OU/Roddick Signs Davis Cup Player

ttbrowne · Apr 27, 2010

OU men’s tennis head coach John Roddick announced today that Tsvetan Mihov, a product of Sofia, Bulgaria, has signed a letter of intent to become an Oklahoma Sooner.

Mihov recently competed in the 2010 Davis Cup where he won the doubles point for Bulgaria in their meet. In addition, Mihov was the 2009 Bulgarian National Champion.

“We are excited to get someone that is the caliber that he is,” head coach John Roddick said. “He has done very well in Futures tournaments. He has played Davis cup for Bulgaria. That adds a really high level of team tennis experience that we don’t have. We had a tough battle recruiting him and we are really happy to get him. I know he is going to have an immediate impact on our team when he shows up.”

In addition to Mihov’s Davis Cup participation, the south-eastern European was a semifinalist at the 2009 F7 Futures, quarterfinalist at the 2008 F5 Futures, doubles winner at the 2007 Prince Cup, doubles semifinalist at the 2007 European Junior Championships and a singles semifinalist at the 2006 Prince Cup.

Mihov is the Sooners only spring signee and will enroll in the fall of 2010

cmb · Apr 27, 2010

I love it, Roddick is such a pro coach in college, The Calipari of tennis?? not yet...Manny Diaz and and the USC coach are still ahead of him, but hopefully not for long

subban · Apr 27, 2010

Does'nt playing in money Futures events disqualify him from playing college sports.

Jonny S&V · Apr 27, 2010

subban said:
Does'nt playing in money Futures events disqualify him from playing college sports.

As long as he didn't accept the money, he can compete in ITF events as an amateur.

atatu · Apr 27, 2010

Should be good when they play Texas next year, maybe he'll face Vasko Mladenov from his hometown....

papatenis · Apr 27, 2010

Another sad day for American juniors hoping to play college tennis.

CollegeBound · Apr 28, 2010

Jonny S&V said:
As long as he didn't accept the money, he can compete in ITF events as an amateur.

NO! He remains eligible so long as he doesn't accept any more money than would cover his expenses. Exactly what dozens of top American college players do each year. They play Futures or anything they can get into and accept money for doing so - but never more than they can justify as being expenses.

ttbrowne · Apr 29, 2010

papatenis said:
Another sad day for American juniors hoping to play college tennis.

papa, Roddick's already signed two Americans...Lawrence Formentera and John Harry Warden to the Sooner team.

andfor · Apr 29, 2010

papatenis said:
Another sad day for American juniors hoping to play college tennis.

Hoping to play college tennis and being good enough for the college of your choice are two different things. There are plenty of scholarships out there waiting for good Americans to take them that have to be used by coaches who can only get foreign kids to take them just to fill their roster. Just because a kid does not want to go to Oral Roberts or Northern Colorado to play D1 tennis and only wants to play at OU or OSU does not mean college tennis is out of reach.

Congrats to coach Roddick for signing two Americans and the Bulgarian star player too!

EP1998 · Apr 29, 2010

I think Roddick has done a nice job. He has a couple of Americans including a local and the Bulgarian kid is a decent age (meaning that he isn't a 21 year old freshman like a few of the players at my old school). It is a good balance.

papatenis · Apr 29, 2010

andfor said:
There are plenty of scholarships out there waiting for good Americans to take them that have to be used by coaches who can only get foreign kids to take them just to fill their roster. QUOTE]

Tell me where are those scholarships waiting for Americans?

Reality is that men's tennis college programs in the U.S. get only 4.5 scholarships. There is extreme competition for those few scholarships available.

The main reasons coaches recruit foreign players are, older, more mature, played professionally, don't have to teach how to do laundry and many more reasons that coaches don't have to coach to them.

These coaches recruit foreign players because they are ready to play college tennis, instead of recruiting a 17 or 18 year old high school graduate, that they have to groom, mold, develop and coach into a college player.

OU men's tennis team roster- 5 Americans 5 foreigners

andfor · Apr 29, 2010

papatenis said:
andfor said:

There are plenty of scholarships out there waiting for good Americans to take them that have to be used by coaches who can only get foreign kids to take them just to fill their roster. QUOTE]

Tell me where are those scholarships waiting for Americans?

