About this episode
Joey Scrivano is in his 18th season with Baylor and the guest in this week's College Tennis Coaches Podcast. In his 18 seasons leading the Baylor women's tennis program, Scrivano has put his Lady Bears among the nation's elite, along with 19 combined Big 12 Conference championships between regular season and tournament titles. He led Baylor to an impressive 14-straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 2005-18, and Baylor earned trips to the NCAA Final Four in 2008 and 2011. During that 14-year span, Baylor compiled an astounding 125-16 (.887) record. Scrivano was promoted from head coach to the director of women's tennis in July 2016. On this episode, we discuss how he stays ahead of the curve with all things player development and his process for planning his student-athletes practice schedule. Also, we talk about why he videos all of his practices and how tennis has become such an influential aspect of Baylor Athletics and the Waco, Texas community. Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 02:01 - Why do you think that player development is such an important aspect of your coaching career? 05:08 - What things are you exploring that will help your student-athletes progress in their playing career? 07:34 - How do evaluate changes and adapt to your team? Are you taking feedback from your student-athletes? 09:40 - How have you been able to instill a high level of professionalism in your student-athletes? 11:00 - How do you figure out where student-athletes fit in your profile? 13:13 - What is your process for planning your practices? 15:20 - Do you record all of your practices? 16:33 - Do you have a form of reflection on your own coaching? Do you go back and analyze the job that you have done as a coach? 20:54 - What is the biggest theme that you really struggle with when you're trying to develop players? What solutions do you have when you come across that hinderance? 23:40 - Has being a father helped you with your coaching style and ego? 24:49 - Have you had to adapt how you develop players with changing generations? 27:42 - Where do you spend the majority of your time outside of recruiting and player development? 29:56 - How do you develop relationships with sport supervisors? 32:09 - How did tennis become so influential at Baylor? 35:53 - What else are you doing within the community that is allowing you to have such a high level of stature within your athletic department? 40:40 - What recommendations or quick tips do you have for coaches on how they can maximize their facility? 43:25 - What is a book that made a major impact on you as a coach? 45:41 - What is your favorite drill? 45:55 - Name one thing you've changed your mind on in recent years - in coaching or in life? 47:00 - What is your favorite quote? 47:37 - What is one lesson that you hope your players learn by the time they leave Baylor?