Ep. 44: Head Tennis Coach Jeff Brandes

Voice of the Owls Kevin Copp sat down with head men's and women's tennis coach Jeff Brandes to talk about his journey in coaching and his time at the helm of Temple's tennis programs.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi everyone and welcome back to the AlPod, the official podcast of Temple Athletics. I'm your host, Kevin Cobb, and my guest today is Temple Men's and Women's Tennis Head Coach Jeff Brandis. Coach Brandis is in his second season here at Temple overseeing both our men's and women's programs as Temple's Director of Tennis. Previously, he spent the last decade in the same role at FDU, and prior to that, he coached Drew University, where he was named Landmark Conference Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2011, and the ITA Northeast Coach of the Year in 2011. Just this past week, Coach Brandis was named the USTA's Philadelphia Area Tennis District College Coach of the Year. The men's and women's program opened their home schedule yesterday against Norfolk State, and action will continue throughout the spring. So a great time to catch up with second-year head coach Jeff Brandis. Here is Coach Brandis after this quick word from our AlPOD sponsors.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

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SPEAKER_00 1:34

Let's start. I mean, uh from from what I've been able to deduce, uh n none of your bios that I can find online go back before uh college at Rhode Island, but I'm assuming given your your northeastern base is is uh home and growing up somewhere in the New England area?

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Yeah, New Jersey. I grew up in a town called Cranford, so it's kind of like central Jersey, like half hour from Newark Airport.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

So what uh at what age growing up do you pick up tennis? Are you kind of involved in just you know, kind of all sports at a young age? Wait, where does tennis kind of come into the picture first for you?

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yeah, so tennis was not my favorite sport when I was younger. I actually didn't love it. I was forced into a clinic when I was like seven with like 50 other kids on like three courts, and you waited like 20 minutes to hit a ball, and I was lefty, so I kept smacking the racket of the kid next to me. Uh it wasn't a great experience, honestly. Um, and I just played all sports, like my parents put me and stuff to try things out, like little league basketball. Um, but I was a swimmer first and foremost first, and then I got allergic to chlorine when I was like 12. And so this the summer swim club I was a member at, you basically either went on the swim team or the tennis team. And so when I couldn't swim anymore, it was like, all right, well, now you're gonna go play tennis. Um and then I was older and it was a better situation, like I didn't have to wait 20 minutes to hit a ball. So, and then I liked it.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Was there uh, you know, did you have kind of an aptitude and a I mean, obviously liking it is a big part of it at that age, but you know, I'm sure at some point, you know, you get some feedback that, hey, this is also something I'm good at, something I excel at. Was it pretty quickly from from that point where you switched over from swimming to tennis that you picked it up and and developed some skill, or was it just you know kind of a matter of enjoying it?

SPEAKER_02 3:24

It kind of both. Like I got pretty good pretty fast. Um, like there was a team there and not everyone got to play. And so when I first came over from swim team, they were you know like go on that last court and you know, let's see what you can do kind of thing. And I kept getting better by the third week. I was like in the lineup, I was traveling to play the other clubs. Um and then I just kind of kept getting better from there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Just back to the swimming thing really quick. Uh, was there, I mean, when you're that age and I'm sure you've got your, you know, that's your social group and your team and you're swimming and you're doing all that. I mean, was that a tough adjustment for you just to I mean, to have that kind of taken away from you? And it sounds like, you know, I mean, fairly cut and dry. There's nothing you can do, you know, if you've developed a chlorine allergy, but to have that taken away from you at that age, I imagine, you know, was that was that a little tough for you, that adjustment?

