Case of Danielle Collins and Florida gators transfer to Viriginia

[Nostradamus]

I was just watching the Tennis channel on story about Danielle Collins and apparently she was a bench warmer in her freshman year at Florida. Unhappy with her lack of playing time, she transferred to Virginia. and Won the NCAA championship singles in her sophomore year. Now I get that , sometimes coaches miss the potential or talent level, especially when your team is full of top talents in NCAA already,,, but this seem to be a Big time miss. and even if the Head coach missed the ball, what about assistant coach ? did he also think Danielle just didnt' measure up ? LOL This has to be the most monumental miss in history of NCAA tennis.

Collins transferred to Virginia and won the NCAA title not only ONCE but TWICE. and now she is becoming a top 20 pro and more.

 

[Turbo-87]

Happens in all walks of life, really.
Kurt Warner was a bench warmer at my college and was cut from the Packers. His career turned out pretty good too.

 

[zettavaska]

Waiting for the Tom Brady fans...

 

[Nostradamus]

Happens in all walks of life, really.
Kurt Warner was a bench warmer at my college and was cut from the Packers. His career turned out pretty good too.

Warner was really really a late bloomer and didn't move well. He had decent arm with great receivers and great offensive scheme, he worked out in NFL. Collins case was more extreme miss of obvious immediate talent. It's like being a bench warmer at Georgia football team and then the freshman transfers to Illinois football team and wins the Heisman trophy immediately next year........... LOL

I have a feeling though,,, just maybe her attitude rubbed off the wrong way on the coaching staff on Florida and they didn't treat her right. If that was the case, it still was wrong of the coaching staff, you play the BEST talent,,, Period.

 

[Turbo-87]

Warner was really really a late bloomer and didn't move well. He had decent arm with great receivers and great offensive scheme, he worked out in NFL. Collins case was more extreme miss of obvious immediate talent. It's like being a bench warmer at Georgia football team and then the freshman transfers to Illinois football team and wins the Heisman trophy immediately next year........... LOL

I have a feeling though,,, just maybe her attitude rubbed off the wrong way on the coaching staff on Florida and they didn't treat her right. If that was the case, it still was wrong of the coaching staff, you play the BEST talent,,, Period.

I follow you. Not an apples to apples comparison.

I do like Collins. I get the sense that she is totally different and likable off the court as I witnessed in a "shuttle ride with ________ " segment in the Australian Open coverage. She seemed pretty chill and fun. Maybe her on court persona was just too much for the coaches so they buried her on the depth chart.

 

[r2473]

I was just watching the Tennis channel on story about Danielle Collins and apparently she was a bench warmer in her freshman year at Florida. Unhappy with her lack of playing time, she transferred to Virginia. and Won the NCAA championship singles in her sophomore year. Now I get that , sometimes coaches miss the potential or talent level, especially when your team is full of top talents in NCAA already,,, but this seem to be a Big time miss. and even if the Head coach missed the ball, what about assistant coach ? did he also think Danielle just didnt' measure up ? LOL This has to be the most monumental miss in history of NCAA tennis.

Collins transferred to Virginia and won the NCAA title not only ONCE but TWICE. and now she is becoming a top 20 pro and more.

Did the Standford coaches realize what they had when you were on the team?

 

[StringGuruMRT]

Maybe being on the bench at UF motivated her to work harder and reach her potential at UVA? I don't know anything about the coaches at UF, but I can say that UVA has had a rich history of top level coaches on both the Men's and Women's teams.

 

[Nostradamus]

I follow you. Not an apples to apples comparison.

I do like Collins. I get the sense that she is totally different and likable off the court as I witnessed in a "shuttle ride with ________ " segment in the Australian Open coverage. She seemed pretty chill and fun. Maybe her on court persona was just too much for the coaches so they buried her on the depth chart.

