Oklahoma State hires new Men's Coach

[jrtennisparent]

Thoughts?

Dustin Taylor Named OSU Men’s Tennis Head Coach - Oklahoma State University Athletics

STILLWATER – Best-known for his player development ability, Dustin Taylor is the new head coach of Oklahoma State men's tennis, it was announced today.

okstate.com

Dustin Taylor. Previously asst coach at UVA, coach for Team USA.

2005-10: ATP and Junior Development Coach
2010-14: United States Tennis Association: National Coach, Men's and Collegiate Tennis
2014-17: Virginia – Associate Head Coach
2017-19: United States Tennis Association – Lead National Coach, Team USA
2019-21: Har-Tru – Business Development Manager
2019-21: ATP and Junior Development Coach
2021-present: Oklahoma State head coach

 

[jerryjones1960]

Interesting hire, only 3 years of college coaching experience basically starting off at the #1 team in the country.........reminds me a lot of George at Bama rolling into the USC teams, not saying Dustin won't do a good job but pretty hard to know with the lack of experience

 

[andfor]

He should do well. He's known as a good player coach and has good college coaching experience. Players like him. I like his 3 years of business experience too in addition to his tennis resume. We'll soon see.

 

[Collegetennisrules]

Looks like he won't have a team. Everyone is leaving Ok State.

 

[Liam Grennon]

Looks like he won't have a team. Everyone is leaving Ok State.

They all entered the transfer portal before he took the job. He knew what he was getting into.

 

[Johnny_forehand]

Looks like he won't have a team. Everyone is leaving Ok State.

Are they literally at zero players? By the looks of it, I think they are.

 

[andfor]

Are they literally at zero players? By the looks of it, I think they are.

Haven't looked but with some many transfers it has to be close to that number. OSU and Stillwater is a cool place, to me anyways. They have a excellent tennis facility and I think the school is great. Buzz off to all the university ranking snobs.

Something tells me Dustin will be able to gather up a decent team. Might take till Spring 22 semester, but I'm betting on the old ball coach.

 

[bobleenov1963]

Haven't looked but with some many transfers it has to be close to that number. OSU and Stillwater is a cool place, to me anyways. They have a excellent tennis facility and I think the school is great. Buzz off to all the university ranking snobs.

Something tells me Dustin will be able to gather up a decent team. Might take till Spring 22 semester, but I'm betting on the old ball coach.

This is the same school that has Mike Van Gundy as the head coach. Don't need to say anything further.

 

[Slowtwitcher]

This is the same school that has Mike Van Gundy as the head coach.

Getting confused there grandpa.

 

[andfor]

This is the same school that has Mike Van Gundy as the head coach. Don't need to say anything further.

Coming from the moral high ground guy who still lives in VA run by Gov. Blackface your comment is less than unexpected.

 

[jcgatennismom]

They all entered the transfer portal before he took the job. He knew what he was getting into.

At least 4 of the players have already transferred to other schools per Parsa Bombs tweets. The new coach could try to convince others who have not found new schools yet to stay. Does anyone know how many total players are still on the Men's D1 transfer portal? At least 60 male players (Parsa bombs again but there may be a lag time) have transferred to D1 universities so far for 20/21 with half of those graduate transfers. The new coach may end up with a lot of freshmen....There are JUCO kids looking for 4 years and some of them could be good....guys who had the tennis skills but maybe had to improve English or grades to play D1... Out of the 60 transfers so far, there is one from JUCO Cash Hanzlik, two from D2 and one from D3.

 

[Liam Grennon]

At least 4 of the players have already transferred to other schools per Parsa Bombs tweets. The new coach could try to convince others who have not found new schools yet to stay. Does anyone know how many total players are still on the Men's D1 transfer portal? At least 60 male players (Parsa bombs again but there may be a lag time) have transferred to D1 universities so far for 20/21 with half of those graduate transfers. The new coach may end up with a lot of freshmen....There are JUCO kids looking for 4 years and some of them could be good....guys who had the tennis skills but maybe had to improve English or grades to play D1... Out of the 60 transfers so far, there is one from JUCO Cash Hanzlik, two from D2 and one from D3.

OK State just picked up a great transfer from UT in Leighton Allen.

 

[NoChance]

If you are a student in post-secondary education, at any level, and you need to improve your English skills, then of course, your grades will suffer.

