About this episode
If you want to learn how to maximize your operating budget, this is the episode for you! Mark Ardizzone just completed his first year as the Associate Head Women's Coach at Florida State University. Mark was the Head Coach at Depaul University for 23 seasons leading the team to four Big East Championships. He was also named the ITA Midwest Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2014 and won Big East Coach of the Year honors five times. Mark discusses his humble beginnings in tennis, his transition into college tennis coaching, how he went about maximizing every penny in his budget during his early days at Depaul and how that penny pinching has served him well throughout his college career. He provides some expertise on International Recruiting and shares some hilarious stories from some of his trips to Europe. Key points of this conversation have been indexed for easy listening here: 01:27 - What are some of your experiences as a junior player and college tennis student-athlete? 06:33 - How did you move into college tennis coaching? 10:40 - How would you encourage coaches to maximize their operating budgets? 14:25 - When did you take your first international recruiting trip and what did you learn? 17:26 - How did you find ways to stretch your budget when you were recruiting internationally? 23:11 - How did you break down the barriers of international recruiting and build trust? 26:02 - What is your most memorable international recruiting experience? 30:40 - How has your coaching experience changed while going from Mid-Major to Power Five 33:57 - What changes have you seen in college tennis in the last couple of decades that concern you? 38:00 - What is your hope for the future of college tennis? 41:48 - Is there a book that has made a major impact on you as a coach? 43:49 - Do you have a favorite tennis drill? 46:33 - Name one thing you've changed your mind on in recent years? 48:11 - What is one lesson you hope your players have learned from you as they leave your program?