It looks like Collins was getting pretty good amount of playing time from this record. She just didn't get to play high enough position to make it into NCAA tournament and didn't get in during her freshman year. That may have been the issue. You have to play high enough position like #1 or #2 spot to get the ranking high enough to make into the NCAA tournament.

https://floridagators.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4033

 

[Nostradamus]

Maybe being on the bench at UF motivated her to work harder and reach her potential at UVA? I don't know anything about the coaches at UF, but I can say that UVA has had a rich history of top level coaches on both the Men's and Women's teams.

She didn't need any motivation, she had plenty of that. I am not going to name names but coaching staff dropped the ball on this one. They should have told Collins,,,"hey you had a pretty good freshman season, we are going to try you at #1 or #2 spot and let's see how it goes in the sophomore season". That is all the coaching staff had to do with Collins to keep her happy and in Florida. She had her family and home in Florida and wanted to stay there.

I also have to wonder if they had Latter system. Like Stanford has, In the fall, they have individual match challenge where you play at least 2 matches against the players on the team and you move up or down from there.

And those of you that predicted William Genesen after last year's debacle that he won't even make the team this season,,, you guys were wrong. Genesen is playing all right,, he is playing #3 position, 3 positions up from last year. This has a lot to do with the latter system.

 

[StringGuruMRT]

She didn't need any motivation, she had plenty of that. I am not going to name names but coaching staff dropped the ball on this one. They should have told Collins,,,"hey you had a pretty good freshman season, we are going to try you at #1 or #2 spot and let's see how it goes in the sophomore season". That is all the coaching staff had to do with Collins to keep her happy and in Florida. She had her family and home in Florida and wanted to stay there.

I also have to wonder if they had Latter system. Like Stanford has, In the fall, they have individual match challenge where you play at least 2 matches against the players on the team and you move up or down from there.

And those of you that predicted William Genesen after last year's debacle that he won't even make the team this season,,, you guys were wrong. Genesen is playing all right,, he is playing #3 position, 3 positions up from last year. This has a lot to do with the latter system.

I'll still stick by my motivation comment. If she went to the coaches and said "I'll stay if you play me at #1 or #2" and they said they wouldn't, that would be a great motivator to move on and prove them wrong. Judging from her on court personality, I would say that proving people wrong is a big motivating factor for her. Just a generalization, I could be completely off.

Plus UVA is an awesome place! But I'm biased...

 

[Nostradamus]

I'll still stick by my motivation comment. If she went to the coaches and said "I'll stay if you play me at #1 or #2" and they said they wouldn't, that would be a great motivator to move on and prove them wrong. Judging from her on court personality, I would say that proving people wrong is a big motivating factor for her. Just a generalization, I could be completely off.

Plus UVA is an awesome place! But I'm biased...

That is great. but still Florida should have played her at least at #2 spot. What kind of state is Virginia ? its not like south Carolina, right ? like old confederate kind of deal ?

 

[StringGuruMRT]

That is great. but still Florida should have played her at least at #2 spot. What kind of state is Virginia ? its not like south Carolina, right ? like old confederate kind of deal ?

Ha! It depends where you are in Virginia! It's a very diverse state! Up north by Washington DC it is very progressive, diverse and wealthy. Down south it is very conservative and traditional. Out west in the mountains it has a very blue collar and hard working vibe. Charlottesville, where UVA is located is very much a hip college town, with an artsy almost Austin, Texas vibe.

I grew up in Virginia, and while I don't call it home anymore, I still love it!

 

[MarTennis]

I was just watching the Tennis channel on story about Danielle Collins and apparently she was a bench warmer in her freshman year at Florida. Unhappy with her lack of playing time, she transferred to Virginia. and Won the NCAA championship singles in her sophomore year. Now I get that , sometimes coaches miss the potential or talent level, especially when your team is full of top talents in NCAA already,,, but this seem to be a Big time miss. and even if the Head coach missed the ball, what about assistant coach ? did he also think Danielle just didnt' measure up ? LOL This has to be the most monumental miss in history of NCAA tennis.