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah, it was difficult. And it was that was one of the things maybe that uh motivated me to get better at tennis because like if I didn't get better, like I wouldn't get to play, like I like I wouldn't be really be accepted into that group. Like honestly, the first two weeks, like no one talked to me. I was a swim kid, you know, like it was kind of clickish.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Like the Jets and the Sharks here.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Kind of like, yeah, it was like you when you swam, you sat in a certain part of this swim club. When you played tennis, you were in a different part. It wasn't like that they were rivals, but they just didn't the groups they really didn't have anything to do with each other because they were at the same time. And so, like all those tennis kids were together from when they were like seven, eight, nine. Like, that's the age that you kind of picked your sport at this place. And so, like, yeah, if I didn't get better, like I'd probably not have friends there.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yeah, I mean, that's a pretty huge motivator at that age. It's uh yeah, it's almost like going to a different school or something. You're just like starting from scratch and having to make those inroads, and sports is, you know, for better and worse, it's an easy kind of shorthand to develop, you know, those kind of relationships, I'm sure, as you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah, totally. That's a good example because like once this swim club opened, like we were there every single day, seven days a week. And so it was like I had a di I had summer friends, which wasn't easy because I like I had my school friends and I kind of like wanted to hang with them and do what they were doing. You know, I didn't want to go to the swim club every day. Um, so yeah, it was it was kind of like that going to a new school.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Well, uh now at what point uh as you progressed, did you play, did you play at Rhode Island? Did you go there as a a student? So tell me about just kind of at the you know, when college enters the picture. Obviously, you're having some success at the youth circuit, you know, kind of how you looked at you know NCAA and and uh playing tennis in college as a path for you.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Sure. So like you and I had a pretty good team at the time. Like I I mean the coach knew about me, but it's not like I was this like heavily recruited kid, you know, and be had a tryout, basically walk on. Um, I was very fortunate that on one of the days I got there early. And so the coach was like, all right, let's hit, then let's play him up, serve him up. And I didn't realize it at the time, but that was basically my tryout. Like he was a pretty good player, he was ranked in the New England section of the USTA, and I played well and I kind of killed him, to be honest. Like my game matched up well, like I was lefty, I had a good serve, he was like short, he had a one-handed backhand, like it was like not that difficult. Um, and I was a freshman and and he was somewhat impressed, and he cut a lot of people, like there were probably like either easily like another dozen freshmen that didn't like make it basically. And so that's kind of how I mean I didn't start my freshman year, but then I just kept getting better and better. So by the time I was a senior, I was playing second singles and first doubles, and it was good.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

What was that experience like? Because obviously, college tennis is something of an anomaly in the sport because you do have the team aspect and the team culture to what is fundamentally an individual sport, and you know, I don't I I won't profess to know enough about the kind of the club scene and juniors and and coming up through that circuit, but you know, having been around college tennis and and seen that, it's obviously it's a different ball game, and I'm sure some people really take to it and some people don't. Did it was it something the culture there and just getting to to play at URI for those years, did did did that really suit you?

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Yes, it was it was interesting because I played all sports, like I didn't grow up being solely a tennis player. Right. So I understood like what it's like to be on a team and have teammates and all that stuff. But that's actually one of the biggest challenges for some tennis players because they grow up and from seven to say 17, 18, that's all they've done. And honestly, this is funny. A friend of mine who was a coach was like, you know, a lot of the especially in the US, a lot of the kids that are drawn to tennis, that's because they didn't want to wait their turn to bat or share a soccer ball. Do you know what I mean? That's a great point. Yeah. So so like it's it's even harder for them to adjust to college tennis and and being on a team because college tennis is very unique in that way, you know. Like I try to tell everyone who I think is coming from that kind of background, like you need to understand, like, there's gonna be certain times where you're gonna have to do things that you might ordinarily not want to do for the the good of the group. Vice versa, like there you might miss out on certain things. Like we have a match and you have tickets to you know Broadway, like you're not going. Like, you know what I mean? Right. That's that's an adjustment for some tennis players.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

For sure. And now for yourself, you graduate from URI, bachelor's in marketing, now, but you did play on some professional circuits, Canadian Airlines circuit. Did you kind of have the what was your I guess aspiration from a you know a tennis professional standpoint? What what were your goals coming out of school to think you could kind of do at the next level?

