About this episode
Boomer Saia (pronounced CY-uh) has orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in college tennis since arriving at Iowa State. In his three seasons leading the program, Saia has led the Cyclones to a 17-match home winning streak, a school-record four conference wins in 2021, the first Big 12 Conference Tournament win in school history, and the first NCAA Tournament berth in school history. One of the nation’s brightest young coaches and an integral part of teams that have reached the Final Four at Vanderbilt and most recently the Elite Eight at Texas Tech, Saia was named Iowa State head coach on June 14, 2018, and the Cyclones have been on an upward trajectory ever since. The 2020-21 Cyclones rewrote the record books with a historic season. Saia earned Big 12 Coach of the Year and Wilson ITA Central Region Coach of the Year honors after leading Iowa State to a 14-8 overall record and the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2020-21. Iowa State went undefeated at home (8-0) for the second-straight season and finished the season ranked. Saia possesses a great familiarity with the Big 12 Conference, having spent much of his professional career in the league. He has been on staff as an assistant at Oklahoma (2014-16) and also worked in a volunteer role at his alma mater Kansas (2010-14), where both programs ranked inside the top-35 during his tenure.