SavvyStringer
Professional
Biggest thing that Clemson can offer is their new facilities and their engineering programs. The campus is nice as well. Sort of tucked away as a town to its self.
Clemson Tiger tennis
- Thread starter Clemson_tennis
- Start date
SavvyStringer
Professional
Looking at their roster and recruiting over the last couple of years they're in for a struggle for the next 2-3 years unless the players they have show significant growth. They're a very young team overall with only 1 senior and a few juniors. They'll really only have 1 spot to replace going into next year unless they lose someone or dismiss someone. They're in a very similar cycle to us at USC where they have to do a full rebuild every 4 years but they don't seem to be recruiting or maybe growing as well.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
The Clemson hoodoo over the Buckeyes extends to pro tennis. Yannick Maden takes down JJ Wolf 6-4 7-6(4) in Drummondville!
jerryjones1960
Rookie
Tigers are my second favorite school as my daughter went to school there. Hope they get the program going, its such fun school.
Like I asked in the other thread. When is Clemson going to get a new women's tennis coach? Many of the older coaches that are fixed in their ways seemed to fall by the wayside when recruiting went from "word of mouth", to electronic, using the internet and social media to promote their programs, as well as, discover new faces to recruit outside the US. It's about time Clemson, with its new facilities went after the kind of coach that could recruit on an ACC level. To have the backing of a school like Clemson, especially with its new facilities, and not being able to produce, should be looked at negatively. Or is it that Clemson just doesn't care about their tennis program! As long as it doesn't get in the way of football all is good.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Tennis is certainly on the lower end of the sports spectrum at Clemson. I post about it regularly on a Clemson sports forum and I get at most 1-2 replies. The crowds are pretty small at matches usually, made up of the same people. The facility upgrades were put off for many years (originally meant to be completed by 2014) and were literally the last thing that Clemson athletics upgraded after all the football money. (Baseball, golf, soccer, track, basketball, several football upgrades all were done first). A few years ago at the tennis matches they gave away Clemson tennis shirts that said "building for the future", as if conceding that the teams will not be that good but don't worry a new facility is coming. I feel like the coaches somewhat mailed it in during the final years of the old facility, happy yo use it as a barrier to success (even though it wasn't that bad of a facility).
Now that the new facility is in place, there should be no more excuses. The women's team has been more successful than the men's for many years but even the women's team is doing poorly this year. Recruiting for the women's team did take a hit when assistant Scott Kidd left to take the head coaching job at Troy ( and has since taken a tennis job in the Cayman Islands). He had connections (Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe pipelines )and was able to bring in some talented players. I notice that the women's team seems to be more focused on American players now, but are taking a hit in overall talent. Nancy Harris is a good technical coach but does need to up the talent in the next couple of years.
Now that the new facility is in place, there should be no more excuses. The women's team has been more successful than the men's for many years but even the women's team is doing poorly this year. Recruiting for the women's team did take a hit when assistant Scott Kidd left to take the head coaching job at Troy ( and has since taken a tennis job in the Cayman Islands). He had connections (Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe pipelines )and was able to bring in some talented players. I notice that the women's team seems to be more focused on American players now, but are taking a hit in overall talent. Nancy Harris is a good technical coach but does need to up the talent in the next couple of years.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Also some thoughts about the weekend.
Poor performance against Duke. Duke is not a great team this year but there was never any doubt Duke would win. Clemson did not push them at all. A few players looked resigned to a loss on their court even in the first few games and had poor body language throughout the match.
North Carolina was also not close, but it was a better match from Clemson considering UNC is better than Duke. Kelaidis shockingly actually won a set over Cernoch and Jahn had match points at 6 to beat Soendergaard before it being called with him being up 7-5 5-3. Baudry and Yizhou were absolutely run over at 1 and 2, those were complete mismatches with Blumberg and Siguoin.
Poor performance against Duke. Duke is not a great team this year but there was never any doubt Duke would win. Clemson did not push them at all. A few players looked resigned to a loss on their court even in the first few games and had poor body language throughout the match.
North Carolina was also not close, but it was a better match from Clemson considering UNC is better than Duke. Kelaidis shockingly actually won a set over Cernoch and Jahn had match points at 6 to beat Soendergaard before it being called with him being up 7-5 5-3. Baudry and Yizhou were absolutely run over at 1 and 2, those were complete mismatches with Blumberg and Siguoin.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Oh man so close for Yizhou Liu against Nakashima of UVA. Lost 11-9 in the super tiebreak. That would've been a huge win for him. Not a bad match vs Virginia overall as Giusca and Kelaidis also went to 3rd set breakers, with Kelaidis breaking his losing streak with a win over Lord.
