Taking a peek into the life and times of Vanderbilt women’s tennis coach Geoff Macdonald requires the proper atmosphere. His story is not the usual sports column read while wolfing down breakfast. Instead, put the kids to bed and yank the lever of the recliner for the footrest.. Unwrap those reading glasses from their leather case and position the headrest just so. Ease into a novel that elevates the business of coaching tennis into an art form.

Prologue

“What I like about a great novel is how alive you feel reading it. You’re completely transported, and you’re there, and it’s such a deep experience,” said Macdonald, a connoisseur of sports novels and other literary niches like the works of Vanderbilt’s creative writers Tony Earley, Mark Jarman and Kate Daniels. “You feel the same way when you’re playing or coaching a really good match. It’s deeper time, you’re totally in the moment, and you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“There’s a similarity between thinking about someone writing a novel and someone playing tennis. They’re both really difficult individual endeavors.”

Setting

The man and the sport were blazed into an alloy at the University of Virginia, where he captured the ACC singles title and the conference’s MVP award in 1981. Macdonald’s three-year professional career never prompted Bjorn Borg or John McEnroe to rethink their choice of occupation, but at the apex of his tour, he ranked 200th in the world in singles and 130th in doubles.

Macdonald tutored the sport privately for four years before heading to Baton Rouge in 1988 to head up LSU’s program. A rags-to-riches story ensued, as Macdonald piloted an SEC cellar-dweller to an NCAA bid in three years, culminating in his christening as the league’s Coach of the Year in 1991. That moniker followed him to Duke a year later, where Macdonald guided the Blue Devils to three ACC crowns and the university’s first Final Four bid in tennis.

Was Macdonald the savior of Vanderbilt’s tennis program? Consider that in the first five years under Macdonald’s tutelage, the Commodores won more matches than in the eleven years previous to his arrival in 1995. Vanderbilt is a perennial top-15 squad, five years running; the team never ranked higher than 28th before Macdonald’s tenure. NCAA tournament bids have been doled out like Oscars for Titanic — six straight — and this year’s club is a mortal lock for a seventh. And surprise, surprise: Macdonald won his third conference Coach of the Year award last season.

Character Development

Lesson 1-A for Macdonald upon entering the three-ring coaching circus was setting aside any hope of infallibility and going with the erratic flow.

“When I first got into coaching, a lot of what I found I deal with was problems that would come up — scheduling problems, somebody’s stressed out, somebody’s off on their game. I used to think that that was not how it should be,” said Macdonald. “Now I see that as, that’s what it is. It is the norm to have problems.

“The thing I like about coaching is how many mistakes you make. It’s like I tell my tennis players: Don’t think you’re going to do it perfectly. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes, and mistakes are part of it.”

Lesson 1-B was understanding that instructing people precedes teaching the sport of tennis. Macdonald regularly canvasses other McGugin notables for their insights, and he leaves no stone unturned in his search for coaching Zen.

“I’ll learn more talking to Pete Gaudet or Tim Jankovich (VU assistant basketball coaches) for 10 minutes then going to a three-day conference on tennis, just because I can see what they’re doing, be inspired by it, learn from it, and translate it over to my sport,” said Macdonald.

“I think coaches that are probably way ahead of the other coaches right now are the better track and field coaches, what they do in terms of training. We don’t learn enough from them, so that’s an area I want to learn more about.”

Some coaches would rather hit the Iditarod trail than the recruiting trail, but Macdonald again perceives opportunity where others might see drudgery.

“You either dread it or really enjoy it, and I’ve come to enjoy it,” said Macdonald of recruiting. “I enjoy learning about the players, and not just their games. You try to follow a real code so you’re real straight up with who you’re dealing with. I feel like we’ve got a hell of a place to sell here, in terms of the education, the city, what we’re doing in tennis, and the SEC.”

Plot

Let’s say you’re really thinking ahead and looking for a challenging New Year’s resolution for 2002. Try this one on for size: tennis instruction. Sure, you say, just two people with rackets, a net and a ball. No problem — until you have to show someone else how to do it.

“Tennis is the greatest freedom-vs.-responsibility game. You’re free to hit it as hard as you want, but you also have the responsibility to get it over the net and keep it in,” said Macdonald. “This is where tennis is a lot like life. It’s gray, it’s not black and white. Yes, you’ve got to be aggressive, but we’re also asking you not to make unforced errors.