Reality is that men's tennis college programs in the U.S. get only 4.5 scholarships. There is extreme competition for those few scholarships available.

The main reasons coaches recruit foreign players are, older, more mature, played professionally, don't have to teach how to do laundry and many more reasons that coaches don't have to coach to them.

These coaches recruit foreign players because they are ready to play college tennis, instead of recruiting a 17 or 18 year old high school graduate, that they have to groom, mold, develop and coach into a college player.

OU men's tennis team roster- 5 Americans 5 foreigners

Click to expand...

I already named two D1 schools. Oral Roberts and Northern Colorado. I'll name more D1 schools that have have a hard time getting good Americans to attend. UT Martin, Stetson, UAB, USA, Stetson and St. Francis N.Y. If the 17 and 18 year olds are not ready they can go to a DII, or NAIA school and play tennis. If they really need to develop and want to play D1 and are not getting recruited they can go to a JUCO to develop and then go to a D1 school. They could also try to walk on and develop.

But NOOOOOOO you and others have to crybaby that becuase Americans are not good enough to play and the foreigners have put in more work and are better tennis players that Johnny can't play tennis at BIG TIME U. Not every tennis player in Texas can play for UT. Not every tennis player in California can play for Stanford or Cal. But pleanty are passing up chances to play for Pan-AMerican, UT Corpus Christi or Sacramento State or Pacific. Plenty of kids are not good enough for D1 football, basketball or baseball. They like tennis players have choices, get better so they can make the team, go to a smaller school and play or just not play. Stop blamming foreigners for Americans not playing college tennis.

papatenis · Apr 29, 2010

andfor said:
papatenis said:

I already named two D1 schools. Oral Roberts and Northern Colorado. I'll name more D1 schools that have have a hard time getting good Americans to attend. UT Martin, Stetson, UAB, USA, Stetson and St. Francis N.Y. If the 17 and 18 year olds are not ready they can go to a DII, or NAIA school and play tennis. If they really need to develop and want to play D1 and are not getting recruited they can go to a JUCO to develop and then go to a D1 school. They could also try to walk on and develop.

But NOOOOOOO you and others have to crybaby that becuase Americans are not good enough to play and the foreigners have put in more work and are better tennis players that Johnny can't play tennis at BIG TIME U. Not every tennis player in Texas can play for UT. Not every tennis player in California can play for Stanford or Cal. But pleanty are passing up chances to play for Pan-AMerican, UT Corpus Christi or Sacramento State or Pacific. Plenty of kids are not good enough for D1 football, basketball or baseball. They like tennis players have choices, get better so they can make the team, go to a smaller school and play or just not play. Stop blamming foreigners for Americans not playing college tennis.

Click to expand...

Please don't make personal attacks.

If you read my post, I am not blaming foreigners, but the coaches!

andfor · Apr 29, 2010

papatenis said:
andfor said:

Please don't make personal attacks.

If you read my post, I am not blaming foreigners, but the coaches!

Click to expand...

Sorry for what you percieved as an attack. I am sick of the attitude towards foreigners and college tennis. I really think its a cop out.

Having personally discussed this issue with a number of D1 coaches they have not once mentioned your rational. Not to say that its not a factor and I'm sure is some cases it is, they just have not mentioned it. But what they all tell me is that getting the attention of top American National and even Sectional tennis talent is very difficult. Getting them to attend school to play tennis is even harder. The foreign kids are more open to attending smaller less know D1 programs than the Americans.

Again my argument is that many kids who may not qualify to play at the largest of D1 tennis programs could still find a place to play at a smaller D1 schools.

johnkidd · Apr 29, 2010

Coaches are paid to win matches. To win matches you need to put the best possible lineup out there. If that means usuing foreign players, as long as they attend classes and keep their grades up I don't see an issue. The majority of these guys are doing it for the education because of the prestige a degree from an American university holds when they return home.

ttbrowne · May 3, 2010

papatenis said:
andfor said:

There are plenty of scholarships out there waiting for good Americans to take them that have to be used by coaches who can only get foreign kids to take them just to fill their roster. QUOTE]

Tell me where are those scholarships waiting for Americans?