The VT match was somewhat disappointing. Baudry got his 2nd ranked win of the year by beating #56 Kros 6-4 6-4.
Dodens didn't play singles vs VT or at all vs Virginia, must have gotten injured in the doubles match vs VT. That forced Jahn to play 5 and Agee to fill in at 6 which was a blow since 5 and 6 have actually been Clemson's best chances for points this year.
The VT match was somewhat disappointing. Baudry got his 2nd ranked win of the year by beating #56 Kros 6-4 6-4.
Dodens didn't play singles vs VT or at all vs Virginia, must have gotten injured in the doubles match vs VT. That forced Jahn to play 5 and Agee to fill in at 6 which was a blow since 5 and 6 have actually been Clemson's best chances for points this year.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Wake Forest coming into town today. Let's see if Clemson can put a point up on the board.
Deacon Drive
Rookie
Looks like it didn't happen, as Wake won 7-0. Gojo didn't play, so Petros played at 1 and won 6-0, 6-0. Petros must have played well.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Yeah Petros was on cruise control. He was playing shots for fun in the 2nd set. Baudry had no chance because he plays a defensive style and Petros was actual able to finish points at net and be the aggressor. There were only 2 or 3 deuce points all match so it really was a complete beat down.
Yizhou was the only Clemson player to take a set (from Botzer) but he faded down the stretch and lost 10-3 in the super breaker. Giusca showed a little fight in the 2nd set vs Cungu, dropping it 7-6(8) after saving 5 match points.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Check out these comments from Louisville coach Rex Ecarma after the match on Friday.
"It was a satisfying win for all of us," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "Clemson played very well and took a 2-0 lead. They have a loud crowd, the best in our conference in opinion. Everyone cheers here, young and old. This facility is the best in the conference as well"
Recap story
I'm pretty surprised he said the crowd was the best in the ACC. This type of comment about how great the facility is just makes this awful season feel worse honestly.
The NC State match on Sunday was over in less than 2 hours. It started at 11am, the doubles point was over in like 20 minutes after 6-0 and 6-1 losses. NC State won 3 straight set matches quickly and the match was called at 12:48.
"It was a satisfying win for all of us," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "Clemson played very well and took a 2-0 lead. They have a loud crowd, the best in our conference in opinion. Everyone cheers here, young and old. This facility is the best in the conference as well"
Recap story
I'm pretty surprised he said the crowd was the best in the ACC. This type of comment about how great the facility is just makes this awful season feel worse honestly.
The NC State match on Sunday was over in less than 2 hours. It started at 11am, the doubles point was over in like 20 minutes after 6-0 and 6-1 losses. NC State won 3 straight set matches quickly and the match was called at 12:48.
Tigerfanatic77
New User
The NC State one hurt as I thought we would be more competitive. Looks like another 2 win ACC season which is disappointing
Clemson_tennis
Legend
The NC State match wasn't close to being competitive. I kind of expected it but it still sucked to be thrown aside in less than 2 hours. Disappointing for the last home match of the season.
This sounds bad but I wouldn't count Boston College as a guaranteed win just yet. BC has had a some competitive scores vs a few ACC teams this year.
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Tigerfanatic77
New User
Tigerfanatic77
New User
Very true. You think we will keep the current staff?
Clemson_tennis
Legend
I really don't know what DRad (Clemson AD) is thinking as far as that is concerned. I have a feeling the new facility angle will be pitched (like give them a chance with the new ones type of thing) and the current staff will be given at least 1 more season.
Dawgie Dawg
Rookie
Is this correct? Clemson is 1-9 in the ACC? I remember when the program was respectable. Now Manny won't even schedule y'all because it's too easy. Might as well schedule Mercer.
He should be doing whatever possible to get some new blood in that program.
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jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
Does Clemson have a lot of injured players? I saw that the guy Clemson played at 6 today was a UTR 9-guy had even lost to Citadel. Usually line 6 for a Power school is at least UTR 12 or 12.5 (used to be 13+ but a lot of college players are down .5-1.0 this year-must be an algorithm change). Clemson played an 11.5 at line 5. I know Clemson has struggled this season, but to play a guy in the ACC tourney who had only placed twice this whole season and lost both when there are 11 guys on the roster implies that 5 must have been hurt, sick, ineligible, etc. Team has a lot of freshmen and juniors and only one senior who came out of the club team so dont know how much they can recruit for next year. Think they would try to get some transfers of guys who are tired of sitting on the bench elsewhere.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Dodens retired in the previous 3 matches and hasn't been fully fit for a while. Kelaidis had some sort of injury late in the season. Vialmin played in 2 matches after an injury but they decided to redshirt him for the season instead of play him more.