SPEAKER_02 9:25

It was pretty simple. It was I started tennis late, um, and I wanted to see how good I could get. Like I just it it it used to I used to not be able to sleep at night sometimes thinking that I would never find out like what my peak is. Like how good can I be? I never thought like, oh, I'm gonna make a living out of this. I would have liked to. It would have been great. It's incredibly hard, you know. But that was really the main motivation is just how good can I be? How good can I get, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Did you like I mean, you so you go from the kind of again, kind of the flip side of the question we just talked about, where you're coming from the individual world to the team world. Now you're back into the most kind of cutthroat individual world possible, which is you know, kind of the mini tour life, and and you've got, you know, journeymen and guys that are trying to scrape out a living, guys like yourself who are again trying to reach your potential in the sport. And I mean, that can be uh, you know, for for casual tennis fans that see the majors four times a year, you know, there's the whole ATP circuit below that, there's the the mini tours below that. So I mean, it can be a tough road to hoe. Uh how how did you handle that side of it?

SPEAKER_02 10:37

I mean, it was definitely hard. It harder than today for sure. Like, because I mean, look, I'm not young, so there were no cell phones, there was no internet, there was like a lot of the things that you could do that you would do, you didn't have really. Like there, it was I was lucky, like I I traveled with players that I trained with. I ran into some players that I played against in college. So there was like it wasn't like I was just, you know, I I landed in some country and didn't know anyone. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, so that part made it easier, but it still could be difficult, right? Like if you don't win your first round, you kind of have a gap in between the next tournament. Um and it can get a little, I don't want to say boring, but like not exciting, maybe, you know. Um because the thing in college is you play a lot of matches, like you're we were averaging like three, three, maybe even four matches in a week. Um so yeah. But I liked it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Did you get kind of that I don't want to say closure, but what you were looking for out of that experience in terms of getting to see, you know, where you could take it. Do you feel like you you were able to answer those questions for yourself?

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Not fully. Because I I injury I had a kind of a chronic injury in my left hand where like the my pointer finger, that base knuckle, um I partially tore the ligament. And so I wound up going to a doctor that was just injecting cortisone into it, and it was basically a short-term fix. And every time he injected it, it created a puncture wound. And then I wound up with scar tissue and bone spurs, and like ultimately that was like like the end, so to speak. I mean, there were a couple times where I like I did the rehab and it got better, but it it never got good enough to play long enough to sustain anything significant, and that's when I wound up kind of transitioning. I was like a club pro teaching, and I always hit a two-handed backhand, so like with the with my students, if some of them were decent, they'd hit the ball back, and then I would just keep the racket in my right hand, and I just started playing righty, and I actually got to be pretty decent righty, and I played for a while righty, a little bit of a hybrid, like I would serve lefty like in a way that wouldn't hurt my hand, and then just play righty.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

It's an unusual uh I mean that that gives you a little niche from a matchup standpoint. I'm sure that that gives you some some advantage there. But was coaching always did you kind of have in the back of your mind as you're going through and obviously it didn't necessarily end on your terms, but you knew at some point, you know, like you said, you're not gonna no one can play professional tennis as a as a uh you know an entire lifetime career. So did you kind of always assume that coaching was next? Did you think that, you know, you were gonna get a a quote, you know, regular job, or or was it always tennis as the as as kind of that that next step for you?

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah, that's a good question. I never I've never had a quote unquote regular job.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Um this is how we end up in college athletics, because you know, that just doesn't appeal to us.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

It never really appealed to me. I mean, I've all like I I always wound up with a coaching situation that I liked. So there was never really a reason to like look. There's one period of time, like the club that I the tennis club that I grew up at, like my parents were kind of worried, like, all right, what's this kid gonna do? Right. So they kind of hooked me up with some members that knew people in business or whatever. I went on a few interviews, and like even just in the interview process, I could tell, like, yeah, you know what, like I'm not gonna like this. It's just not.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

How was your your first foray is coaching juniors, right? Is that your first real true coaching experience at the at the kind of club level?

