Steve Denton from TAMUCC will be named the new head tennis coach for the Aggies officially on Tuesday at a press conference on the ATM campus.

Interesting....this should be good. Spin ags, spin.

2006 TAMU CC Men's Tennis Roster
Name Cl. Hgt. Hometown Prev. School
Jan Cingel SO n/a Slovak Republic Lincoln Memorial
Joey Farias FR n/a Corpus Christi, Texas Carroll HS
Sharon Henselijn FR n/a Amsterdam, Holland
Andrey Kumantsov JR n/a Tula, Russia
Raul Morant-Rivas JR 5-9 Barcelona, Spain
Mikhail Pavlov SO n/a Moscow, Russia Univ. of Moscow
Jose Ycaza FR n/a Guayaquil, Ecuador
Jose Zunino FR n/a Guayaquil, Ecuador

2004-05 Roster
Player Class Ht. Hometown
Javier Bacaicoa So. 6-2 Maracaibo, Venezuela
Jeremy Blandin Sr. 6-2 Guerande, France
Goncalo Figueiredo Sr. 5-10 Lisbon, Portugal
Andrey Kumantsov So. 5-10 Tula, Russia
Max Godin-Maresches So. 5-9 Normandy, France
Raul Morant-Rivas So. 5-10 Barcelona, Spain
David Placensia Sr. 5-9 Badajoz, Spain
Oscar Roman Sr. 5-9 Tampico, Mexico

[This message has been edited by TrueBear (edited 8/7/2006 11:40p).]

http://www.kbtx.com/sports/headlines/3516946.html

Sounds like he was quite a player a UT and the years following. Should be a heck of a coach although he has big shoes to fill with the loss of Tim Cass. Hope he can take this program to the next level as we have been so close.

A damn sip. Goodby tennis program.

Thats the attitude!

He should have no problem recruiting great American players. Cass has done a great job building the program's reputation. The facilities at A&M-CC pale in comparison.

Mixing in a few international players is good - just like Cass did.

Where has he been between the 80's and his job at TAMU CC??



"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

I don't follow much tennis beyond A&M's teams so could some one please enlighten me about this coach? From my vantage point I looked at this hire and immediately thought WTF? I was thinking we would be able to bring in a big name due to our pay, facilities, and program's reputation. Again, please remember that I am not a fan that knows much about collegiate tennis beyond the Ags.

WTF is right! Im very disappointed in the hire and its sad to see Tim's hard work over the last decade completely evaporate with this hire.

quote:

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Last week, according to a published report, Texas Tech men's tennis coach Tim Siegel turned down an offer from A&M.

Ty Tucker of Ohio State and Adam Steinberg of Pepperdine were also interviewed according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Steinberg led the Waves to NCAA title and Tucker directed the Buckeyes to a 28-2 record last year.

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But hey, we should give this guy a chance. He was named most improved player by Tennis magazine in 1984. He only lost 4-3 to A&M this past season as opposed to 7-0 the previous three.



"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

quote:

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I was thinking we would be able to bring in a big name due to our pay, facilities, and program's reputation

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He won the freaking US OPEN, abeit doubles. I think that qualifies him as a semi-big name. Plus, I trust Bill Bryne in hiring competant coaches from smaller schools..case in point: BCG.

I think by big name he meant a coach from Illinois, Duke, Pepperdine, Georgia, Stanford, etc not TAMUCC.



"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

not a good hire...one good season...too international, he has no track record of recruiting american players...players didn't like him too much...isn't very political in terms of being on ITA committees...not a great PR guy...plus i never lost to one of his teams (4-0)..so what that he won the US Open in doubles 25 years ago (most kids today will not know who he is or anything about his playing career)...honestly, i think too many ADs care too much about head coaching experience and don't look at good assistants and top programs..personally, there are a handful of assistants who have experience recruiting internationally and domestically and winning conference championships and having great succeess year in and out in the NCAA tournament who will get passed up for a head coach at a small program whose team isnt even ranked in the top 50 or made the NCAA tournament..if you can't get your team in the NCAAs regardless of what school with the scholarship limitations and the influx of foreigners then that is not a good year so why wouldn't an AD want someone that has a proven winning record as an assistant at a big time program...

I would have much preferred the Assistant Coach at Pepperdine - Per Nilsson. This is not a great hire.

I know absolutely nothing about tennis coaches either, but with only the biography to go on, this is a huge step back. Sure, he was a pretty good PLAYER 20+ years ago, but nothing on his COACHING resume really stands out.

Looks like we just took a BIG step backwards.

I think the biggest issue was having to hire a coach at a really late date. I think it took Byrne by surprise and none of our top targets were willing to leave their schools.

As to the above assistant comments, I think Byrne agrees with you in theory. He hired Childress instead of someone who was a head coach. I jsut have the feeling that a lot of the assistants at larger programs are waiting to take over the program there. I could be wrong.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. o3 is correct by saying that I was referring to a coach from a upper level program. I don't doubt he was an excellent player many years ago but that does not ensure success as a coach in 2006. Did we have any former players apply for the position? What about you, Hub?

