The University of Mississippi Athletics
ASK OLE MISS: Billy Chadwick Answers Your Questions
4/1/2009 | Men's Tennis
ASK OLE MISS provides Rebel fans interactive opportunities with some of the key figures in Ole Miss athletics. The latest installment features Head Men's Tennis Coach Billy Chadwick. Questions were sent in by fans through OleMissSports.com over the past week, and Chadwick has addressed many of those in the following Q&A.
Q: As a coach, how does it feel to have excellent scholars (Bram ten Berge for example) as well as excellent athletes on your team?
That is by no accident. When we are recruiting, that's one of the things we look at, because many times you can tell about the character of a person by how they approach school. We've had great student-athletes for a long enough time here that we've developed a tradition, and that tradition helps when the players come in. They know what we expect, they know what their peers are doing, and so its one of those traditions that contributes to excellence.
Q: What is your philosophy on recruiting international players?
What I always do is start here in the states. We look at every player that's playing and we look at every player in the South. I look at every player that has any type of connection to Ole Miss, and that's the same thing that I also look at with international players. With international players a couple things are extremely important. A lot of people seem to think that just because someone is international that they're good, and that's not the case. Again, we're looking for great students and great tennis players. We have been very successful in different parts of the world, and we'd like to concentrate on that because we've got a good network there.
Q: Is this possibly the best team you have had during your stint at Ole Miss?
I would say no. It may be the best team chemistry we've had, but talent wise we've had many many teams that were on this same level. At this point in time, it is great to be No. 2 in the country, but the truth of the matter is there are 10 teams in this country that are just as good as we are, so we've got to make sure we peak at the right time.
Q: What rules and/or guidelines exist to prevent teams from "stacking" their line-up? Does each team submit them before the match without knowing the other team's line-up, and is there any point when you can change the line-up?
There used to be a much bigger problem with so-called "stacking", and there was always a rule that if something was obvious the match could be protested and actually overturned. But that rarely happened, because it's hard to reverse a match once it has been played. In the SEC we probably have the best procedure in college tennis. We exchange line-ups via email every Tuesday morning and every school in the conference has to submit their lineup. They are shown to everyone at Noon on Tuesday, then you have the afternoon to look at everyone's lineup. If you have a problem with a lineup you can protest it. The protest call is the next morning, and it involves four coaches and the associate commissioner (for men's tennis).
Q: What are you looking for when recruiting players?
One, you're looking for a good tennis player, that goes without saying. Then you look at what type of potential does this person have, are they at their peak, is this going to be a player in a couple years that we feel is going to get better. Then we also, through talking with them and talking to coaches, figure out if they are coachable. Because if a player is coachable, then he knows how to listen, how to take direction and the process is much easier and much faster as far as their improvement. We also check out their academics and make sure they are good students. Probably the thing that we do that is most important, is we talk to different players that have played against them and have known these players for a long time and get an assessment as to what type of individual they are and if they will fit into a team situation.
Q: Do you think this is probably your best set of freshmen (quality and potential) overall since you've been at Ole Miss?
We've had a lot of years where we've brought in some great freshmen. I remember Mahesh Bhupathi, Johan Hede, Martin Selin, Kristofer Stahlberg, Alex Hartman and Catalin Gard, just to name a few. The four we have this year are outstanding freshmen, and I will put them up to any other freshmen in the country. But you have to remember we've been to the NCAAs 15 years in a row, and we've routinely stayed top 15 in the nation. If you're not bringing in great freshmen then you don't get to have the success that we're having, so this is just another great class of freshmen.
Q: Realistically what do you think the team's chances of winning the NCAA Championship this year are?
I would give us a 1-in-10 chance, because realistically there are 10 teams that could win it. I think that if Las Vegas looked at it they might give us a 2-in-10 chance. With that being said, it's wide open. Whichever team gets hot at the end, will be the team that wins, and the weather could possibly factor in who wins and loses. If it's like it was last time at Texas A&M it was 120 degrees on the courts, and that takes a toll. If you are not in good shape then you might win one match, but you're not going to win the championship.
Q: When are the renovations for the tennis center going to start and what do the plans include?
The architect is still working on the final plans. What it will include will be a meeting room/locker room for both men and women, and those will be new. The ones that we have now will be used as visiting locker rooms. We're going to renovate the inside and we're also going to add box seating across the front of the stadium and also viewing from the top of the additions on both sides of the facilities so it's going to be really a tremendous addition. It will enhance the day-to-day operations and the day-to-day environment for the student athletes. It's going to be something that is a great area to study in, a great area to meet, and the locker rooms are going to be state of the art. If all goes well we may start on it this summer.
