Good to see that Bobby K. is going for it. This is a TOUGH schedule and shows that he is not just coaching to keep his job. I hope he has some good recruits though, because their record (especially the non-conference portion) could get pretty ugly pretty quick.

http://www.aggieathletics.com/pressRelease.php?PRID=14622

A&M Final rank #31, losing 3 key seniors (Blagodarova, Clifford, Druss)...

Schedule and final '08 rank
St. Mary's 59
USC 11
Auburn 28
LSU 27
Duke 9
Wake Forest 42
South FL 41
TCU 26
tceh 72
t.u. 15
OSU 66
Oklahoma nr
Nebraska nr
Iowa St nr
Mizzou nr
Colorado 57
Michigan 19
Notre Dame 20
Baylor 4
Kansas State nr
Kansas 70

If they end the regular season with better than a 12-9 record, I'll be impressed.

With Bobby K at the helm don't expect much to change.

this schedule is not any stronger than any of the schedules of the last 5 years.

and that's a good thing, because we will be very weak in 08-09 unless these last 2 recruits pan out. hopefully they will, and the girls can get back into the top 20 in the next 2 or 3 years.

[This message has been edited by camden creek (edited 6/8/2008 12:33a).]

my only complaint is spring break. the last two years my buddies and I have enjoyed traveling to watch them play.
no traveling this year.



and I don't understand the anti coack K talk.
can someone rationally explain why you don't like him?

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rationally

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theres your problem

I don't know if anyone personally dislikes the guy but his record has been mediocre over the years and it's very unlikely the Ags will ever have a top 15 program much less get into the top 10 with him as coach. Some people, self included, think this program doesn't meet and will never meet Byrne's objective of building champions under the current coach. If you like a top 30 program which occasionally might make a run at the top 20, Coach K is your man.

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it's very unlikely the Ags will ever have a top 15 program much less get into the top 10 with him as coach. Some people, self included, think this program doesn't meet and will never meet Byrne's objective of building champions

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ok.
that said, should we do what baylor and the other "top schools" do and and get most if not all of our players from former iron-curtain countries? not that I don't want to win.. God knows I do, but as it is now we have several players from our own state much less our own country, and have made to NCAA tourn. the last two years I've been watching. Add to that the players we have love A&M for the traditions and history not just that they can win and get an education.

what exactly do y'all want changed. just saying "I want to win" or "the girls aren't competing with the top schools/players" is not registering with me.
I don't mean to sound obstinate or argumentative, but just saying things like "the players aren't hitting shots like they should" etc. is in my mind crap. I have been around sports for all my life and umpired high level sports the last 5 years, and believe come D1 ball, the players shouldn't need more than minor adjustments to their game.
so again I ask; what is the problem with coach K?

hhaha rationally just look at his results...

[This message has been edited by Diocletian (edited 6/9/2008 12:03a).]

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what is the problem with coach K

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top 30 finishes not getting past the 2nd round of the ncaa's, losing to your rivals...are those problems enough?

The totality of the man's recruiting,coaching, and player development has historically and consistently produced mediocre records,1st and second round exits from the NCAA tournament, consistent losses to his chief conference rival and no indication that things will ever improve. What's so hard to understand about that? IT'S HIS RECORD!!!

Tell Dollar Bill to worry about womens tennis. It wont happen.

As someone else said this year, if he runs a clean program, and makes it to NCAA's, nothing will be done about it. Sorry.

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IT'S HIS RECORD!!!

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That should not be hard to comprehend.

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if he runs a clean program, and makes it to NCAA's, nothing will be done about it.

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This is probably true.

facts:

-bill byrne cares about ALL sports
-kleinecke is an extremely classy individual who is a good representative of texas a&m
-kleinecke recruits quality girls who love a&m, and he runs a clean program.
-kleinecke does NOT develop players

opinion:

-kleinecke will be gone in 3 years or less

I had no idea people were so passionate about tennis.

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-kleinecke will be gone in 3 years or less

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if this happens, I would personally be very surprised.

If it is done, and they do not just reassign him, it would be a pretty unclassy move by BB. He has done too much for this school and the tennis program to just get rid of him.

There just aren't that many good tennis players in women's tennis in Texas. For the most part Kleinecke gets 2nd tier players from Florida or California or other places. Texas and other out of state schools get teh best players from Texas and other schools seem to do a better job of fully developing the talent.