Reality is that men's tennis college programs in the U.S. get only 4.5 scholarships. There is extreme competition for those few scholarships available.

The main reasons coaches recruit foreign players are, older, more mature, played professionally, don't have to teach how to do laundry and many more reasons that coaches don't have to coach to them.

These coaches recruit foreign players because they are ready to play college tennis, instead of recruiting a 17 or 18 year old high school graduate, that they have to groom, mold, develop and coach into a college player.

OU men's tennis team roster- 5 Americans 5 foreigners

Click to expand...

papa, College sports is still a 'competitive' system. You can't set aside 2 or 3 positions and say, "These slots are for Americans only". If college tennis does it, then you would have to have college football, basketball and so forth. From the beginning, It's always been about coaches recruiting the best they can get.

anchorsteamer · May 7, 2010

johnkidd said:
Coaches are paid to win matches. To win matches you need to put the best possible lineup out there. If that means usuing foreign players, as long as they attend classes and keep their grades up I don't see an issue. The majority of these guys are doing it for the education because of the prestige a degree from an American university holds when they return home.

At the same time, we're talking about a non-revenue sport at publicly funded universities. I don't hold anything against the foreigners that come over and play...at both schools I played at we had guys on scholarship from foreign countries. That being said, it is kind of crazy that teams will have 3, 4, 5 and even 6 guys in a lineup from foreign countries (and corresponding scholarship money). Not sure what the answer is...but there is something wrong with that.

johnkidd · May 7, 2010

A DI mens program gets 4.5 scholarships. Also athletic programs are run seperately from the institution itself, and are largely supported by football and basketball revenues, plus money from donors.

johnkidd · May 7, 2010

I'll also add that OU probably makes enough from one home footbal game to run the tennis program for a decade.

anchorsteamer · May 8, 2010

johnkidd said:
A DI mens program gets 4.5 scholarships.

Which makes it crazy that schools are using 50-75 and in some cases 100% of that scholarship money on foreign players.

Budget for a D1 team in a legit conferance is upwards of 400 to 500k per year...so yeah, OU (as an extreme example of course given it's football tradition) can definitely cover the whole programs budget in less than one game...that's not the case for most schools though, obviously...

EP1998 · May 8, 2010

anchorsteamer said:
Which makes it crazy that schools are using 50-75 and in some cases 100% of that scholarship money on foreign players.

Budget for a D1 team in a legit conferance is upwards of 400 to 500k per year...so yeah, OU (as an extreme example of course given it's football tradition) can definitely cover the whole programs budget in less than one game...that's not the case for most schools though, obviously...

How do you feel about the old people (lol) playing? I have heard they are changing the rules for that, but for now, I am shocked when I see someone (foreign or american) who was born in 1984 on a roster in 2010.

johnkidd · May 8, 2010

Scholarship Limits

http://www.educationplanner.org/edu...nsor=2859&articleName=NCAA_Scholarship_Limits

I stand corrected...womens is 8 not 9

JW10S · May 8, 2010

I don't get what the issue is here. I played on scholarship for an NCAA Championship tennis team where 6 of the 8 starters were from foreign countries. I won't say whether or not I was one of the foreigners but it doesn't matter--coaches are hired to produce winning teams. If they don't they are fired. If that means bringing in foreign players in order to win so be it. The fact that there are so many foreign players playing on American college teams (I know of some junior college programs where the majority of the players are foreign) says more about the current state of American tennis than anything else. American players are not entitled to get tennis scholarships for no other reason than they happen to be born in the USA. Like anything else they need to earn it. Right now many are not.

skraggle · May 8, 2010

JW10S said:
I don't get what the issue is here. I played on scholarship for an NCAA Championship tennis team where 6 of the 8 starters were from foreign countries. I won't say whether or not I was one of the foreigners but it doesn't matter--coaches are hired to produce winning teams. If they don't they are fired. If that means bringing in foreign players in order to win so be it. The fact that there are so many foreign players playing on American college teams (I know of some junior college programs where the majority of the players are foreign) says more about the current state of American tennis than anything else. American players are not entitled to get tennis scholarships for no other reason than they happen to be born in the USA. Like anything else they need to earn it. Right now many are not.

