(Story courtesy of Trinity University)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Trinity University Tigers head men's and women's tennis coach Russell McMindes has been named the United State Professional Tennis Association Texas Division College Coach of the Year.
Coach McMindes will be presented the award Feb. 11 during the
annual USPTA Texas Division Annual Conference at Grapevine,
Texas.
He is in third season as the Tigers head men's tennis coach, and
the first at the Trinity women's helm.
Coach McMindes has guided the Tiger men to the NCAA Division III
Championships for two straight years. The Tigers advanced to the
national quarterfinals after winning the regional tournaments in
2010 and 2011. Trinity also won its second consecutive Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship, in April 2011.
He led recent Trinity graduates Cory Kowal and Bobby Cocanougher
to the 2010 NCAA Doubles Championship match. The Tiger duo won the
National Small College Championships Division III Doubles title in
2009. Last May, senior Max Frey advanced to the NCAA Singles
semifinals, becoming the first Tiger player to achieve that feat
since 2006.
The month of October 2011 was especially successful for coach
McMindes and his Tiger protégés. Four Trinity players
competed in the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National
Small College Championships at Mobile, Ala.
Frey and junior Erick DelaFuente took home fifth place in the
Division III Men's Doubles event. In addition, Frey represented the
Tigers in men's singles at the prestigious tournament. First-year
player Mackenize Knoop placed sixth in women's singles, and
teamed with first-year teammate Stephanie Williamson in
doubles.
All of the participants qualified for the national tournament by
capturing ITA Regional Championships.
Coach McMindes is definitely familiar with the Trinity tennis
tradition, as he spent seven seasons as the Tiger men's assistant
coach - under the legendary Butch Newman, now Trinity's director of
tennis - prior to taking over the reins in the fall of 2009. Coach
McMindes was named the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association West
Region Men's Tennis Assistant of the Year.
As a Tiger player, coach McMindes earned All-SCAC honors for
three years, and was a member of Trinity's 2000 NCAA Division
III national championship team. Before joining the Trinity program,
he played for one season for Oklahoma Christian University, and
became a Tiger his sophomore year.
Coach McMindes credits a lot of the success of the Trinity teams
to his brother, Jacob McMindes, who is also his assistant coach.
Jacob McMindes was named the 2011 ITA Division III West Region
Men's Assistant Coach of the Year, the same honor his older brother
received.
Russell McMindes earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity in engineering science in 2002, with a concentration in chemical engineering. A resident of San Antonio, he was the Clemens High School valedictorian in 1997.
