Feb. 16, 2008
Subscribe to Commodore Nation magazine / View Archived Issues
 |
|
Fourteen Years and Counting for Vanderbilt’s
Longest-Tenured Coach
Can you name Vanderbilt’s longest-tenured coach? Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one if you can’t. With all of the news of hirings and firings that fill the first page of the sports section these days, the coaching carousel has never been spinning faster.
In today’s world of musical coaches, Vanderbilt women’s tennis coach Geoff Macdonald has withstood the test of time longer than any other Vanderbilt head coach. Now in his 14th season at the helm of Vanderbilt’s women’s tennis program, Macdonald is the Commodores’ longest-tenured coach by three years. Eleventh-year lacrosse coach Cathy Swezey is the second-longest tenured.
During Macdonald’s tenure with the Commodores, he has compiled a record of 281-90 (.757) and has taken his squad to at least the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament each of the last 10 seasons. That success has brought numerous overtures from other programs across the country, but Macdonald has stayed loyal to Vanderbilt.
“I have had job offers,” Macdonald said. “I’ve never gone for an interview. I tell people when I get the call that I’m flattered and I often listen to what they are saying, but I really have felt lucky and fortunate to be able to be here and do this job coaching. I feel like I have been very well supported.”
When Macdonald came to Vanderbilt from Duke before the 1995 season, the Commodores had never been ranked higher than No. 28. Since taking over the reins, Vanderbilt has never been ranked lower than No. 16 and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament each year, including two trips to the Final Four.
Not bad for a guy who “never really planned to be a coach.”
Even with all of the success, Macdonald has stayed motivated to get even better.
“The privilege to be able to coach here and in the Southeastern Conference is very motivational,” Macdonald said. “Taking really bright and accomplished students and competing against the best teams in the country and trying to win at a high level is something that is a challenge that really resonates with me.”
While some people need changes in their careers because of boredom or repetition, Macdonald credits the ever-changing coaching profession and student-athletes for keeping him inspired after 20 years as a head coach, including the 14 at Vanderbilt.
“The thing that is interesting about coaching is that there are so many different areas that you need to try to understand,” Macdonald said. “I’ve learned that I have to keep learning all the time. An interesting feature I find is that college students are usually a slightly different person each of the years of college because there is so much going on with identity formation. So I find that interesting.
“It is also a challenge to really try to be one of the best teams in the country and do it in a way that fits in with the values of our school, meaning great sportsmanship and great character.”
One way Macdonald tries to continually improve and get better as a coach is by reading and applying what he reads and sees in everyday life to tennis.
“I’m addicted to reading,” said Macdonald, whose wife, Kate, is an associate English professor at Vanderbilt. “It is not unusual for me to read four or five books at the same time. I think a key I noticed in college was that everything I saw, read or did had some application to tennis.
“I went to Virginia and I would watch ACC basketball, and I would learn how to play better tennis by watching how each team played defense and valued each possession. I would watch how North Carolina would be down by 12 with five minutes to go and not lose its poise and win the game by eight. Or I would read a novel and get something out of that novel that applied to tennis.”
That willingness to continuously try to get better has led to a track record of success for Macdonald. And as the coaching carousel continues to spin, Macdonald couldn’t be more happy with his decision to stay at Vanderbilt.
“The opportunity to come here was really an interesting one and was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Macdonald said. “When I came here, Vanderbilt really didn’t get winning in a lot of ways. There were a lot of reasons why, but I saw potential here in every sport. If Vanderbilt commits to something it can be absolutely the top.”