Couldn't agree more. Nicely stated.

johnkidd · May 9, 2010

JW10S said:
I don't get what the issue is here. I played on scholarship for an NCAA Championship tennis team where 6 of the 8 starters were from foreign countries. I won't say whether or not I was one of the foreigners but it doesn't matter--coaches are hired to produce winning teams. If they don't they are fired. If that means bringing in foreign players in order to win so be it. The fact that there are so many foreign players playing on American college teams (I know of some junior college programs where the majority of the players are foreign) says more about the current state of American tennis than anything else. American players are not entitled to get tennis scholarships for no other reason than they happen to be born in the USA. Like anything else they need to earn it. Right now many are not.

+1 Baylor's coach has said when he was building the program he couldn't get US players to look at it.

anchorsteamer · May 10, 2010

JW10S said:
I don't get what the issue is here. I played on scholarship for an NCAA Championship tennis team where 6 of the 8 starters were from foreign countries. I won't say whether or not I was one of the foreigners but it doesn't matter--coaches are hired to produce winning teams. If they don't they are fired. If that means bringing in foreign players in order to win so be it. The fact that there are so many foreign players playing on American college teams (I know of some junior college programs where the majority of the players are foreign) says more about the current state of American tennis than anything else. American players are not entitled to get tennis scholarships for no other reason than they happen to be born in the USA. Like anything else they need to earn it. Right now many are not.

There is an issue when college coaches at universities don't even look at Americans, and instead simply recruit foreign players. There's obviously many reasons for this, and many of them are valid. What American from Florida or California is ever going to head to Waco, Texas. At the same time, there are a lot of schools out there who simply don't make any attempt to sign Americans. They've tapped into a foreign pipeline, they enjoy recruiting abroad, they feel like a player that's battled on the Futures since 15 is more mature, etc...whatever.

I have no answer or solution...but there IS SOMETHING WRONG with American instutions making no attempt to sign Americans, giving us matches where 8, 10 or even all 12 of the players competing are foreign. Doesn't seem right. And hey...tennis is a non-revenue sport, meaning most schools are not firing coaches for failing to win...in fact many schools care more about the graduation rate and GPA of a team like tennis..results on the court less reflective and important than a high GPA...

johnkidd · May 11, 2010

Not sure if there are statictics, but I've heard most of the foreign players take the academics seriously. I know they are only a small sample size but both Somdev Devarmann and Ben Becker were both did very well academically. Becker said the reason he came here was he tought a pro tennis was over so he was using this as an opportunity to get a business degree.

ttbrowne · May 12, 2010

anchorsteamer said:
There is an issue when college coaches at universities don't even look at Americans, and instead simply recruit foreign players. There's obviously many reasons for this, and many of them are valid. What American from Florida or California is ever going to head to Waco, Texas. At the same time, there are a lot of schools out there who simply don't make any attempt to sign Americans. They've tapped into a foreign pipeline, they enjoy recruiting abroad, they feel like a player that's battled on the Futures since 15 is more mature, etc...whatever.

I have no answer or solution...but there IS SOMETHING WRONG with American instutions making no attempt to sign Americans, giving us matches where 8, 10 or even all 12 of the players competing are foreign. Doesn't seem right. And hey...tennis is a non-revenue sport, meaning most schools are not firing coaches for failing to win...in fact many schools care more about the graduation rate and GPA of a team like tennis..results on the court less reflective and important than a high GPA...

Can you get specific on the "There is an issue when college coaches at universities don't even look at Americans, and instead simply recruit foreign players."

It would be better if you would include a school(s) to maybe prove your point.

andfor · May 12, 2010

ttbrowne said:
Can you get specific on the "There is an issue when college coaches at universities don't even look at Americans, and instead simply recruit foreign players."

It would be better if you would include a school(s) to maybe prove your point.

I can name a school and coach but will not do so publicly on the message board. If you want to email me from my profile to ask feel free.

Maybe we should not be looking at the problem as falling only on the colleges and universities. I believe that the problem also falls on the American tennis players and system. Are there enough American kids good enough fill all the rosters and to be seriously competitive in D1?

