Sports
 

Q&A with Jen Hyde, tennis head coach

This, the second in a series of interviews with members of UH Athletics, features UH tennis coach Jennifer Hyde. Hyde's team is 4-3 this spring.

Christian Schmidt: Is this program where you wanted it to be?

Jennifer Hyde: Yeah, I think this is where I thought we would be at this point. We had one more player (Hanaa Rhazi) that was supposed to be on the team that ended up leaving a few weeks ago that really would have put us in a pretty good position, with even more depth than we have. But even with that loss, I think the team is better off. I feel very good about where the program is. I think the girls we have are an amazing bunch of young ladies.

CS: I know your team's done very well academically. Is that your No. 1 

priority?

JH: It's crucial. They're student athletes. Students, then athletes, obviously. One of the things I do when I recruit these young ladies is make sure they understand how important it is that academics come first. They take a lot of pride in their work too. They want to keep the academic trophy in my office. They want to beat out swimming and volleyball and soccer every semester.

CS: If you were suddenly made commissioner of college tennis, what change would you make?

JH: I don't even know where to begin with that. There's a lot of things that need to be changed.

CS: What's one?

JH: I think the biggest impact is that of professional players, people that have played on the tour for two or three years, that have made $15,000 or $20,000 come in and have two or three years of eligibility. The NCAA's tightened down on it, but there's still a tremendous influx of professionals into college tennis.

CS: Why is that? It seems like the other sports, like basketball, have really tightened down on European players. Is tennis a little behind in the curve?

JH: Yeah, tennis is a little behind in the curve. They're getting better at it, and I think more coaches are turning things into their conference offices and having people be accountable for signing people that are professionals.

CS: I think college tennis is weird in that it's an individual sport made into a team sport. Do you ever think about that?

JH: Oh, yeah. It's very tough taking a group of girls who have spent the last 10 years of their life fighting for themselves and themselves only, and then put them in a team environment when they come to college and say "hey, be a team member." A lot of times they're not equipped to or they don't get it. When they come to college, there's a little bit of a shock factor when they realize it's not all about them.

CS: What would you say to someone who's never been to one of your matches to make them come out?

JH: I think, even if you aren't totally aware of the score or what's going on, it's a very exciting sport to watch. The viewing is very good, and we have promotional things with free food and t-shirts. Competing is where these girls really shine. It's easy to follow. It's simple to score. There's a lot of instant gratification. Stuff is always happening.

CS: Do you wish you had lights (at the John E. Hoff Varsity Tennis Courts)? Would that change your scheduling?

JH: I wish desperately that we had lights.

CS: Any work going on that?

JH: No. We would utilize that a ton if we had it. We would have night matches, which I think would increase attendance and give us more opportunity to have a more visible sport.

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