“When I watch really good tennis players, it’s really creative and disciplined at the same time. You can’t just do what you want, but you also can’t play formulaically, paint-by-numbers. You have to read the situation and come up with the right response. It’s almost like solving a math problem, or finding the right combination in boxing — left jab, right jab, what’s going to work.”

Compounding the dilemma is the individual nature of the sport. Macdonald observed that as a coach, one has to instruct the team the same, but teach individuals differently — a real paradox.

“The real challenge in tennis is how to teach them to control themselves and know what they need to do, but also to have an idea of what the other person is doing,” Macdonald pointed out. “And, one player on my team might do it one way, and another might not have such skills and has to find another way.

“You have to break it down and keep it very simple, not so complicated. Some can handle a little more and have games that are tactically advanced and we can say, ‘Hey, you have to break them down this way, this way, and this way,’ and they get it. Others don’t see tennis that way, and it’s not right or wrong.”

And don’t forget the restrictions of time and space, some dictated by the NCAA, some inherent in the constitution of an 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old adult.

“The challenge is, I only get to work with these players 2 1/2 hours a day, and some individual work,” Macdonald said. “There’s so much information I have to get out, like 12 ounces of that every day for each player, and if they drink that 12 ounces, it was a great day. You can’t say, ‘Drink a gallon.’ They’re going to begin to hate it and resent the sport.”

Conflict

Macdonald is the son of two Canadians and relishes all of the diversity and opportunity that this country has to offer. However, something rotten is afoot in collegiate tennis. Many elite programs stock their rosters with imports, international veterans who in some instances have competed on professional tours in Europe or Asia.

“That’s a competitive advantage,” Macdonald emphasized. “I don’t think that’s fair, and I wish the SEC and NCAA would show a little backbone and enforce the rules because I think they’re selling out the American kids.

“This is a country of immigrants. It’s a melting pot, we’re diverse, we’re open. That said, I still think scholarships should be given to kids who come up as U.S. citizens. I’m not against international players in balance. It’s wonderful; you’re introducing your US kids to another culture and person. Sadly, it’s gone so far the other way.

“I would say the majority of our schedule will have more international players than US players. I don’t think that was the intent of Title IX. You’re playing public schools that are small, the third or fourth institution in the state, and they’re top-twenty in tennis because they have an entirely international team of semipro players. That doesn’t strike me as right.”

Climax

When that delicate balance of team-versus-individual is achieved, the results can be magical. Macdonald recalled one instance earlier this season that set his heart aflutter about the 2001 edition of Commodore women’s tennis.

“We’re were playing at Arkansas at the end of January, there in Fayetteville, and they’re tough,” Macdonald recollected. “We lost the doubles and we’re down 1-0. The singles are going on, and they’re ahead of us on every court.

“And you could see the team just dig in quietly; they didn’t get rattled, they didn’t panic, they just fought. You could see this click, like, ‘Time to go.’ Sitting there courtside, I thought, ‘I love this team, win or lose, no matter what happens the rest of the day.

“Julie (Ditty) beat a two-time All-American at one in an unbelievable match, and Jenny (Miller) won in three. We could have lost that match, but I saw it happen.”

Vanderbilt has vaulted to No. 6 in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll. After romping past 25th-ranked Texas A&M 7-0, the Commodores were 13-1 on the season, their only loss at the hands of No. 1 rated Stanford. That defeat came at the elite National Team Indoor Championships, where the Black and Gold tied for third.

Denouement

With a resume that includes three-year stints at Duke and LSU, and a wife who taught at five universities before landing at Vanderbilt, some may wonder if Macdonald’s days at Vanderbilt might be numbered.

Fear not, Commodore followers. The Macdonald clan — Geoff, Kate, sons Sam (15), Gus (10) and daughter Jane (seven) — are happily ensconced in Music City.

“You don’t just move three kids,” Macdonald said. “We moved here when our oldest was in third grade, and it was really difficult. I don’t see us moving from here, because we both love Nashville and Vanderbilt.

“I’m in a phase in my life where keeping things stable and in a routine is more important because I’m raising kids, than where, earlier in my life, hey, if it’s new I want to do it. I also see the value as a father of being home at six as a routine after school.”

Postscript

“Most days I feel just lucky to do it,” said Macdonald of his profession. “I go to work in shorts. If I wanted to go home right now, I could go home right now. I don’t want to, I’ve got practice to do, and I don’t want to.”

The Macdonald File