BTW. Although tennis is a non-revenue producing sport the pressure to win from AD's, alumni and fans does not go away.

anchorsteamer · May 12, 2010

andfor said:
I can name a school and coach but will not do so publicly on the message board. If you want to email me from my profile to ask feel free.

Maybe we should not be looking at the problem as falling only on the colleges and universities. I believe that the problem also falls on the American tennis players and system. Are there enough American kids good enough fill all the rosters and to be seriously competitive in D1?

BTW. Although tennis is a non-revenue producing sport the pressure to win from AD's, alumni and fans does not go away.

Most schools don't have all that much pressure from fans, alumni or the AD to win...again we're talking about tennis...a sport we obviously all play (and probably love)...but it's college tennis...which means the primary pressure most coaches are under is to not cause the AD any headaches with scandals, low grades, complaints, positive drug tests, etc...

In terms of coaches that pretty much only look at foreign players...it's an unfortunate reality. It's easier in a lot of ways to recruit foreign players. They have less biased opinions about various cities (as mentioned Waco, Lubbock, various spots in the South), they have pretty well defined comparable rankings, etc...

andfor · May 12, 2010

anchorsteamer said:
Most schools don't have all that much pressure from fans, alumni or the AD to win...again we're talking about tennis...a sport we obviously all play (and probably love)...but it's college tennis...which means the primary pressure most coaches are under is to not cause the AD any headaches with scandals, low grades, complaints, positive drug tests, etc...

In terms of coaches that pretty much only look at foreign players...it's an unfortunate reality. It's easier in a lot of ways to recruit foreign players. They have less biased opinions about various cities (as mentioned Waco, Lubbock, various spots in the South), they have pretty well defined comparable rankings, etc...

Winning usually helps coaches gain attention of alumni and fans who often assist/boost in funding the program which is obviously looked on highly by administration. Many minor sports are self-funded and not tied to football and or basketball revenues. I don't want to get into a "how much pressure" the tennis coach has blah, blah, blah contest. I do agree with much of what you are saying and it goes without saying the pressure to win is fractional compared to the football and basketball coaches.

I do know a D1 mens coach who values bringing a roughly equal mix of foreign and american players to the team. For what ever its worth from my perspective without that foreign mix they would not be as near competitive as they currently are.

johnkidd · May 13, 2010

Also having a successful program translates well for summer camps. Summer camps is where the coaches make good deall of revenue that subsidizes what they make coaching.

ttbrowne · May 18, 2010

I think the pressure for Div 1 coaches is heating up rapidly. Look at some of the tennis facilities being built.
I can assure you that when alums spend 8-10 million dollars on a facility for tennis, they just don't sit back and say, "You lost again, Oh well, no problem".

Dawgie Dawg · Oct 3, 2011

Mihov sucks

andfor · Oct 3, 2011

Dawgie Dawg said:
Mihov sucks

The player he lost to O'Hare is a very good one. He lost a 3 setter in the next round to a player from Texas.

Tennishacker · Oct 3, 2011

JW10S said:
I don't get what the issue is here. I played on scholarship for an NCAA Championship tennis team where 6 of the 8 starters were from foreign countries. I won't say whether or not I was one of the foreigners but it doesn't matter--coaches are hired to produce winning teams. If they don't they are fired. If that means bringing in foreign players in order to win so be it. The fact that there are so many foreign players playing on American college teams (I know of some junior college programs where the majority of the players are foreign) says more about the current state of American tennis than anything else. American players are not entitled to get tennis scholarships for no other reason than they happen to be born in the USA. Like anything else they need to earn it. Right now many are not.

There are many issues why tennis is on a decline here in America, but one of the ways to increase the base of Americans playing tennis is to have more Americans playing.
Those Americans who want to play college tennis but can't, will probably stop playing, meaning they will not have their kids playing, eventually killing off more American tennis players...

Tennishacker · Oct 3, 2011

andfor said:
I do know a D1 mens coach who values bringing a roughly equal mix of foreign and american players to the team. For what ever its worth from my perspective without that foreign mix they would not be as near competitive as they currently are.

