D1 College in the South?

Cameron · Oct 10, 2008

Hey, I am a junior in high school and am starting to look at colleges. I live in Alabama and am looking for colleges in the South with a good D1 women's team and a really good coach. The coach is very important to me because I think a coach either makes it or breaks it for a player. Thanks so much

JMS · Oct 10, 2008

I know this doesn't really answer your question but it will help everyone make suggestions. What is your rank? talent? experience? all that jazz.

Cameron · Oct 11, 2008

JMS said:
I know this doesn't really answer your question but it will help everyone make suggestions. What is your rank? talent? experience? all that jazz.

Okay, thanks. This is my first time to do this so I don't really know much about it, sorry. I am 55 in the south, 3 in Alabama, and my national rank isn't too great, but I am working on playing in more Level 2 tournaments to improve it. I have been playing for 6 years, I started later than most people, but improved pretty quickly. I have won back to back state championships for my high school (if that matters at all). The best I have done in a Southern level 2 is sixth place and I have won a couple of Southern level 3 tournaments. If there is anything else you need to know, just let me know!

Also, I was looking at Davidson (I know that is a very exclusive school) and wondering if anyone knows much about it. Thanks so much for answering!

BigBUBBA · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
Hey, I am a junior in high school and am starting to look at colleges. I live in Alabama and am looking for colleges in the South with a good D1 women's team and a really good coach. The coach is very important to me because I think a coach either makes it or breaks it for a player. Thanks so much

Tulane has a womens team with a very good coach, and a good team. It's in New Orleans, so its near you...

And good job w/ all the southern level 3 wins! I'm 12 and I've only played one level 3 and it was at a very high level, I enjoyed it..I lost in the quarters of conso, to the guy who won conso, and in main draw i lost to the 1 seed, who got 2nd and is ranked 45 in the south

kctennis1005 · Oct 11, 2008

check tennisrecruiting.net for schools who gave scholarships to girls around your rank.....i can see that you're 286 for juniors so their are plenty of scholarships for girls of your rank......for davidson try to get up to around 150 on tennisrecruiting and express lots of interest and email them

Cameron · Oct 11, 2008

BigBUBBA said:
Tulane has a womens team with a very good coach, and a good team. It's in New Orleans, so its near you...

Thanks for answering me, I looked up Tulane on College Board and it said they don't have a team. I don't know if it is right, it just said Men's and Women's Intercollegiate? Well, thanks anyways. And, good job on your tournament, that is good for your first level 3!

BigBUBBA · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
BigBUBBA said:

Tulane has a womens team with a very good coach, and a good team. It's in New Orleans, so its near you...

Thanks for answering me, I looked up Tulane on College Board and it said they don't have a team. I don't know if it is right, it just said Men's and Women's Intercollegiate? Well, thanks anyways. And, good job on your tournament, that is good for your first level 3!

Click to expand...

Oh ha, thanks

No, they have a womans team (only a womens team)
You can visit the tennis team website
Just go to google and search tulane university tennis

Cameron · Oct 11, 2008

BigBUBBA said:
Cameron said:

Oh ha, thanks

No, they have a womans team (only a womens team)
You can visit the tennis team website
Just go to google and search tulane university tennis

Click to expand...

Okay, I found it. But now, there is another problem. On the roster, all the players are freshman, which means they wouldn't need any more players for 4 years! Oh well, any other suggestions?

BigBUBBA · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
BigBUBBA said:

Okay, I found it. But now, there is another problem. On the roster, all the players are freshman, which means they wouldn't need any more players for 4 years! Oh well, any other suggestions?

Click to expand...

Well the team is fairly new, so all the recruited players are freshmen...and what do you mean they won't need anymore players for the next four years? You just won't be the #1 player as a freshman, thats all

And the University of Arkansas is a good team and D1. They have a really good Russian girl this year who has been winning a bunch.

CAM178 · Oct 11, 2008

Georgia Tech has a good women's program. Their coach is awesome, if it's still Shelton.

I would imagine that the other major SEC schools would have a good program: Clemson, Bama, UAB, Florida, FSU, etc.

Julieta · Oct 11, 2008

BigBUBBA said:
Cameron said:

Well the team is fairly new, so all the recruited players are freshmen...and what do you mean they won't need anymore players for the next four years? You just won't be the #1 player as a freshman, thats all

And the University of Arkansas is a good team and D1. They have a really good Russian girl this year who has been winning a bunch.

Click to expand...

Do you mean their #1 player? She is awesome!

Julieta · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
BigBUBBA said:

Okay, I found it. But now, there is another problem. On the roster, all the players are freshman, which means they wouldn't need any more players for 4 years! Oh well, any other suggestions?