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Yeah, like when I so the club I was at, basically the my coach was um the guy who hired me. Like when after my first year at Rhode Island, when I came back, he was like, Hey, do you want to start teaching? And because he was booked, like he was on the court like 50 hours a week, he couldn't teach anymore. The other assistants, like they didn't want to do anymore. So he just basically, like, when the phone would ring, he'd be like, get it. And so I taught like I mean, anyone from like seven to like 90 years old in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Then how long into that phase before college? Because you started as a volunteer assistant back at Rhode Island, is that right? Drew, sorry. So at what point then do you kind of shift from uh from the club side to to college? Um, imagining there's some period where you're doing both of those in in some concert with each other, but you know, how does kind of uh college coaching re-enter the picture?

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Yeah, so I was running a club with a guy named Colin Dibley, who was an amazing player. Like he made the quarters of Wimbledon twice, he made the semis of the Australian Open. I mean, he's quite a bit older, so we're talking like 70s into the early 80s. And he was like the best way to put it is he was the principal, like he had the lease, but he needed someone to run it. And I had been out in the area, and he kind of just called me out of the blue one day, and he's from Australia, and there's this guy on the phone with this like cool accent, and he's basically like, Hey, you know, what do you think? And I'm like, All right, I'll come down, we'll meet for coffee. And so I was the general manager, so it was cool because I made my own hours, and we were doing really well. Like, he was a big name, like he was a guy that was on the cover of a tennis magazine for hitting a serve 148 miles an hour with a wood racket. Like he was gonna say bad. He's a ridiculous player, like even in his 60s, he was still playing on the court, running around, killing all the juniors. Like, I mean, it was great, it was fun working with him, hearing all the stories and everything. And but the way it was set up was like he basically had a lease for the club, he didn't own the land, and we wound up with a horrible landlord who basically like we wound up in litigation and it the legal bills mounted, and we couldn't he couldn't fund the club anymore, basically. And Drew was 10 minutes away, and I the the coach there was looking for an assistant, so I basically was like, all right, I'll do that. Um, I got to make my own hours, so I was volunteer assistant for a couple years, and then I spent one year at Montclair State, literally one year, and then they cut the program in January. Like I started in August.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

I was gonna say, you're on this string of kind of like tough circumstances that really have nothing to do with you, right? It's like you get into this weird landlord, you you have a you know, injury that's beyond your control, you have a bad landlord business situation, the Montclair cuts its program. You know, it's it's nothing to do with you specifically, but um that's a lot of dead ends to have to kind of fight your way through to to get to a you know a more normal path.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, a little bit. But then things changed and got better because the guy that was at Drew, he um he left, and I was like the only person available in such a short period of time. Like he left in August. The AD there knew me, and basically they were like, Look, you can be the coach on an interim basis, and you know, at the end of the season, if you did a great job, um you know, we're required to interview a few people, but like the job will be yours. If you're terrible, well, like you're not coming back, and if you did just okay, you can compete for it, you know, in the candidate pool, so to speak. And it was pretty funny too, because at the end of the year, like the AD hadn't said anything to me. I'm calling the previous coach who I'm really good friends with, and he's like, just don't say anything, keep showing up. And it was a pretty good year. Like, I inherited a men's team that won the conference. I didn't mess it up. We won the conference, you know. So, like things were pretty good. Um, but yeah, that was a funny.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Like the uh the George Costanza map. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

He was just like that basically. Keep showing up. Yeah, just keep showing up. Don't even mention it.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

That's great. That's great. Well, I mean, obviously it works out because you spend a decade at Drew, uh, two-time coach of the year in the landmark conference, USPTA Eastern Division Coach of the Year, ITA Northeast Coach of the Year in 2011. So some really good years at at that level. And then uh, you know, uh assuming then the opportunity presents itself to to make the jump to to Division I and Fairley Dickinson and obviously staying local in New Jersey. Was that kind of the calculus for you?