Collins transferred to Virginia and won the NCAA title not only ONCE but TWICE. and now she is becoming a top 20 pro and more.

It was personal according to my source.

 

[Nostradamus]

It was personal according to my source.

According to that tennis channel excerpt ,, Collins wasnt' getting playing time so she transferred for that reason. she wanted to stay in florida.

 

[Turbo-87]

It looks like Collins was getting pretty good amount of playing time from this record. She just didn't get to play high enough position to make it into NCAA tournament and didn't get in during her freshman year. That may have been the issue. You have to play high enough position like #1 or #2 spot to get the ranking high enough to make into the NCAA tournament.

https://floridagators.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4033

I didn't look deeply into her record. I'm just being shallow saying I think she is hot so I am following her career now.

 

[atatu]

Waiting for the Tom Brady fans...

Not really a huge Brady fan, but it is amazing that six quarterbacks were drafted ahead of him in the draft ! Spergon Wynn ? Giovanni Carmazzi ?

https://www.businessinsider.com/the...he-sixth-round-with-the-183rd-pick-overall-11

 

[bigserving]

My guess is that if she knew then, where she is now, she would have bypassed college altogether and started playing on the futures tour. Had she done that, she may a few more million in the bank right now.

Either way, things are working out great for her and I am sure that she is happy with the opportunity that has been provided to her.

 

[KSUalum]

Maybe her experience at Virginia helped her with where she is today.

 

[Nostradamus]

My guess is that if she knew then, where she is now, she would have bypassed college altogether and started playing on the futures tour. Had she done that, she may a few more million in the bank right now.

Either way, things are working out great for her and I am sure that she is happy with the opportunity that has been provided to her.

Yes, she talked about that on Tennis channel interview. she said she considered turning pro right away but she had no choice and had NO money and her parents had no money. So it was impossible for her to go travel the pro tour.

 

[SavvyStringer]

It was personal according to my source.

That's a big thing in college tennis. Especially womens side. We had a guy a couple of years ago that didn't play for Oklahoma when they were top 10. He came to us and made it to the round of 16 in singles and became an all american. We had a girl last year that was a freshman and never played, quit practicing by the end of season. She's now a louisville playing and winning. Personality matters, sometimes more than skill.

 

[bigserving]

Yes, she talked about that on Tennis channel interview. she said she considered turning pro right away but she had no choice and had NO money and her parents had no money. So it was impossible for her to go travel the pro tour.

Two or three years after college, she is nearing the top of the game and making plenty of prize money to support her expenses. But at that time, she was not good enough to do that. Obviously, her game has improved significantly since her freshman year of college. Really no drama here, it is all just a part of her own personal process to get to where she is right now.

 

[Nostradamus]

Maybe her experience at Virginia helped her with where she is today.

I definitely agree, Virginia turned out to be perfect fit and she seemed have improved great deal on that team. Virginia must have better program than I first thought.

 

[Nacho]

I was just watching the Tennis channel on story about Danielle Collins and apparently she was a bench warmer in her freshman year at Florida. Unhappy with her lack of playing time, she transferred to Virginia. and Won the NCAA championship singles in her sophomore year. Now I get that , sometimes coaches miss the potential or talent level, especially when your team is full of top talents in NCAA already,,, but this seem to be a Big time miss. and even if the Head coach missed the ball, what about assistant coach ? did he also think Danielle just didnt' measure up ? LOL This has to be the most monumental miss in history of NCAA tennis.

Collins transferred to Virginia and won the NCAA title not only ONCE but TWICE. and now she is becoming a top 20 pro and more.

Its the undiscussed problem with "team tennis". And a big reason why so many American Jr's have a hard time overcoming International players.

