The men's tennis team's new head coach is a familiar face — Jaime Kenney, who spent the last two years as assistant coach of the women's tennis team and who stepped in as women's head coach during the final stretch of the 2011 spring season, which culminated in the team's first−ever trip to the NCAA National Quarterfinals.
Kenney is now the only female coach of a men's tennis team in the NESCAC, and she becomes the third Tufts men's tennis coach in three years. She takes the reins from last year's interim coach Jim Watson, who coached the team to an 11−7 record — the team's highest win total since 1996 — and a berth in the six−team NESCAC Tournament.
"I'm a big believer in leadership skills, communication skills and understanding the role of coach as mentor," Director of Athletics Bill Gehling said. "She has all of the above."
Those leadership skills were on display when Kenney fulfilled the duties of women's head coach Kate Bayard after the latter went on maternity leave late in the spring season.
With Kenney serving as head coach, the team advanced to the NESCAC semifinals and ended up with its first−ever appearance in the National Quarterfinals after a 5−1 pummeling of Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Third Round.
This fall is Kenney's first experience as head coach of a men's team, though she does have head coaching experience with women's teams at Hingham High School and Milton Academy and has coached men before at clubs in the Boston area.
But to Gehling, more important than Kenney's credentials is the passion she brings to the job — a passion that he witnessed first−hand during her two seasons with the women's team.
"I'm not a big fan of resumes. I'm more interested in what I think are leadership qualities," Gehling said. "Passion, an eye for the game, the ability to lead a group. So far she's been everything I hoped she'd be."
As tryouts and practices begin this week, the new coach welcomes the challenge of both her first collegiate head−coaching job and her first job coaching a men's team.
"My expectations are the same, whether it's women or men," Kenney said. "When you work with student−athletes at Tufts you can expect highly motivated, exceptional communicators, with a work ethic second to none."
The Athletics Department's recruiting committee decided on Kenney in mid−August after a shorter−than−usual search process this summer, Gehling said. Watson, who coached the men's tennis team from 1981−2004, had replaced Doug Eng as coach in the fall of 2010. But the tennis lifer who had meant to retire in 2005 had been appointed on solely an "interim" basis.
Even though Watson led the team to a stellar season last year, Gehling and the rest of the search comitee jumped at the chance to hire a coach they expect to be around for a long time.
"Watson agreed to step in and fill the void, and as always he did a great job," Gehling said. "But we didn't want to be in transition for longer than we had to."
Kenney's former players on the women's team are sad to see her go, and they expect her to gain the respect of the men's team quickly.
"She did a phenomenal job as head coach, especially considering how coach Bayard left at a key point in the season," sophomore Sam Gann said. "She knows how to take command and definitely gained respect of the whole team, but also had fun with us. She will do great for the guys team."
Kenney met with the men's team's three senior captains — Morrie Bossen, Kai Victoria and Sam Laber — early in the fall, and she met with the rest of the team for the first time on Monday, when she went over her expectations and standards for the season.
"It might not be typical to have a female coach for a men's team," junior Andrew Lutz said. "But after meeting with her, we're all confident that she's going to help the team gel. She's very organized and has tons of spirit."
Kenney steps into a situation that brims with optimism. Last season, a young team moved back into the national Top 25 by the end of a season that included wins over No. 29 Vassar and No.15 NESCAC rival Trinity, before Tufts was knocked out of the NESCAC Tournament in the first round by Bowdoin.
"I'm excited that we're returning the core of our team from last year," Kenney said. "We're deep from top to bottom, and everybody showed up on the first day of tryouts in shape and ready to go."