It really eats at me when Aggie money goes into a t-sipper's pocket. It's just wrong. I'm sure he's a good coach and person, but obiously BB doesn't understand the Aggie vs. sip rivalry.

Someone please tell me AGSWON is kidding. If not, you're a f***ing idiot.

Doesn't sound like a good hire to me, but we'll let this play out I guess and just hope for the best.

believe me any assistant in the country would take the A&M job, instead of waiting at their current school....from the few coaches i have talked to and just some current players from other schools, they are shocked that Denton is the new coach and have said thats a bad hire...in the past 4 years (one full recruiting cycle) his final rankings have been 2003-#68..2004-#69...2005-#26...2006-#67...seems pretty consistent...plus he has never beat tcu, baylor, smu, tech, texas or A&M in 4 years....

I have family that used to work with him at HEB tennis center in Corpus. He apparently is a rick with a capital P. He is definitely not of the Tim Cass mold.

Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Folks, we need to give Coach Denton a chance! Bill Byrne is a smart man and would not hire just anybody. He obvioulsy sees something that we apparently do not!

Welcome Coach Denton and best of luck in Aggieland!

Is it possible that BB just hired a temporary permanent replacement? (ie next offseason the search will continue.) Maybe I'm just being crazy in trying to justify this choice.

[torbush] WOW [/torbush]

These quotes from the article kind of jump off the page:

quote:

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His hiring was confirmed by his parents, Claude Denton Jr., and Pauline Elizabeth Denton.
(WTF? his parents!)

Denton, who will be 50 in September, played collegiately from 1976 to 1979 at the University of Texas

Denton's Islanders finished last season with a 10-12 record

And to top it all off:

He is also a member of the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame. ... He is single.

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No way to spin this except to say, what a pathetic hire.

the last thing i will say is that coaching against him for 4 yrs you get a feel from your own players which opposing coaches they respect and my players thought he was an idiot they couldnt believe it when i told them that he was a big time player...i wonder if recruits will have the same sense bc imo if i was a top texas kid i would definitely prefer siegel or center to denton....

Wonder what the Mitchell's think about this.



"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

Cory -

I agree with what you're saying and you've certainly done more than just say "bad hire" but have also given the basis for that opinion, so here's my question to you since you're in the profession: why would this hire have been made? Do you think Cass had any input (as I recall Coach Kent having input when he left though different circumstances and a different AD)? Obviously I'm asking you to speculate, but heck, what are message boards for?

Darren Moore

I dont want to jump to any conclusions about the hire. I mean hell, lot of people were saying the same thing about Gilispie and Childress (jury is still out on him)

but whats this about his connection to Texas Juniors? I know facilities and location were probably a detriment to him in Corpus, but if he has connections to Texas juniors/high schoolers, that shines a little light on what Byrne was thinking.

i think time was running out and in no way is denton like gillespie (BCG was a young up n coming coach at a small school who had put together 2 great ncaa tournament seasons and had his program improving dramitacally on the national stage - contrast denton who is much older and had one year in top 50 coming off a losing record and a ranking of 67)...as far as connection to texas juniors i meant he has never signed one texas kid so he doesnt have many relationships built with the coaches and just from a personality stand point the other coaches in texas like center and siegel have more appealing personalities and an attitude that young kids want to play for...

Why would any of those top junior players want to go to an unestablished program like TAMU-CC? A&M has so much more to offer.

Let's give Coach Denton the benefit of the doubt.

FYI--BCG only coached UTEP for two seasons and only had the one NCAA season before he took over A&M.

Which of Bill Byrne's coaching hires have you been disappointed with?

Well, interesting posts concerning Steve. I am sure he will do a good job.

Just listened to his press confrence via the internet. ATM fans need to just cool their heals a little bit . Get over the fact he is a former Longhorn great and allow him to do what you hired him to do.

I also want to mention that whatever you may think , the guy knows tennis. He is not in the mold of Cass. He will be different but in a way that will be positive. Reading the comments of the current players they know what they are getting.

mn

[This message has been edited by rikochet (edited 8/8/2006 6:39p).]

I hate the hire, but not much you can do given that Tim hung us out to dry by leaving at the last minute.

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Which of Bill Byrne's coaching hires have you been disappointed with?

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We can start with Jay Holmes and Rob Childress. Both of whom have been stunningly successful.

Let's face it, this is very akin to the Jay Holmes hire when Byrne "wanted to go in a different direction." I guess Bill will continue to bring in the proven best and brightest.

At least this guy will probably work cheap.

quote:

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Folks, we need to give Coach Denton a chance! Bill Byrne is a smart man and would not hire just anybody. He obvioulsy sees something that we apparently do not!

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Chick, you're going to drink yourself to death if you don't give up that maroon kool-aide.

It's a mistake.