Some people were born to play. Others were born to coach. Jeff Brown was one of the few destined to do both.Brown was a doubles All-American and the fifth all-time winningest singles player in LSU history before becoming LSU’s men’s tennis coach.But Brown wasn’t a homegrown Tiger. In fact, he lived in Gator Country, and it took the willingness of a certain coach to pull the Gainesville, Fla., native to Baton Rouge.”Coach [Jerry] Simmons did his homework, and he knew I was a good athlete,” Brown said. “He took a chance on me and gave me the best scholarship offer.”Brown joined the professional circuit after his tenure at LSU. He defeated Pete Sampras and Jim Courier in the first round of the U.S. Open doubles tournament in 1990 and made it to the round of 16. He had the same finish at Wimbledon in 1991.”When I was young and felt like I needed to prove something to     myself, it was satisfying to end up on the pro tour and playing in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,” he said.Brown said traveling might have been the best part about playing professionally.”Seeing every part of the world and seeing different cultures really helped me to see how people were different yet the same in so many ways,” Brown said.Brown made his way back to Baton Rouge in 1994 when Simmons asked him to return as an assistant and hasn’t left since.”It was nice to get the call to transition back into college tennis as [Simmons’] assistant,” Brown said.Brown has been a role model to many of his players, but his influence on sophomore Neal Skupski runs in the family.”My brother told me coach Brown was a really good coach, and it would be a really good opportunity for me to improve in tennis if I came to LSU,” Skupski said.Skupski’s brother, Ken, is currently in the top 100 in the ATP Individual Doubles Rankings. He was an All-American at LSU twice in singles and once in doubles before graduating in 2007.Neal Skupski is reaping the same benefits his older brother once had from Brown’s tutelage.”He’s helped me in many different ways,” Neal Skupski said. “He was a very good doubles player in the past, and he’s helped on the doubles court.”
The start to Brown’s head coaching career was remarkable. The Tigers were Southeastern Conference champions and won the SEC tournament in Brown’s first two seasons as head coach in 1998 and 1999. “In ’98 we had a bunch of talent that was already assembled when I got here,” Brown said. “When we lost that team I really felt like it was a nice effort to get back to the Final Four [in 1999].” Brown promoted coach Danny Bryan to assistant coach in July 2008 from his original position of student assistant.Bryan was a former Tiger and served as LSU co-captain his junior and senior year. He was a doubles All-American his senior season.”[Brown] is the reason why I wanted to be a coach,” Bryan said.Bryan said Brown taught him how essential it is to keep a calm demeanor and prepare properly as a coach.”The way he’s motivated me throughout my career and been such a big influence on me personally and athletically really inspired me to help other people out so they could have the same great experience I had here,” Bryan said.—-Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]