So yeah Cole Gordon was the last resort. He's definitely not anywhere close to being a D1 caliber player. Even the club team walk on senior is better.
So yeah Cole Gordon was the last resort. He's definitely not anywhere close to being a D1 caliber player. Even the club team walk on senior is better.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Just saw the news. Sad for Coach Boetsch but no doubt the right move for the health of the program.
I need to think about who some good candidates would be.
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Shankadelic
Rookie
Is the whole staff being let go? Or just Boetsch?
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Haven't seen anything about it but I would assume the whole staff is gone. Boetsch hired Young and usually the new coach gets to choose his own assistant
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
WOW, I just found out that great Jarmere Henkins, coach of Naomi Osaka played at Clemson. They must have a decent program then, they need to aggressively recruit in Europe and Asia philipines
First sentence confuses the two Jenkins brothers. Second sentence does not seem to follow from the first. Third sentence is from outer space.
You have a unique mind, Feddie.
SavvyStringer
Professional
At this point, it can't even google effectively.
Dawgie Dawg
Rookie
See? What did I say. I knew Clemson was going to make a move. Now hands off the UGA people! No Dawg wants to become a Tiger of any type.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
I wonder how the search is going. A lot of people on the Clemson forum I post on (the handful that care about tennis) were throwing out Clemson alum names like John Desdunes, Jay Berger, Jermaine Jenkins.
Personally I think it's time to go in a new direction entirely and move on from any remnants of the Kriese era. Plus I would prefer a candidate with good college tennis experience rather than just a "tennis guy" who may not be great in the college setting.
Personally I think it's time to go in a new direction entirely and move on from any remnants of the Kriese era. Plus I would prefer a candidate with good college tennis experience rather than just a "tennis guy" who may not be great in the college setting.
You may be correct.... and I was just checking in here to see if there were any updates on the search for a new coach. Desdunes and Berger have some pretty impressive resumes including their playing careers and later in player development. I'd be pretty excited to hear that either of those well qualified guys were lured back to Clemson to help turn this program around.
therecanbeonlyone
Semi-Pro
They had pretty good luck hiring an insurance salesman to coach their football team, so could go that direction. (I’ll duck and take cover now)
Southerncharm
Rookie
If Clemson was smart they would hire a proven recruiter. They need someone that knows how to recruit and run a college program. Ask Auburn how things are going after everyone thought that was a home run hire except me. Hiring ex pros or a big name in tennis is not the answer. They need someone with experience in recruiting, scheduling, handling players, etc.
Thing about Auburn is the assistant coach was a top notch recruiter on the women's side, when he was an Auburn Women's assistant. I believe he will head back to women's side and become the head coach!
Southerncharm
Rookie
Not sure what that has to do with the disastrous men's team. Also, most people understand who was responsible for any success the women's team had. Just because you like to be on twitter it doesn't make you a good coach.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
I agree with this. Clemson needs a consistently good recruiting pipeline. Haven't had that in a long time.
The only good teams in recent times (2013 and 2014 teams) benefited from the Maden brothers coming as a package deal and Hunter Harrington performing up to the level of his recruiting ranking (other SC native Clemson recruits have not done so) at the same time to combine with the others to make a solid team.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Yannick Maden qualifies for his first French Open and his 3rd grand slam!
He took out Torpegaard and young talent Davidovich Fokina en route to qualification.
He took out Torpegaard and young talent Davidovich Fokina en route to qualification.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Maden could get Nadal in round 2. Has a winnable 1st round match vs Kimmer Coppejans then would face Rafa.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
And Nadal it wil be in round 2 as Maden takes down Coppejans 7-6(0) 7-5 6-3.
Southerncharm
Rookie
Any word on the head coach search?
Tigerfanatic77
New User
Supposedly, the job has not even posted yet which is strange.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
Nothing. I've asked around and nobody seems to know anything. Little bit worrisome
Johnny_forehand
New User
I think that means they are targeting someone and going after them, instead of waiting for applicants.
Maybe, but jobs at state schools generally must be posted publicly, by law.
SavvyStringer
Professional
While that is true, I agree that Clemson is actively searching rather than taking applicants. I've searched their coaches in the state salary data base and they don't come up. There's no way I believe a coach at a school that has an influx of $ from football is paying their coaches less than 50k. Their money is likely coming from boosters or athletics funding (that may make their hiring different).
SavvyStringer
Professional
Interesting that she shows up in the search but neither Young or Boetsch did even before losing their jobs.
Johnny_forehand
New User
I think they will lock someone in and then do the token listing for a few days. Kentucky did the same thing when Emory left.