That's interesting, because on my daughter's team, the foreign girls play 4-6 while the Americans play 1-3. But that said, the foreign girls are better doubles player.
When my daughter was in the juniors, almost all the top girls would not play doubles, I could never figure that out because its know that playing doubles helps the overall game.

Go figure

Tennishacker · Oct 3, 2011

papatenis said:
andfor said:

There are plenty of scholarships out there waiting for good Americans to take them that have to be used by coaches who can only get foreign kids to take them just to fill their roster. QUOTE]

Tell me where are those scholarships waiting for Americans?

Reality is that men's tennis college programs in the U.S. get only 4.5 scholarships. There is extreme competition for those few scholarships available.
The main reasons coaches recruit foreign players are, older, more mature, played professionally, don't have to teach how to do laundry and many more reasons that coaches don't have to coach to them.
These coaches recruit foreign players because they are ready to play college tennis, instead of recruiting a 17 or 18 year old high school graduate, that they have to groom, mold, develop and coach into a college player
OU men's tennis team roster- 5 Americans 5 foreigners

Click to expand...

I was at a college seminar during the winter nationals in Phoenix. The guest speaker was the former Illinois men's coach. The reason you stated were the same reason he gave for requiting foreigners.

Essentially he didn't have to hold the hands of Americans.

andfor · Oct 3, 2011

Tennishacker said:
papatenis said:

I was at a college seminar during the winter nationals in Phoenix. The guest speaker was the former Illinois men's coach. The reason you stated were the same reason he gave for requiting foreigners.

Essentially he didn't have to hold the hands of Americans.

Click to expand...

You've probably missed many of my arguments for foreigners playing college tennis. I think foreigners make college tennis better in all divisions. It's an American problem to produce more quality tennis juniors so they can play where they want. It's also an American problem to better understand that not every tennis playing kid will be able to play tennis at BigTime U.

Tennishacker · Oct 5, 2011

andfor, I don't dispute anything that you have said, my point and some of the others here is that America is in need of help with tennis.

With less Americans playing tennis, our base of players gets smaller and smaller. One way to reverse this trend is to have the ability for Americans to play college tennis, which the status quo now is competing against the worlds best college age players.

If they have to compete against other Americans for those few scholarship spots, then IMO it would help grow our base of American tennis players.

Once we have caught up with the rest of the world (tennis), then I would welcome the non-Americans to compete for those scholarships.

Clemson_tennis · Oct 5, 2011

At the moment it actually seems like Alcorta is a bigger catch than Mihov.

andfor · Oct 6, 2011

Tennishacker said:
andfor, I don't dispute anything that you have said, my point and some of the others here is that America is in need of help with tennis.

With less Americans playing tennis, our base of players gets smaller and smaller. One way to reverse this trend is to have the ability for Americans to play college tennis, which the status quo now is competing against the worlds best college age players.

If they have to compete against other Americans for those few scholarship spots, then IMO it would help grow our base of American tennis players.

Once we have caught up with the rest of the world (tennis), then I would welcome the non-Americans to compete for those scholarships.

D1 scholarships are out there for American kids who want them. How about looking at University of Nebraska-Omaha, Longwood, Middle Tennessee, Jacksonville St., Seattle U, or a new program being started at North Dakota? Not BigTimeU but D1 programs that don't require players to be Blue Chips or 5 star caliber players.

cmb · Oct 6, 2011

there is a long list of schools like that, UT PANAM, UTSA, INcarnate Word, thats just 3 schools in Texas that I know of. But kids would rather pay to go to UT or A&M. Estrella was ranked in the top 100 ITF juniors and he did not have a problem with Incarnate Word. The Indian guy who has ATP points has no problem with UT PANAM. American kids dont really want to play tennis sometimes.

JLyon · Oct 6, 2011

cmb said:
there is a long list of schools like that, UT PANAM, UTSA, INcarnate Word, thats just 3 schools in Texas that I know of. But kids would rather pay to go to UT or A&M. Estrella was ranked in the top 100 ITF juniors and he did not have a problem with Incarnate Word. The Indian guy who has ATP points has no problem with UT PANAM. American kids dont really want to play tennis sometimes.

