About this episode
Matt Hill is the head men’s coach at Arizona State University. He began his coaching career as a volunteer at Alabama, moved to the assistant coaching role at Mississippi State before taking over the program at the University of South Florida. There he inherited a team with a losing record, and 4 years later found themselves in the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. After his success at USF he was named the head coach of the newly reinstated men’s program at Arizona State in 2016, and helped his team to an NCAA berth in just their first year of competition.Matt is one of those rare coaches who appear to excel in all areas of running a college tennis program. He not only has a clear vision for his program at ASU but also a vision for college tennis. Matt’s insights and execution of marketing and fundraising are second to none, and I believe every college coach in the country can learn something from this conversation. Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 01:45 - What are some of the steps that you took in the first 3 months of your positions that set you up for success? 04:35 - What are some of the qualities that you look for in an assistant coach? 06:10 - How do you think you are able to convince accomplished players to believe in a losing/new program? 10:01 - What lessons did you learn along the way to set you up to have success along the way? 13:09 - How do you believe you're juggling priorities to build a successful program? 17:06 - What are some of the things that you implement to engage the community & bring fans out? 22:04 - Do you believe that coaches in general have lost sight of the bigger picture ? 25:01 - Do you believe that charging admission for college tennis matches is possible? 29:37 - How can coaches get ahead of the discussion of budget cuts? 36:09 - How did you identify and build relationships with potential donors? 38:04 - Are there easier asks from donors - are there traditional items that are easier to ask for? 40:53 - What message do you have for coaches about mindset surrounding the build of your program?