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah, I mean, it's funny, I've never really left this area. Um, you know, I I did leave Drew for like an opportunity, like in just the call it the private sector of tennis. Um, and I did that for like a couple years and I liked it, but it it I didn't love it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, and the FDU opportunity opened up. So the same coach that I in like followed at Drew, he left for FDU. Like the the way it worked out was he was at FDU in like the late, like early ear late 90s. Um he was there two different times, and he wound up in the hall of fame. And when he's inducted into the hall of fame, while he's still coach at Drew, the AD asked him if he would come back for a third time. And he said yes. Of course, they had to do a whole bunch of things, and they did them. And that's so I followed him at Drew, and then there were a couple coaches in between at like FDU, but I followed him to FDU basically. Like I called him up, I said, I miss college coaching. Do you know if you know of anything opening up? Let me know. And he was like, FDU's open. The guy quit today. That's what happened. Like it was during the winter break. And he's like, Are you interested? I'm like, Yeah, he's like, Let me call, you know, whoever. And I I had a phone call literally the next day. I had an interview a week later, and then February 2016, like I'm at FDU.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

That's amazing. I mean, small world, yeah, you know, everything happens for a reason. And and again, another close to a decade there, obviously, some great success at FDU. And then uh, you know, you come here to Temple, uh, obviously at a very, I think, opportune time uh for this program. What was it, uh, and I know you and I had the chance to to sit down, probably your very first day on the job, if if not close to it, when you were introduced, but uh, you know, just to kind of revisit the specifics of of Temple and and uh what got you outside the the confines of the great state of New Jersey and and across here to Philadelphia, what was it about this this particular opportunity for you?

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Um like everything about Temple is in a way like just bigger and better. It's just a different it's just different, you know. It's like the next level is the best way to put it. And it's still in the Northeast, which is where I'm from and I'm comfortable here. Um and it was just a really interesting opportunity. And the other thing too is like it's both. Teams, like which is all I've ever done. So, you know, a lot of coaches don't love that. I like it, and I think um I just looking at it from afar, I thought I would be a pretty good fit. So when it opened up, I applied.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Well, as you mentioned, this is one of the things I wanted to get to. It in your role uh as the director of tennis, you know, overseeing both the men's tennis and women's tennis programs. It's not something that happens everywhere. Some programs have it, some don't. Uh just tell me about that side of it. Obviously, you know, there are um I'm sure nuances and and differences, both in terms of the way the sport is played, the, you know, kind of what it takes as a coach to be successful from the the kind of off the court and the mental and emotional side. I'm sure it's not just a one-size-fits-all approach, even in the same gender, what's going to work for your, you know, whatever, one singles player is not going to work for another and vice versa. But I imagine just the kind of spectrum of how you need to be as a coach gets that much wider when you have, you know, men and women within, you know, your uh your coaching sphere, so to speak. So, you know, what what aspects of that have you enjoyed over your career and what has it demanded of you as a coach?

SPEAKER_02 23:11

I mean, a lot of attention, a lot of focus. Um, I mean, obviously the recruiting part is a big deal. I mean, like there's there's a wide range of like call it differences, variables, but like at the end of the day, though, like your your competitive spirit carries the day for the most part. And like when you if you can get players that have that, like great things are gonna grow out of that. Like, I feel like the the ability to achieve is just enormous, you know. Um, and so that's really like the the focus, like every day, you know, trying to get one percent better. Um, and then you know, you stack it and stack it and you're you're you're achieving.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

How has it played out? I mean, there's kind of two aspects of it for any sport, right? There's the the recruiting profile, who you're looking to bring in, and then there's the development side of it, and and obviously, you know, it takes really both sides of it to be a a successful coach. And you know, particularly here, these rosters are small, uh, it's just the nature of the the sport in college, and and so how have you kind of seen over the the two plus years that you've been here, you know, just your ability to to again look for that kind of talent, develop that kind of talent, and and how that's how that's informed kind of the way you've been able to construct the men's and women's rosters here in in Philadelphia?