Click to expand...

It is still worth contacting the coach. They had to rebuild the program after the storm hit.

It's not in the south, but I have heard great things about Bucknell's coach. There are also some great schools and coaches in some of the Florida DII schools. Have you looked at collegetennisonline?

scotus · Oct 11, 2008

How about Duke in NC?

There is a poster here who actually plays on the team at Duke (her screen name is something like "dukegirl").

Cameron · Oct 11, 2008

Julieta said:
Cameron said:

It is still worth contacting the coach. They had to rebuild the program after the storm hit.

It's not in the south, but I have heard great things about Bucknell's coach. There are also some great schools and coaches in some of the Florida DII schools. Have you looked at collegetennisonline?

Click to expand...

I have looked at collegetennisonline a little bit, I just really need a scholarship, if possible, and I know DII doesn't give as of good scholarships as DI. I will e-mail Tulane though. Do you have any suggestions for emailing coaches, like what is the best thing to put in the emails? And, for Tulane, I was thinking that since they have all freshmen on there team that they wouldn't have any available spots, I'm a little confused about that.

BigBUBBA · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
Julieta said:

I have looked at collegetennisonline a little bit, I just really need a scholarship, if possible, and I know DII doesn't give as of good scholarships as DI. I will e-mail Tulane though. Do you have any suggestions for emailing coaches, like what is the best thing to put in the emails? And, for Tulane, I was thinking that since they have all freshmen on there team that they wouldn't have any available spots, I'm a little confused about that.

Click to expand...

Cool. Just ask her about that to clarify you!
And yeah, the Razorback #1 is awesome. She is the reason they are 14 right now...
Sorry, I live 30 minutes outside of Fayettville. LOL

feyya · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
Okay, thanks. This is my first time to do this so I don't really know much about it, sorry. I am 55 in the south, 3 in Alabama, and my national rank isn't too great, but I am working on playing in more Level 2 tournaments to improve it. I have been playing for 6 years, I started later than most people, but improved pretty quickly. I have won back to back state championships for my high school (if that matters at all). The best I have done in a Southern level 2 is sixth place and I have won a couple of Southern level 3 tournaments. If there is anything else you need to know, just let me know!

Also, I was looking at Davidson (I know that is a very exclusive school) and wondering if anyone knows much about it. Thanks so much for answering!

One of my close friends is Andrew Groslimond who is taking over the womens coach position soon at Davidson. He is the son of the director at the academy i practice at, Tennis Academy Of The South.

feyya · Oct 11, 2008

CAM178 said:
Georgia Tech has a good women's program. Their coach is awesome, if it's still Shelton.

I would imagine that the other major SEC schools would have a good program: Clemson, Bama, UAB, Florida, FSU, etc.

Yes it is still Bryan, whom i am also close friends with aswell as the mens coach Kenny Thorne.

Cameron · Oct 11, 2008

feyya said:
One of my close friends is Andrew Groslimond who is taking over the womens coach position soon at Davidson. He is the son of the director at the academy i practice at, Tennis Academy Of The South.

Really? That is so cool!! I know the men's assistant coach, Ben Johnson, he is from Birmingham. When I emailed him, he said that a new women's coach was coming but that he didn't know him. Is he a good coach? Do you think that I could play at Davidson, with my ranking and everything, or do you think it is too good? Maybe you could give me his email address or mention me or something, I don't know, I am just trying to get my name out there. That is really cool that you know the Georgia Tech coach too! They have an amazing team!!! I really want to go somewhere that I can have a playing position and not sit on the bench the whole time. Well, thanks for responding!

Cameron · Oct 11, 2008

scotus said:
How about Duke in NC?

There is a poster here who actually plays on the team at Duke (her screen name is something like "dukegirl").

That is cool that someone on here plays for Duke!! Only problem is, I'm not that smart

I think I have a 3.75 GPA, or maybe a little less, and I haven't taken the ACT yet. Good suggestion though! I wish I was smart enough!

Kaptain Karl · Oct 11, 2008

Cameron said:
... I just really need a scholarship, if possible, and I know DII doesn't give as of good scholarships as DI. I will e-mail Tulane though. Do you have any suggestions for emailing coaches, like what is the best thing to put in the emails?

Take a look at serveitup911's thread. He lays out just what you should do.

And, for Tulane, I was thinking that since they have all freshmen on there team that they wouldn't have any available spots, I'm a little confused about that.

Don't assume. Some players decide "x" school isn't what they wanted. Some players get injured. Some players just quit. Anything can happen.