When you are playing low in the lineup, you never get a chance to compete. For example, if you play 6, you are constantly playing the 6 for other teams. Maybe you finish your match, maybe you don't because it gets called. So, unless you are just destroying people, you never are in a position to elevate your game. You are basically playing "first round" matches week in and week out. Mentally, its a consistent position of having to overdrove yourself, and for some players this can be frustrating. When you play number one on a team, it is the opposite, you are playing the equivalent of the the player making the "finals" for the other team. It's a completely different confidence and attitude. The expectations can be lighter, as you are playing the best players for every team. Thus, it is left up to the coaches to determine and recognize who should be at the top, and some coaches are misguided by this, influenced by feelings and other achievements.

This is why I am more inferior of a tournament scenario, because it enables the number six player on a team a chance to play the number 1 or 2 player for another team. They are thus competing, learning, and developing better then just playing at 6 the whole time. Its the difference between college golf and tennis right now, and what enables so many American college golfers to come from obscurity to the pro tour. They have a tournament approach to college golf, and it is a better conduit to the pros, hence more Americans performing well in the pros.

 

[jcgatennismom]

@Nacho The #6 may be competing in practice to stay 6 as for many teams 7-8 are the same level, so 6 cant get complacent! That said I agree that fall which is the tournament season can be the highlight for many players-the benchies get to play and sometimes guys in the mid to low end of the lineup of top teams make it to QFs in big events like AA. Sometimes even 1-2 preQ guys win 8-9 matches straight to get 1-2 MD wins. However, even in the fall, most events are flighted so player play similar level players, but AA, Regionals, etc give everyone a shot to play anyone except those guys off playing Futures and Challengers.

 

[tennisjunky]

@Nostradamus...… your right on the money.
And no matter the spin, this was a HUGE miss on the coaching staff at Florida!
And notice how they gloss over the details in the Tennis Channel bio.
Even if she got motivated by being on the bench (which I don't buy), didn't anyone there see talent or potential?
Serioulsy she is driven, that is a rare talent which needs to be groomed properly.
Well.... UVA obviously saw something that Florida didn't and so much the better.
Funny I never heard a serious comment from the coaching staff at Florida on what happened...…. but I wouldn't be surprised if it came down to local politics and petty drama.

On a broader note...… this is an EXCELLENT example of why college tennis doesn't prepare you for the pro tour.
They act purely out of self interest..... I this is the perfect case.

 

[MisterP]

My guess is that if she knew then, where she is now, she would have bypassed college altogether and started playing on the futures tour. Had she done that, she may a few more million in the bank right now.

Either way, things are working out great for her and I am sure that she is happy with the opportunity that has been provided to her.

There is a really great interview with her that Jon Wertheim did on the Beyond the Baseline podcast. She explains that decision. Made a lot of sense. Also she seems like a delightful person off the court. Not at all like the kind of ****** that would cheer her own net cord winner, but she played NCAA for 4 years so it’s not like she had good role models there.

 

[Nostradamus]

Its the undiscussed problem with "team tennis". And a big reason why so many American Jr's have a hard time overcoming International players.

When you are playing low in the lineup, you never get a chance to compete. For example, if you play 6, you are constantly playing the 6 for other teams. Maybe you finish your match, maybe you don't because it gets called. So, unless you are just destroying people, you never are in a position to elevate your game. You are basically playing "first round" matches week in and week out. Mentally, its a consistent position of having to overdrove yourself, and for some players this can be frustrating. When you play number one on a team, it is the opposite, you are playing the equivalent of the the player making the "finals" for the other team. It's a completely different confidence and attitude. The expectations can be lighter, as you are playing the best players for every team. Thus, it is left up to the coaches to determine and recognize who should be at the top, and some coaches are misguided by this, influenced by feelings and other achievements.

This is why I am more inferior of a tournament scenario, because it enables the number six player on a team a chance to play the number 1 or 2 player for another team. They are thus competing, learning, and developing better then just playing at 6 the whole time. Its the difference between college golf and tennis right now, and what enables so many American college golfers to come from obscurity to the pro tour. They have a tournament approach to college golf, and it is a better conduit to the pros, hence more Americans performing well in the pros.