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Yeah, I mean it's interesting, you know, like I think every every player that's looking at schools kind of has certain things like that they're they're thinking about, right? Um some of them are are specific to their sport, some of them are you know, it could be simple geography. I w you know, I want to go to a big school, I don't want to go somewhere in the middle of nowhere, stuff like that. Um so you know, I look at it like one, you gotta cast a wide net, right? The bigger the funnel, the more the greater the chance that you're gonna get the right fit from the beginning, you know. Um I think that once you start to break tennis down into its components, right? Like you have technical, you have tactical, you have the mental, like there's so many variables. And we work on them all in in different ways, you know, and certain people need more focus on certain parts. Um, and I've been doing it long enough to kind of you know figure that out. Um, and it's that's the other thing. I always look at it like it's a never-ending process, like there's really no destination, right? Like you're just constantly like refining and getting better. Like I listened to an interview a while ago with Yvonne Lendell, and he was saying how like he would evaluate his game every like six months or so. And with video and all that, like he had the I guess back then the luxury to have access to those kind of tools. And he was like, there's like a like if he didn't progress in that six-month period, he would not be in the top ten, is basically what he said. Like you always have to be improving in in every facet.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Yeah, that's really interesting. I think it's just such a different philosophical mindset. You never yeah, the fact that you never really if you do arrive, that's fleeting and you've gotta get back and or fight to stay at that mountain is a really interesting just a really interesting approach. It's something, I mean, obviously, that we deal with in college because no matter what, you're gonna after four or five years, you know, that entire cycle turns over and you know, you're kind of pushing that boulder back up the hill. Uh, and I think for folks that don't know, one of the other really interesting things, I'm sure tennis uh more than any other Division I sport, I don't have the numbers at my disposal, but I feel pretty confident in saying it's the heaviest international presence of of any you know NCAA sport, and I'm sure also you know that just makes things interesting from from your perspective, from a recruiting perspective, just that you know, you get to have a really privileged position, which is bringing all of these different cultural backgrounds together, and I think Philadelphia is is obviously a great city and a great place to be able to do that. Is that always an an aspect of of something that you've in enjoyed about this role?

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Yeah, it's one of my favorite parts. Like people from all over having people from all over the world like become a member of your team. It's like it's amazing because they all all the kids like they visit each other in the summer. Like I've had former players, I see pictures of them like on Facebook and they're at someone's wedding in like India, you know. Um I think that's that's what makes college tennis special to a degree is the those bonds that last a lifetime, you know. Um it's it's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

All right, so to dig in on you know what a a match day looks like for you, I think college tennis coaching is one of the really interesting things because I think so much of it happens, you know, kind of the it's the tip of the iceberg, right? The 90% below the iceberg, and then you get out there to match day, and again, you know, if you're familiar with the sport, it's it's chaos in a way that you have, you know, six or seven courts going simultaneously, you've got your three doubles courts, and then you know, that adds up to a point. You've got your singles matches each worth of point, but it's not like you can clone yourself and be you're not giving, you know, in terms of uh a point-by-point tactical uh you know uh feedback, uh you just can't, from a physical standpoint, you can't even see necessarily everything that's happening all at once. So how do you, you know, and again, the staff that you have here at Temple, how how do you, what is your philosophy on on match day itself and kind of how how you know when to come over here, know when to give some input, know when to lay back. How how how does that part of it work for you?