Good luck in your search and keep us posted....

- KK

NLBwell · Oct 11, 2008

If you've got the grades and the SATs you could go to Rice or Vanderbilt. Used to know mens coaches at both (and Univ of Houston), but don't know anyone at those places anymore.

Nanshiki · Oct 11, 2008

Is the University of South Alabama's tennis team actually D1? It only has like 9 players if on both teams combined... this wikipedia page says they're among the nation's best though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Alabama_Jaguars

I think I should see if they'll let me hit with them... lol

10isDad · Oct 12, 2008

and I know DII doesn't give as of good scholarships as DI. I will e-mail Tulane though.

Uh, not sure where you got this; women's tennis is a head-count sport. Every tennis scholarship they give out to women is a full ride and womens teams get 8 scholarships.

Could be that not all tennis teams will give out 8 scholarships, but by NCAA mandate, if you get a tennis scholarship as a woman, it must be a full scholarship.

Men's tennis is a different story: 4.5 scholarships can be divvied up many different ways, but the minimum men's scholarship would be 1/4.

Cameron · Oct 12, 2008

10isDad said:
Uh, not sure where you got this; women's tennis is a head-count sport. Every tennis scholarship they give out to women is a full ride and womens teams get 8 scholarships.

Could be that not all tennis teams will give out 8 scholarships, but by NCAA mandate, if you get a tennis scholarship as a woman, it must be a full scholarship.

Men's tennis is a different story: 4.5 scholarships can be divvied up many different ways, but the minimum men's scholarship would be 1/4.

Oh, I was thinking that when you got to the DII level that the scholarships weren't as good. I know a DII coach and he said that he only gives partial scholarships to his women's team. But, I know that DI has 8 full scholarships available. So, you are saying that it is not possible, as a women, to only get a partial scholarship? I'm kind of confused.

Cameron · Oct 12, 2008

Nanshiki said:
Is the University of South Alabama's tennis team actually D1? It only has like 9 players if on both teams combined... this wikipedia page says they're among the nation's best though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Alabama_Jaguars

I think I should see if they'll let me hit with them... lol

Wow, I have never heard that. My mom went to South Alabama and I have never heard her talk about that. I looked on collegetennisonline and they are ranked 48! That is really interesting, I have never thought of them as having that kind of team. Thanks for letting me know!

Cameron · Oct 12, 2008

NLBwell said:
If you've got the grades and the SATs you could go to Rice or Vanderbilt. Used to know mens coaches at both (and Univ of Houston), but don't know anyone at those places anymore.

Too bad, I don't have the grades.

I have 3.75 GPA and haven't taken the ACT or SAT yet. I wish I was smart, it would make things so much easier and I would have so many more options!

BigBUBBA · Oct 12, 2008

Cameron said:
Too bad, I don't have the grades. I have 3.75 GPA and haven't taken the ACT or SAT yet. I wish I was smart, it would make things so much easier and I would have so many more options!

Don't beat yourself up!!! I'm sure your perfectly smart and talented

JLyon · Oct 13, 2008

Gardner-Webb has a great coach.
North Texas would be an option with the old Illinois Coach.
South Alabama has a strong team.
Will need to get your Southern Ranking much higher though to get noticed.

JLyon · Oct 13, 2008

10isDad said:
Uh, not sure where you got this; women's tennis is a head-count sport. Every tennis scholarship they give out to women is a full ride and womens teams get 8 scholarships.

Could be that not all tennis teams will give out 8 scholarships, but by NCAA mandate, if you get a tennis scholarship as a woman, it must be a full scholarship.

Men's tennis is a different story: 4.5 scholarships can be divvied up many different ways, but the minimum men's scholarship would be 1/4.

Women's teams in D1 has a maximum of 8 Full scholarships, many schools do not give out the eight due to budget issues, etc..
Some can offer 1/2 scholarships, such as Centenary believe they only offer 2.5 scholarships total for the ladies. Varies greatly from school to school.

Cameron · Oct 13, 2008

JLyon said:
Gardner-Webb has a great coach.
North Texas would be an option with the old Illinois Coach.
South Alabama has a strong team.
Will need to get your Southern Ranking much higher though to get noticed.

I looked up Gardner-Webb. Do they have a good team? I was looking at some of there results and it didn't look like they did too well. I don't think that I am too good for them at all, I was just wondering if you know anymore about the level of their team. Thanks for the information.