Coach K will keep his job as long as he keeps making it the 2nd round of the NCAA's. Hopefully they can make that next step in the coming years.

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He has done too much for this school and the tennis program to just get rid of him.

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That's what I thought about Mark Johnson, and he had done a hell of a lot more than Kleinecke. Let's be real though, this is women's tennis - I think his job is safe for a few more years.

So building champions doesn't apply to womens tennis...I just want to be on he same page as Coack K and BB..

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So building champions doesn't apply to womens tennis.

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Correct.

to which sports does it apply, then?

I should have used the 'winky' face, as there was some saracasm there.

Building Champions applies to all sports - but with a different level of intensity. I don't have the stars to go back, but I posted extensively on this the last time it came up.

Coach K's recruiting has picked up. The three fish playing this year ere good and wil get much better. He already has announced two high quality recruits and soon annouce a bigtime foreign recruit to play #1 this spring.

Denton is a bust. We could have had the Pepperdine coach for a few more bucks and removing restrictions on recruiting foreign players.

Byrne will be patient with the tennis coaches but if BB wants to rise in the rankings he must allow the coaches to recruit more foreign players.

Both Baylor's mens and womens players are almost all foreign.

Teams want to play at A&M this year to allow their teams to get expereince playing at Mitchell Tennis Center. Both the men's and women's 2009 NCAA Champships will be at Aggieland

wow 61, how many things could you possibly get wrong in one post?!

I don't think Denton is a bust. See Austin Krajicek and Wil Spencer and think again. Denton brought in some real talent.

I definitely wouldnt give up on Denton just yet. Another year with Conor, and Will and Austin are a nice addition for the next few years. We have a walkon that should make a good impact as well

I agree - Denton is not a bust. Melvin Watkins was a bust...although Denton is almost worst, because I suspect he'll do enough to keep his job, but not enough to get fired (which, as Kleinecke has shown, means getting to the NCAAs every year, which Denton will be able to do). He has brought in some nice recruits. If he can keep that up and mix in a few top-notch internationals...

Also, since he was allegedly our 5th or 6th choice, that shows me that A&M is probably not viewed nationally as the marquee job that we think it is. When A&M hired Cass, he was a young up-and-comer at New Mexico. I think our next hire needs to be someone like that.

Lastly, Denton did do very well at A&M Corpus, but it was done completely on the strength of his international recruiting. I love the fact that A&M doesn't crumble to the Baylor pressure, but if Byrne is going to put constraints on the international recruiting (I don't know this for a fact, but some posters have alleged he does, and the recruiting does support this), then he needs to either hire someone that has DEEP American junior tennis connections or we need to taper our expectations. I know Denton's American recruiting has been just fine and will keep the team competitive, but I'm talking about someone who has enough connections in California and Florida to compete with the big boys. That may be too much to ask for...it might be impossible to ever get kids to pass up UF, UGA, USC, and UCLA for A&M.

Mostly, for our next hires (mens and womens) I always think it's better to roll the dice on a future star than play it safe with a has-been or a never-will-be.

[This message has been edited by Harry Dunne (edited 6/29/2008 1:03p).]

byrne does not put restraints on international recruiting.

and denton and mckinley will have no problems recruiting florida or california.

bigfoot you're saying a walkon could make a huge impact?? Usually walkons in tennis do not why is not a scholarship player..or at a another college with with a ride..doesn't make sense.

he decided to play here after they had given out all their money. He was playing futures for the past year, and made up his mind late. He beat one of our top players the other day in a set, and should make a run at the top 4 spots.

Don't listen to bigfoot... he doesn't even play tennis.

lost boy likes boys

That's one HUGE advantage state schools have in men's tennis and other partial scholarship sports like baseball. Mens tennis has 4.5 scholarships to split however they like while women's tennis has 8 full rides (that cannot be split).

A kid can come to A&M on a very partial scholarship or no scholarship at all and still pay less than a kid who is going to...say Pepperdine on a 50% scholarship (which is a lot in men's tennis).

So if this kid's other choices were Pepperdine and Vanderbilt, he might be paying less tuition by coming to A&M as a walk-on.

i think that both the men's and women's teams will do just fine this year the women may even do better than people may think...the men will be really strong and have a good chance of getting to the sweet 16...