Greenan Named ITA South Region Assistant Coach of the Year
5/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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The Alabama women’s tennis team received another honor on Thursday as Daryl Greenan was named the ITA South Region Assistant Coach of the year.
Greenan is now a candidate for the national award to be announced on May 23 and will be recognized at a banquet during the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. The award marks the second straight year that an Alabama coach has been honored in the South Region. Head coach Jenny Mainz was named the region’s Coach of the Year in 2003. Winners are not allowed to win an award for two consecutive seasons.
“It’s an incredible honor to receive this award,” Greenan said. “There’s a lot of good coaches in the south and I’m humbled to be given the honor with all the great coaches there is in this region.”
It has been an eventful year for the Cambridge, Ontario native. In January, Greenan was inducted into the Valdosta State University Athletic Hall of Fame. Greenan played No. 1 singles and doubles for the Blazers from 1991 to 1995, earning all-conference honors three times and All-America accolades twice. He was named Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in 1992 after winning the league’s singles title. During his senior season, Greenan led VSU to a top-five national ranking and finished second in the national tournament in doubles. After two seasons as the assistant coach at Valdosta, Greenan became the head coach at Mississippi University for Women. MUW won 41 matches in three years and finished 21st nationally under his guidance.
The Tide has been to the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons since Greenan arrived at the Capstone. This year’s appearance marks the sixth time Alabama has been to the NCAA Tournament. The team also won the school’s academic award for the highest team GPA among all women’s varsity athletic programs at Alabama for the third straight year.
Sophomores Robin Stephenson, ranked No. 28, and Ashley Bentley, ranked No. 69, are a big part of the team’s success. The pair was chosen to the NCAA doubles championships and both were selected to the singles tournament, Stephenson as an at-large and Bentley as an alternate. Bentley went from relative obscurity playing at No. 5 singles and No. 2 doubles last season to compiling a 21-4 record at No. 2 singles and a 22-8 record at No. 1 doubles with Stephenson this year. Stephenson is 22-12 at No. 1 singles with an 8-4 record against ranked opponents and wins over two different top-ranked opponents.
Greenan credits the academic, individual and team success to the people involved with the program and says the recognition is something everyone deserves.
“The team has done well this year,” Greenan said. “They have even exceeded some expectations we had for them and they have been so motivated to do well that it makes the coach’s jobs easier. I’m just fortunate to have surrounded myself with great people.”
