It isn’t something they like to talk about at the University of Hawaii Hilo and you surely understand why.
Maybe it was a passenger door on an old car you used to have that was jammed shut and people had to climb in from the driver’s side and slide across. Apart from that, you loved the car and it ran like a champ, the only time you thought about the passenger door was when somebody needed a ride, but they would all talk about it.
Not a direct comparison, granted, but it is fair to say that the role of tennis coach for the Vulcans has been something of an unwanted public issue for the Vulcans because of the revolving door aspect to the position. Since the highly successful Kula Oda resigned after the 2011 season, the school has hired five tennis coaches including two who quit before they coached a match.
Under Oda, twice named regional coach of the year, the Vulcans were familiar to the postseason, young players knew about UH-Hilo, but all the changes since then resulted in a lack of stability, a decline in awareness.
“I can’t say much about what happened before I got here,” said director of athletics Pat Guillen last week, his third week on the job, “but I do know a lot of these kinds of things happen in Division II, often because the jobs come down to full-time work with what amounts to part-time pay, so it’s tough.
“What you have to do is find the right person who is a match for your program and hope you can grow together, and that’s the kind of coach I think we found.”
Technically, former director of athletics Joey Estrella placed the call to Tina McDermott, asking if she was still interested and the first-year coach at Whittier College in California jumped at the opportunity.
“This is a great opportunity for me and I fully intend to make the most of it,” McDermott said in her modest office next to the tennis courts at UH-Hilo. “The goal is to build a foundation for growth here, to get the program back where it was.”
We are not in Southern California, surrounded by suburb after suburb where kids grow up playing tennis and then join clubs and get serious, but this is a place where tennis can grow, if it is fed.
McDermott knows a little about that. Her parents played when she was a kid and at some point she asked for her own equipment.
“I was one of those things that I just fell into it and loved it,” she said. “I was interested from watching my parents but once I got started with lessons, which was right away, I just wanted more, and more.”
McDermott was a good high school player after she set a goal of making the varsity squad and then went out an did it. After that, she attended the University of California-Irvine and set a private goal of making the Top 25 player list in Southern California, another accomplishment she achieved.
“I was so fortunate to be coached by a man named Ed Bell who was a great motivator and teacher, but the thing he stressed others didn’t was to be a good sport as well, that was his thing.
“So it was a matter or trying to perfect your technique, which builds your motivation, and then he combined, basically, with being a good sport out there.”
Tennis has been criticized for having more than it’s share of prima donnas or spoiled brats, but it seems safe to say that won’t be a problem for McDermott’s teams. She wants them playing hard and being exemplary students of the game.
“We want people thinking about tennis, thinking about playing here,” she said, “this is a great place, just in general terms, to play tennis and we will be having as many camps, clinics, whatever you want to call it, as we can to raise some awareness and build interest.”
Questions about the available talent on hand, the opportunities for next season will wait just a bit as McDermott had barely the opportunity to meet the players last week, but this week, until Nov. 13, the NCAA allows 20 hours a week practice, as many as four hours a day.
“I have a very, very strong commitment to this place,” she said, “and I can’t wait until next week when it all starts.”
The school and tennis players and fans on the Big Island hope it’s the start of a long and successful run, like it used to be.