The question is, why is such a player here in the first place? For every coach who runs a respectable program, there is one who would do most anything to get a quality player onboard, even if the coach can't communicate very well with said player.

 

[JLyon]

At least 4 of the players have already transferred to other schools per Parsa Bombs tweets. The new coach could try to convince others who have not found new schools yet to stay. Does anyone know how many total players are still on the Men's D1 transfer portal? At least 60 male players (Parsa bombs again but there may be a lag time) have transferred to D1 universities so far for 20/21 with half of those graduate transfers. The new coach may end up with a lot of freshmen....There are JUCO kids looking for 4 years and some of them could be good....guys who had the tennis skills but maybe had to improve English or grades to play D1... Out of the 60 transfers so far, there is one from JUCO Cash Hanzlik, two from D2 and one from D3.

several of the transfers had already completed their Undergrad and thanks to the NCAA with their COVID response has allowed them an extra year to compete, which explains the #1/2 players leaving, the rest not as sure, but the NCAA COVID response is going to be very detrimental to current juniors wanting to play College Tennis, due to limited spots. Look at Baylor and all their Grad Transfers vs Junior recruiting.

 

[andfor]

several of the transfers had already completed their Undergrad and thanks to the NCAA with their COVID response has allowed them an extra year to compete, which explains the #1/2 players leaving, the rest not as sure, but the NCAA COVID response is going to be very detrimental to current juniors wanting to play College Tennis, due to limited spots. Look at Baylor and all their Grad Transfers vs Junior recruiting.

True. I know a good player that is having to play next year as a walk on or without athletic aid, then will go on scholarship in Fall of 2022. According to this players parents, they know of a few other kids in the same situation.

 

[jerryjones1960]

OK State just picked up a great transfer from UT in Leighton Allen.

Ah the great 12.11 UTR player, interesting term for someone of that level, if he plays 6 in the Big 12 he might go winless

 

[jcgatennismom]

Ah the great 12.11 UTR player, interesting term for someone of that level, if he plays 6 in the Big 12 he might go winless

He was a UTR 13 before the pandemic-blue chip jr. Hard to judge UTRs now. Used to be top juniors could sometimes get WCs to Futures but for 20/21 freshmen, there were no Futures last year to prepare them for the college game. There is one Ivy graduate transfer whose UTR dropped from 13 to projected <10UTR-he played one match this year and lost bad to a D3 player. Yet he transferred to a midlevel P5 program-one in the #30-#50 range. I know of another D1 player who played some at two P5 schools and his UTR dropped 1.4 UTR in 6 months. Now the freshmen who were good enough to make the lineup for 20/21 wont have those drops, but some programs were so loaded that top 10 juniors weren't playing even at line 6 so their current UTR is not an accurate estimate. Hopefully those guys will find tourneys to play this summer to bump up their UTR. Unfortunately it is very tough this year for players to get in even Future Qualis, and the UTR PTT tour requires 12,5+ unless a player earns a WC. Some of those former low 13s, now low 12s wont move back up until they prove themselves at fall ITA events. No fall ITA for most collegians in '20 hurt players UTR and ITA rankings.

 

[jcgatennismom]

True. I know a good player that is having to play next year as a walk on or without athletic aid, then will go on scholarship in Fall of 2022. According to this players parents, they know of a few other kids in the same situation.

The US guys who would be 4-8 in the lineup on a P5 team never got much athletic $ prior to the pandemic. Of course with the graduate transfers, a high level junior who might have been as high as 3-4 may have been pushed down to 5-6 and receives less scholly $. Walk on is not a bad idea if player is attending an in-state public university with reasonable tuition and a chance for merit $. I do feel sorry for those US players without a public D1 university in their state. The one positive aspect of this situation is that more top players are choosing D3, and they will get a great education while playing high level tennis.

 

[optimaltennis]

Ah the great 12.11 UTR player, interesting term for someone of that level, if he plays 6 in the Big 12 he might go winless

Leighton is better than his numbers indicate; that said, he will take some licks if he plays in the lineup. He couldn't make the Texas lineup this past year so not sure how well he will do at Ok State

 

[JLyon]

In my years of following, most players UTR's fall .5-1 pt first year in college, could be getting used to college, but also a big part is No-Ad scoring levels the playing field as well. 50/50 crap shoot on the deuce pts, versus having chance to grind out a long deuce/ad game.