SPEAKER_02 28:49

I mean, one is you you need awesome staff, which I have. So like I'm very comfortable with like either one of our assistants or the GA like managing a court, you know, like we're all on the same page. Um, and that's super important, right? The other thing is with doubles, like we're kind of covered because like you you're allowed three coaches, right? Singles, I mean, when you have six courts in a row, it's funny, like the layout matters, right? When you have six courts in a row, like that's why like the old layout of the courts at Temple, like not only were the courts not great, okay, but the layout wasn't great either, because you didn't have line of sight, right? Um, but now that we have this huge scoreboard and we have all the six courts in a row, like I'll be able to know what's going on in every match. So I'll know, like, okay, fourth singles heading into a tiebreaker, right? So maybe I'm gonna go wander down there, all right. Um, but you just you constantly like look around. It sounds silly, it's low, low tech, but you just gotta always be paying attention to what's going on outside of the court that you're on, you know. Um that's a big part of it.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yeah, there is something really uh there's something really special about college tennis. And again, I was very privileged to have 10 years down at the University of Georgia and and get to see it, you know, at that level there, which is you know, uh I got spoiled, uh, you know, uh that my first two years of school were the last two of John Isner and had some really great years down there. But there is something that's really cool about it because there is actually momentum in this sport, and you think that it's kind of six independent inputs and you're just gonna it's more than the sum of its parts. You get you get the yelling, you know, that you can start to feel, you know, the the momentum creep across the courts, even if the players aren't exactly aware of what's going on. They hear their teammate, they can kind of feel what's what's happening in that match, who just got a big break, who just want to set, who's going to a third. Uh there's something really, really uh cool about it, and and I encourage as we're sitting here and getting ready to open the outdoor season for for folks to get to come on and and check it out that that may not be familiar with it, because there really is something, I think, incredibly unique, incredibly special about it. But since you've mentioned the new facility, I think that's a great, you know, place to to to uh to jump off of as well. Obviously, I'm sure that was in the works at the time. I'm trying to think of the exact timeline of how it all went down. When when you interviewed here at Temple, it had not been opened yet, clearly, but was it was that plan moving down the the track at that point?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Yeah, it was under construction. Like when I when I got here, the like the field part, like the turf had been removed. There was like blacktop. Um, and so like I would say they were kind of like maybe in the middle part of the construction.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Gotcha. So that's obviously part of the appeal, part of the vision that was kind of laid out for you with this program. But now that we did get to have the the official opening last spring, getting ready for your, you know, really first full cycle here going into this year, but just what difference has that made in terms of being able to have you know this kind of facility and and you know, just a a another step forward for the program.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yeah. No, it's awesome. And look, the the players that were here um and played on like the the not so good courts, I mean they're uh unbelievably happy, right? Um actually some of them didn't play on the old courts because they I think the last year they were so bad they were just playing at U Penn, like whether it was indoors or out. They just they really just didn't use them, you know. So the the joy it brings to all the people that were here before is awesome, you know. And to be able to, like when it when you're recruiting to say, hey, we got seven beautiful new courts, check it out, you know, it's nice, it's important.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Yeah, I think of it, you know, for folks that have been a temple a little longer, you know, you obviously, by virtue of where you are in that footprint, you know, saw the the other half of the turf that's still up there, the old geese field. I mean, is uh is like rock hard concrete and you know a chain link fence, and that's where our field hockey and lacrosse teams played for many, many years, and now we have this beautiful temple sports complex a couple blocks south. And yeah, I think there's a a positive mix of some jealousy and yeah, happy that the new generation of of Temple athletes is getting uh this this incredible experience. And so uh that leaves us in a great point here because we're getting ready to jump into the outdoor season. As you and I are sitting here, we're less than a week away on the men's side and just over a week away on the women's side, and you know, we're uh we're hoping that we are done with uh the snow and everything we had to deal with uh in the winter, and uh looking forward to some good good spring weather here and and get some uh some outdoor tennis. So I I guess let's uh you if you want to start on the men's side and then maybe go over to the women's side, just kind of how things are looking for you heading into this season. You've you've had the the fall uh and the winter, you know, indoor side of the season, the focus on you know individual results, and now that we get ready for uh for the team championship season here in the spring, I think the most exciting part of the tennis calendar, just kind of how how the programs are looking here in 2026.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Yeah. I mean, on the men's side, like we're heading in the right direction. Like we have people uh coming back from some injuries that are healthier now, and we had like kind of like the flu or some virus kind of run through our team. So we really haven't had a roster that's been like 100% full strength where we had like all our options, but we're we're pretty close to that now, which is obviously a big positive. Like we only have 10 guys, like that's the most you're allowed to have. So, you know, availability is important, sure, you know. So, and and on the women's side, like we're definitely starting to click. Like, we opened up with like two road trips against like very top teams, teams that are generally ranked in the country. I mean, I don't think they were at the time because the it was so early, like the rankings weren't out yet, but um but that's just sometimes in the nature of the schedule. You want to play good teams, you're kind of like at the mercy of their schedule. Um, but the last like three weeks or so, like our doubles is solid, like we carry momentum from the doubles into the singles very well, even if we haven't won the doubles point, like we're playing uh high quality doubles where there's there's a there's a good base of confidence. Um, so I like where our teams are at. Like I think it's only gonna get better from here for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Well, you know, really looking forward to what's ahead this spring. I I you know I I mentioned the weather kind of tongue in cheek, but it is I mean, it is a real hindrance here. You know, you deal with the unpredictability of of weather in the Northeast, and I mean you spent your entire career in the you know mid-Atlantic, New England region. I has there and now competing in the American Conference, it's a it's an uphill battle because you look at the the teams in this league where we have a a nexus of teams in Texas and Florida and across the the Southeast that have you know an undeniable advantage in terms of weather. Has there ever been a point in your career where you said, you know what, my my job would be a little bit easier if I had 12 months of of sunshine and and warm weather? Maybe I need to go a little bit further south?

