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John Roddick has a lot more on his mind this summer than brother Andy's incredible Wimbledon run. He's preparing for a new role -- college coach. Roddick, a former four-time All American at the University of Georgia who has been coaching top juniors and pros since graduating, has taken over as the new head men's tennis coach at the University of Oklahoma.
The elder Roddick is just one of many college coaches making changes this summer. And some of the moves are a bit unusual. Two coaches have changed their genders (of the teams they coach, not themselves). Former Ohio State st andout Jeremy Wurtzman (left) returned there this past season as assistant coach of the men's team after doing the same at Duke the two previous seasons. Now, he has taken over as the women's head coach at the University of Denver. Also switching to the women is Val Villuci, who coached the University of Rhode Island men's team from 2004-08 (when the program was eliminated) and will return to that school as the new women's coach.
Tony Valenti has some pretty big shoes to fill when he returns to his Gustavus Adolphus alma mater. The 2002 graduate is taking over for retiring Steve Wilkinson, the winningest coach in men's college tennis history with 923 victories in 39 years. And Lee Nickell, who was most recently at Fresno State after four years as the assistant at the University of Alabama, is the new men's head coach at the University of Buffalo.
After helping to lead the University of Southern California men to the NCAA Championship this year, Brett Masi, has moved on to the position of head coach at the University of San Diego. He will replace Tom Hagedorn, who lost his battle with leukemia in March. And just today, Hope College women's tennis coach Karen Page lost her fight with cancer. Coach Page was an inspiration to her team this year as they won their conference finals.
No replacement has been named yet at Princeton, where Kathy Sell resigned after five years. Sell, who is one of the coaches this summer of the USTA Summer Collegiate Team, has decided to move to North Carolina to be closer to her family and boyfriend, who coaches at Duke.
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