 

[jcgatennismom]

In my years of following, most players UTR's fall .5-1 pt first year in college, could be getting used to college, but also a big part is No-Ad scoring levels the playing field as well. 50/50 crap shoot on the deuce pts, versus having chance to grind out a long deuce/ad game.

Agreed. UTR rewards players who win more games than expected vs an opponent. With no ads, many collegiate games are close, and a college player is concentrating on winning and not on number of games won. The new WTN (world tennis number) will focus on sets won which is a more important number than games won. Who cares if a player drops the first set 1-6, if he comes back and wins the match but that player gets dinged in UTR. A college coach would much rather have a player who wins 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 than the guy who won more games 6-1 6-7 6-7 but looks better to the UTR algorithm.

 

[Liam Grennon]

OK State coach knew developing players rebuilding a P5 program that lost almost everyone + young talented players (like Allen is, despite his now lack luster UTR) = good for tennis! I'll keep rooting for them even though I've heard good things about the former interim coach.

 

[ashicks]

Tyler Zink trasferred from Georgia to OSU for Fall 2021. Zink played 2 singles and 1 doubles for Georgia last year.

 

[Golden_state_of_mind]

How is this team doing? Did they not make a big facility for tennis? I never heard about them though.

 

[atatu]

Looks like they went 13-13 this year and made it to the NCAA's where they will face Florida in the regional round. They kind of padded their schedule with a couple of 7-0 wins over UTRGV but on the other hand they did have a few nice wins over teams like Tulane and Texas Tech. The 4-3 win over Tech at the Big 12 tournament came a week after the lost 0-4 to them at home, interesting. Also no sign of Allen in any matches this year, have to assume he's injured.


4/14

Doubles competition
1. Reed Collier/Dimitrios Azoidis (TTU) def. Isaac Becroft/Chase Ferguson (OSUM) 7-5
2. Piotr Pawlak/Franco Ribero (TTU) def. Alex Garcia/Francisco Pini (OSUM) 6-3
3. Tyler Zink/Alessio Basile (OSUM) vs. Isaac Arevalo/Olle Wallin (TTU) 5-5, unfinished

Singles competition
1. #99 Tyler Zink (OSUM) vs. #47 Olle Wallin (TTU) 6-2, 4-6, unfinished
2. Franco Ribero (TTU) def. #78 Isaac Becroft (OSUM) 6-1, 6-2
3. Alex Garcia (OSUM) vs. Isaac Arevalo (TTU) 7-5, 1-6, unfinished
4. Reed Collier (TTU) def. Chase Ferguson (OSUM) 6-3, 6-4
5. Francisco Pini (OSUM) vs. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) 2-6, 4-5, unfinished
6. Dimitrios Azoidis (TTU) def. Alessio Basile (OSUM) 6-4, 7-5


4/21

1. Zink/Ferguson (OSU) def. Azoidis/Collier (TTU) 6-3
2. Pawlak/Ribero (TTU) def. Garcia/Becroft (OSU) 6-4
3. Arevalo/Wallin (TTU) def. Basile/Roothman (OSU) 6-3

Singles

1. #47 Olle Wallin (TTU) def. Tyler Zink (OSU) 6-4, 6-4
2. #91 Isaac Becroft (OSU) def. Franco Ribero, 6-2, 7-5
3. Alex Garcia (OSU) def. Isaac Arevalo (TTU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Reed Collier (TTU) def. Chase Ferguson (OSU) 6-3, 7-5
5. Alessio Basile (OSU) def. Lorenzo Esquici (TTU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
6. Carl Roothman (OSU) def. Dimitrios Azoidis (TTU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

 

[collegetennisisthebest]

tremendous win today over Florida. Zink and Ferguson knocked off the #5 ranked doubles team....and then Zink clinched the match with a win over #32 Axel Nefve. Will Grant has been playing very good tennis. Good win in singles for Isaac Becroft.

 

[Sureshot]

Braswell had a great win over Garcia. He’s one for the future. With the addition of Kim and Jin next year, the Gators will be right back in it. And agree, something’s just not right with Bonnetto. I really liked him in the juniors and thought his game style would flourish in college. But haven’t seen it yet