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Uh that would be too easy.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Spoken like a two a true uh temple uh uh true temple uh Al that we need a challenge.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Right, yeah. I mean, I like I I feel like every school has its pros and cons. Like, okay, so we're not in the warmest climate, right? And we don't have easily accessible indoor courts. Like we get indoor time, but you know, it's not on campus, right? But like, I mean, I feel like we're in an amazing city, right? Philadelphia is is awesome. Um I don't know, I've never been to Wichita, but I don't think it's probably gonna compare so well. That's just my my opinion from afar, you know. So pros and cons for every situation.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Well, uh, you know, I I really appreciate getting to uh to to take the time to get to hear uh the twists and turns in in your journey that have brought you here to Temple. And obviously, I think you can look at the the excitement, both in terms of the the facility of the teams, the results that we're starting to see. I would be remiss uh not to mention that uh just this week uh you were named the uh Philadelphia Area Tennis District College Coach of the Year, so congratulations to you. I want to say that, you know, I I can't take any credit for uh for the Al Pod bump on that. That happened, you know. Uh we had the we had the interview scheduled before this uh this happened, but I'm sure just I I know it's not the most important thing, but I'm sure it just validates for you and and for Temple just the the work that you've been able to do here at this program over the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Yeah, it's it's always nice to win awards for sure. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Well, we know the the big ones are ahead in in the American Conference and uh and we hope uh beyond at the NCAA level. And uh, coach uh wish you all the best as we're heading into the outdoor season and uh looking forward to uh to seeing you out there at this great new facility.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

All right, that's this week's episode of the AlPod. I want to thank my guest, Jeff Brandis. A reminder, David Littfin and Amelia Wright are back next week. And if you missed their Wednesday episode with Temple gymnast Nikki Rengifo, make sure to check that out. That'll get you set for tomorrow's Eagle Championships as Temple competes for a conference title up at L.I.U. I'll be back with an all-new episode next Friday. If you want to support the AlPod, please be sure to subscribe, leave a rating. Most of all, please tell your friends. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, anywhere you get your podcasts, and of course follow us on Instagram at the Owl Podcast. Special thanks to our entire Outlod team, our executive producer Dan Lopez. I'm Kevin Cobb. Thank you all so much for listening, and go out.