New Opportunity: Dimi Kutrovsky Begins Alabama Tenure
10/28/2019 10:51:00 AM | Men's Tennis
After making the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years for the first time since 2009-10, Alabama men's tennis had a coaching shakeup. Thirteen days after Alabama lost in the doubles National Championship, Robbie Weiss, who had been an assistant for the last three years and was named the 2019 Southern Region Assistant Coach of the Year, departed to become the head coach at Clemson.
Weiss's spot was open for 18 days before coach George Husack filled it with the most decorated player in University of Texas history.
The process of hiring his replacement started immediately after Weiss accepted his position at Clemson.
That process started with talking to various coaches around the country, just trying to figure out a list of names.
One name that was brought up: Dimitar Kutrovsky.
Kutrovsky played for the University of Texas from 2007-10, finishing his career as a Longhorn with 230 combined wins (doubles and singles), which is the most in program history, four-time Big-12 performer and two-time doubles champion. In 2010, he was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and an All-American in doubles and singles.
After graduating, Kutrovsky played professionally but never truly left Austin, Texas, as he trained and lived in the city when he wasn't playing across the world. While in Austin, Kutrovsky was a volunteer coach at his Alma mater.
"I've always enjoyed helping people with tennis," Kutrovsky said. "It was just a fun process for me. Whenever I was in town. I would train with the guys and use the courts when I wasn't on tour… I just enjoyed the whole process of coaching and that's kind of why I'm in the business right now."
In the five years he coached at Texas, the Longhorns reached the NCAA Tournament five times and claimed the Big 12 Conference regular season Championship in 2014.Â
He retired from his professional career in 2015 season, and he decided to stay in the game but as a full-time coach. He journeyed 85 miles south, joining UTSA's coaching staff as an assistant.
In the four years at UTSA, Kutrovsky was one of the top recruiters in and outside the country, bringing in talent from all over the world. On the Roadrunners 10-man roster, nine are from outside the country.
Kutrovsky's past is a big help in his international recruiting, simply because he went through it, as he journeyed to Texas from Bulgaria.
"I like to be thorough with the recruiting," he said. "I think I have a good sense of what players want to keep developing, which I think is really important. When you recruit somebody, you want somebody who is going to get better."
With Alabama's history of international players plus just his coaching philosophies, Kutrovsky was a no-brainer for the seven-year coach. On June 25, Kutrovsky was officially hired as an assistant coach at Alabama.
"I was interested in him because of his reputation and just how he handled himself when he was a player," Husack said.
Even though Husack has been coaching more than 24 years, while Kutrovsky has only been a full-time coach for four years, Husack believes that the fact both started at a mid-major will help the relationship.
"UTSA is a mid-major with very few resources, and I came from a mid-major in my first position," Husack said. "I knew what he was experiencing as an assistant coach as I did as an assistant and a head coach at a mid-major. I felt with that type of background, it was going to be easy for us to relate."
Outside of the coaching reputation that Kutrovsky had built for himself, Husack had memories of facing his assistant coach during the latter's college career. While Kutrovsky was at Texas, Husack was coaching at USC. The two met up five times during the four-year span.
"The first time I coached against him, he won two huge matches in doubles and singles," Husack said. "He had a reputation of just being a tough out."
Even though he hasn't played in a professional match since 2015, the 32-year-old still considers himself a "nerd" of the game.
Kutrovsky spends his free time studying videos of different players, reading stories of how players train, practice and the different mindsets.
"He's just totally into tennis, really competing and how to out-compete the other person," Husack said. "Trying to take what you have and make it the best possible. He tries to do that every single day."