#1 player can't play #6 on another team. #1 has to play #1 . so Danielle playing #6 at Florida would have never made it into the NCAA tournament

 

[Nostradamus]

@Nostradamus...… your right on the money.
And no matter the spin, this was a HUGE miss on the coaching staff at Florida!
And notice how they gloss over the details in the Tennis Channel bio.
Even if she got motivated by being on the bench (which I don't buy), didn't anyone there see talent or potential?
Serioulsy she is driven, that is a rare talent which needs to be groomed properly.
Well.... UVA obviously saw something that Florida didn't and so much the better.
Funny I never heard a serious comment from the coaching staff at Florida on what happened...…. but I wouldn't be surprised if it came down to local politics and petty drama.

On a broader note...… this is an EXCELLENT example of why college tennis doesn't prepare you for the pro tour.
They act purely out of self interest..... I this is the perfect case.

Exactly,,, I think what happened was Corruption among the coaching staff at Florida. They knew about the talent level that Collins had and yet deliverately didnt' play her at higher position. This maybe due to couple of reasons. Collins rubbed off the wrong way with head coach or assistant coach and they deliveratly tried to screw her. Or , They played favorites with another one player or two and wanted to play them higher up even though Collins was better player.

 

[beltsman]

Maybe they were wary of her psycho antics.

 

[Nacho]

#1 player can't play #6 on another team. #1 has to play #1 . so Danielle playing #6 at Florida would have never made it into the NCAA tournament

Exactly. And if you never have the opportunity to play up, or your relaying on your coaches to determine this, how do you ever get there sitting on the bench? Some players just don't have that in them, they learn incrementally; by playing. An open tournament format would give the opportunity to players, but that will never happen unfortunately.

 

[SECFAN]

Not sure that there wasn't more to the story about why she left Florida, but either way it worked out for her.

 

[ClarkC]

It looks like Collins was getting pretty good amount of playing time from this record. She just didn't get to play high enough position to make it into NCAA tournament and didn't get in during her freshman year. That may have been the issue. You have to play high enough position like #1 or #2 spot to get the ranking high enough to make into the NCAA tournament.

https://floridagators.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4033

She played about half the matches at #6 and did not play the other half. I don't think that a player with her talent would call that a pretty good amount of playing time.

 

[ClarkC]

My guess is that if she knew then, where she is now, she would have bypassed college altogether and started playing on the futures tour. Had she done that, she may a few more million in the bank right now.

Either way, things are working out great for her and I am sure that she is happy with the opportunity that has been provided to her.

She has said, repeatedly, that her college experience at UVa was crucial to her development. Players who turn pro prematurely tend to fade into obscurity. We really should have a running thread on this board about all the players who bypassed college, except that it would seem vicious to highlight their failures in tennis when they could have had an education and improved their games at the same time.

 

[ClarkC]

@Nostradamus

On a broader note...… this is an EXCELLENT example of why college tennis doesn't prepare you for the pro tour.
They act purely out of self interest..... I this is the perfect case.

Except that Danielle says college tennis DID prepare her for the pro tour, so you might want to rethink this perfect case.

 

[Nostradamus]

Except that Danielle says college tennis DID prepare her for the pro tour, so you might want to rethink this perfect case.

She was talking about her time at Virginia,, not florida

 

[ClarkC]

She was talking about her time at Virginia,, not florida

Of course she was. But the point is that she went to college tennis, and says that college tennis matured her and developed her game. It was not just a money problem that kept her from bypassing college. She was not ready to be a pro at 18.

 

[Nostradamus]

Of course she was. But the point is that she went to college tennis, and says that college tennis matured her and developed her game. It was not just a money problem that kept her from bypassing college. She was not ready to be a pro at 18.

she wanted to go pro right away at 18. she saids. she couldn't . she didn't have the money