That is the point I have been trying to make for a long time. American kids need to stop complaining about no scholarships and take a look at the smaller less known schools if they want to play tennis.

Clemson_tennis · Oct 6, 2011

I once had a coach at a camp tell us that if you want a tennis scholarship there is always one avaialble. You just have to look and be willing to go anywhere, People just get mad when they can't get one at their dream school

Tennishacker · Oct 6, 2011

^^^^

All true, but the college coaches also need to go after those kids.

goldy0084 · Oct 9, 2011

"D1 scholarships are out there for American kids who want them. How about looking at University of Nebraska-Omaha, Longwood, Middle Tennessee, Jacksonville St., Seattle U, or a new program being started at North Dakota? Not BigTimeU but D1 programs that don't require players to be Blue Chips or 5 star caliber players."

I wouldn't lump MTSU in that mix. They have 2 Americans this year who are 3 and 4 star recruits respectively and both are walk-ons that probably won't play. MT was ranked as high as #4 I believe under Dale Short and has had predominantly top-ranked foreigners. Their two big guys won the NCAA's in dubs and they have had a whole slough of good foreign kids. Unless you are five-star to blue chip, you probably won't play there. If you do, you will probably be a walk-on. Plus, any five star or blue chip Tennessee kid or Southern kid would never look at them...Vandy or UT rule there.

andfor · Oct 10, 2011

goldy0084 said:
"D1 scholarships are out there for American kids who want them. How about looking at University of Nebraska-Omaha, Longwood, Middle Tennessee, Jacksonville St., Seattle U, or a new program being started at North Dakota? Not BigTimeU but D1 programs that don't require players to be Blue Chips or 5 star caliber players."

I wouldn't lump MTSU in that mix. They have 2 Americans this year who are 3 and 4 star recruits respectively and both are walk-ons that probably won't play. MT was ranked as high as #4 I believe under Dale Short and has had predominantly top-ranked foreigners. Their two big guys won the NCAA's in dubs and they have had a whole slough of good foreign kids. Unless you are five-star to blue chip, you probably won't play there. If you do, you will probably be a walk-on. Plus, any five star or blue chip Tennessee kid or Southern kid would never look at them...Vandy or UT rule there.

MTSU was just an example. Insert Tennessee Tech or Jacksonville St. etc. Are you sure the two Americans there now are walk-ons? They only have 7 total players on their roster now. If they are walk-ons, do you know their circumstances? Maybe they did not need the athletic aide. Never the less, good to see American kids choosing a very good school such as MTSU.

Dale Short retired and has been gone about 4 years or so. They have declined since. Now they have a new coach and look to be on the way back up.

True, that Tennessee Blue Chips and 5-Stars choose UT or Vandy if they stay in state.

goldy0084 · Oct 10, 2011

I gotcha. Yeah, Tech or UT Chatt I suppose would be a much better example. They both have some Americans in the mix.

Yes, I do know both kids and they both have money and are recruited walk-ons. The new coaches there won the Sun Belt in their first year and are helping rebuild things. From talking with the coach there, he anticipates the new players will be 7-9 on the roster. They have 2 new guys at January from Europe. Will be nice to see them battle for a spot, as it is a nice school and good to have in-state Americans on the squad.

andfor · Oct 10, 2011

goldy0084 said:
I gotcha. Yeah, Tech or UT Chatt I suppose would be a much better example. They both have some Americans in the mix.

Yes, I do know both kids and they both have money and are recruited walk-ons. The new coaches there won the Sun Belt in their first year and are helping rebuild things. From talking with the coach there, he anticipates the new players will be 7-9 on the roster. They have 2 new guys at January from Europe. Will be nice to see them battle for a spot, as it is a nice school and good to have in-state Americans on the squad.

Being from the area I don't know those kids but I know who they are and have watched them play. They are good players and both have upside. I also figured they would likely get a player or two in January. Thanks for the insight.

BTW, keep an eye on Memphis this year. Both men and women. They will both make an impact nationally this year. The men will make the biggest impact though. As good as they are this fall, their best player will not play until the spring. Their top doubles team took out a UCLA team last week in Tulsa.

OU/Roddick Signs Davis Cup Player

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