Cameron · Oct 13, 2008

Does anyone know if the list of College Rankings on collegetennisonline keeps going past 75 or does it stop? If it does keep going, can someone tell me how to get to the other pages? Thanks

10isDad · Oct 13, 2008

JLyon said:
Women's teams in D1 has a maximum of 8 Full scholarships, many schools do not give out the eight due to budget issues, etc..
Some can offer 1/2 scholarships, such as Centenary believe they only offer 2.5 scholarships total for the ladies. Varies greatly from school to school.

Shouldn't be. NCAA regs state that for headcount sports, scholarships must be full scholarships. The max amount of scholarships for womens tennis is 8. A team could give out less than 8, but legally couldn't give out 1/2 scholarships to women for tennis. They can give only 2 or only 3, but not 2.5. If the school you mentioned is, something's not right...

andfor · Oct 13, 2008

Coaching staff for the University of Memphis Tennis is very good for both the women and men. They have access to excellent facilities and are in the process of building a new on campus tennis center. The UofM signed a girl last year with a similar tennisrecruiting.net ranking. They have also just signed a 5 star high school senior, maybe you could join her.

On Tilt EX · Oct 13, 2008

Cameron,

Why don't you look up the street at Samford? Great school, good program, and great facilities. I do not know the girls coach, as he got there the year I left. I would understand if you just don't really want to go to Samford, being from Bham, but its an option.

The coach at Tulane was at Samford for several years before she left for Tulane. She won a couple conference titles at Samford before leaving. She is a very good coach.

Hope that helps

Cameron · Oct 13, 2008

On Tilt EX said:
Cameron,

Why don't you look up the street at Samford? Great school, good program, and great facilities. I do not know the girls coach, as he got there the year I left. I would understand if you just don't really want to go to Samford, being from Bham, but its an option.

The coach at Tulane was at Samford for several years before she left for Tulane. She won a couple conference titles at Samford before leaving. She is a very good coach.

Hope that helps

Thanks for the suggestion. My coach went to Samford and I know the guys coach. Samford has become a very liberal school and also it is very clique. I know that a lot of other schools are going to be like that too. Also, I live about 5 minutes away from Samford and I just want to be somewhere a little different. I don't really want to go to Tulane either, though. I am looking so far at Davidson, Gardner-Webb looked pretty good, University of Memphis looks good too, and maybe Brevard. I know the coach at Brevard and the mens coach at Davidson. I am not ready to make any decisions yet, and my list is definitely not final. Thanks so much for your help!

kctennis1005 · Oct 13, 2008

university of richmond or any school in the southern conference: http://tennisrecruiting.net/conference.asp?id=126

duketennisgal · Oct 14, 2008

Check out University of North Carolina Wilmington. The women's coach is great, she was actually named one of the ACC's top women's athletes of all time. She's super nice and the team has a lot of great girls on it. There's a good mix of upper/lower classmen on the team. The school itself is fantastic, can't beat living at the beach!

And if you guys are referening to me - I don't play for Duke, it was a dream of mine but I couldn't afford to go to that school. Still a fan of the school/team though.

Gemini · Oct 14, 2008

KK's correct. There's a huge chance that some players will leave the team after their first season. Maya Johansson(sp?) transferred from Georgia Tech to UCLA after her freshman season. Also, Kirsten Flower left GT after her sophomore season. So, there are always opportunities.

But..you're very lucky to live in the South and you've got a number of very good to D-1 to great tennis schools to look at. Georgia Tech, UGA, U of Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, U of Tennessee, LSU, Tulane...

As far as coaches go, Coach Shelton at GT his top notch. He's great at getting the best out of his players both as athletes and students. They'll be graduating at least one player at the end of this season (Christy Striplin) and Amanda McDowell will be a senior in 09-10. The team is pretty lean right now so I think there's room there for new players.

Julieta · Oct 14, 2008

duketennisgal said:
Check out University of North Carolina Wilmington. The women's coach is great, she was actually named one of the ACC's top women's athletes of all time. She's super nice and the team has a lot of great girls on it. There's a good mix of upper/lower classmen on the team. The school itself is fantastic, can't beat living at the beach!

.

I just looked up that school - great suggestion for Cameron. That team has a lot of upside long term with her as a coach.

Interesting that there are no international players on that squad!

duketennisgal · Oct 14, 2008

Julieta said:
I just looked up that school - great suggestion for Cameron. That team has a lot of upside long term with her as a coach.

Interesting that there are no international players on that squad!

The team has become drastically better with her as a coach, she's really done a good job of recruiting American players.

Seems like it would be a good fit with her given what she has stated about herself. I will say that a 3.75 may not get you in, unless you have spoken with the coach and she's interested in having you on the team. It's quickly becoming one of the hardest schools to get into in the North Carolina system. That being said, if you are being recruited, or even if the coach is looking at you for a walk on position you should be able to get in with that GPA.

