||||||
7 | Jack Barber | Stanford | 13.52 | 3 | 7 | Peter Shin | Idaho | 10.59 | 3 | 2 | |||
8 | Yale Goldberg | Stanford | 12.62 | 1 | 0 | Kooper Crow | Idaho | 9.93 | 0 | 0 |
Pos
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ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM |
ITA Rank
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Player
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Team
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UTR
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DM | |||
W | L | W | L | ||||||||||
1 | 72 | Jathan Malik | Michigan | 14.31 | 11 | 8 |
vs.
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Jeffrey Schorsch | Valparaiso | 14.04 | 21 | 1 | |
2 | 86 | Alex Knight | Michigan | 14.17 | 21 | 3 | Chad Kissell | Valparaiso | 13.24 | 14 | 8 | ||
3 | Myles Schalet | Michigan | 14.07 | 13 | 6 | Charlie Emhardt | Valparaiso | 12.94 | 11 | 7 | |||
4 | Runhao Hua | Michigan | 14.04 | 14 | 7 | Dave Bacalla | Valparaiso | 12.93 | 12 | 7 | |||
5 | Kevin Wong | Michigan | 13.74 | 7 | 7 | Kyle Dunn | Valparaiso | 12.82 | 19 | 3 | |||
6 | Carter Lin | Michigan | 13.78 | 17 | 3 | Brandon Ancona | Valparaiso | 12.73 | 15 | 5 | |||
Bench Players | |||||||||||||
7 | Davis Crocker | Michigan | 13.54 | 11 | 4 | Garrett Gardner | Valparaiso | 12.65 | 8 | 3 | |||
8 | Gabe Tishman | Michigan | 13.08 | 2 | 0 | Brian Pecyna | Valparaiso | 12.19 | 7 | 0 |
Regional Final: They’ll be a lot of good battles up and down the singles lineup but I think the home court advantage and familiarities with the elements will help push Stanford over the top. I like the Cardinal in doubles and Fawcett, Wilczynski, and Sutter in singles. Prediction: Stanford 4-1
Check back tomorrow for the rest of the regional previews on the Wake Forest side of the draw.
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Does the fact that Nebraska continues to employ Kerry McDermott as their coach signify the University does not value its men's tennis program? I cannot think of any other power 5 programs that would continue to employ their head coach who consistently finishes in the bottom 3 of its conference year in and year out.
The school just spent a lot of money building an impressive new tennis facility so it's definitely committed to its tennis programs. The men's team definitely has struggled over the last few years but with 36 years at Nebraska Kerry can probably stay as long as he wants – we'll see what the future holds.
I doth protest! Boo to Michigan losing 2 doubles points in 2 days to teams outside of the top 10! That hasn't happened all year. I know Schorsch & Emhardt are a very good dubs team, but:
– they've been split up
– U of M beat them in the Fall
– U of M – and their dubs in particular – is gonna to have a real large chip on their shoulder. Jathan Malik and whoever he's playing with should have made the NCAA dubs draw (instead is 1st alternate). The kids prob also think they should be playing at home, as they were 16th going into the Big 10 tourney, and then made final.
Anyways, have hard time seeing that go to 4-3, even if Valpo wins the dubs. Then again, I'm a bit of a slappy. Stanford will be tough, and I think Michigan would win in Ann Arbor. That one prob a 4-2 or 4-3 match for Stanford. Watch for Wong getting pulled, Lin to 5, and Crocker at 6…