Cameron · Oct 14, 2008

Thank you guys for all the help, I emailed the coach at NC Wilmington. I've emailed a lot of coaches and only a few have responded. Does that mean they are not interested, or are they not allowed to respond? Thanks again everyone!

ClarkC · Oct 14, 2008

10isDad said:
Shouldn't be. NCAA regs state that for headcount sports, scholarships must be full scholarships. The max amount of scholarships for womens tennis is 8. A team could give out less than 8, but legally couldn't give out 1/2 scholarships to women for tennis. They can give only 2 or only 3, but not 2.5. If the school you mentioned is, something's not right...

I thought that for head count sports, any scholarship money given counts 1.0 versus the limit. So, if a school gives out 8 half-scholarships, they have used their limit of 8 for NCAA Division I scholarships. That will make it hard for them to compete with a better funded school that offers 8 full scholarships.

Is it the case that partial scholarships are not allowed by the NCAA for head count sports?

Motahari · Oct 14, 2008

South Alabama in Mobile I think has a good tennis team...

duketennisgal · Oct 15, 2008

Cameron said:
Thank you guys for all the help, I emailed the coach at NC Wilmington. I've emailed a lot of coaches and only a few have responded. Does that mean they are not interested, or are they not allowed to respond? Thanks again everyone!

I think it's more just the time of year. Coaches are very busy with their teams right now, as well as any classes they may be teaching, I know some coaches that can take weeks to respond to their emails.

JLyon · Oct 15, 2008

it is in the middle of the ITA Regional Tournaments which are the highlight of the Fall for most schools. Give it some time.

good luck.

Pusher · Oct 15, 2008

Cameron said:
Thank you guys for all the help, I emailed the coach at NC Wilmington. I've emailed a lot of coaches and only a few have responded. Does that mean they are not interested, or are they not allowed to respond? Thanks again everyone!

My son plays D-1 and they just sent out their recruiting letters last week. They can and will respond if they have an interest.

I know Davisdon fairly well. Upper tier academics with the price tag to match.

Similar schools with good locations and at least average academics are The College of Charleston (good city and brand new facility), Furman (Greenville, SC), Wofford (Spartanburg, SC), Georgia State (Atlanta), Coastal Carolina (Myrtle Beach), Mercer (Macon, GA).

I would recommend you get a mailing list together and send out a fairly standard letter of inquiry. You have a good ranking and you will get responses. The SEC and ACC schools might be looking above your ranking but you can never be sure. Good luck.

Cameron · Oct 15, 2008

Pusher said:
My son plays D-1 and they just sent out their recruiting letters last week. They can and will respond if they have an interest.

I know Davisdon fairly well. Upper tier academics with the price tag to match.

Similar schools with good locations and at least average academics are The College of Charleston (good city and brand new facility), Furman (Greenville, SC), Wofford (Spartanburg, SC), Georgia State (Atlanta), Coastal Carolina (Myrtle Beach), Mercer (Macon, GA).

I would recommend you get a mailing list together and send out a fairly standard letter of inquiry. You have a good ranking and you will get responses. The SEC and ACC schools might be looking above your ranking but you can never be sure. Good luck.

Thank you for the mailing list suggestion, I think I will do that. Do you use the address of the college and then put the coaches name on it, or is there a different address you use? Also, does Costal Carolina have a decent team? My cousin plays soccer there, but I never knew it was DI.

Pusher · Oct 15, 2008

Cameron said:
Thank you for the mailing list suggestion, I think I will do that. Do you use the address of the college and then put the coaches name on it, or is there a different address you use? Also, does Costal Carolina have a decent team? My cousin plays soccer there, but I never knew it was DI.

Get an E-mail list off their websites. No need to use the regular mail.

I don't know the team at CC. The location makes it attractive.

Kaptain Karl · Oct 15, 2008

Cameron, you are starting to "mooch" too much. Do some of the work yourself, like serveitup911 did. (I know you didn't read his thread ... by the questions you are asking.)

Cameron said:
Thank you for the mailing list suggestion, I think I will do that. Do you use the address of the college and then put the coaches name on it...?

Kaptain Karl said:
Take a look at serveitup911's thread. He lays out just what you should do.

- KK

Cameron · Oct 15, 2008

Kaptain Karl said:
Cameron, you are starting to "mooch" too much. Do some of the work yourself, like serveitup911 did. (I know you didn't read his thread ... by the questions you are asking.)

- KK

Okay, I'm really sorry, I never meant to do that. I will stop asking so many questions. I'll read serveitup911's thread. Thanks for letting me know.

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