Danny Bryan was born to play tennis. His family made sure of it. His father, Bill Bryan, said his son could swing a tennis racquet before he could walk. “By the time he was old enough to walk, I had already been standing him up while my wife held him, and [we] moved his arms to make sure he had good strokes,” Bill Bryan said. “By the time he and his sister were old enough to say ‘Mama’ and ‘Daddy’ they had good strokes.” Bill Bryan is a coach at Aurora Tennis and Swim Club in New Orleans along with Danny Bryan’s mother and grandfather. One of Danny Bryan’s uncles is a coach at New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club, and another uncle teaches tennis in Germany. “It was all premeditated,” Bill Bryan said jokingly. “I gave my wife a tennis lesson when we first started dating because she didn’t play. I had to make sure she was good for breeding purposes so I could breed two college tennis players.” Danny Bryan’s tennis career began at the junior level and at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. He was ranked No. 1 in Louisiana and in the top 10 in the nation for five years in high school prior to coming to LSU in 2003. His success on the court continued as he made the transition to college tennis. The four-year letterman is currently tied for 14th place on the LSU singles wins list with 84 and has 110 career doubles wins. Now, Danny Bryan is beginning a new chapter in his life. He is on the other side of the tennis world as an LSU coach. “I grew up with coaches around me, and throughout my career I really enjoyed my time here,” he said. “I wanted to help other people experience the same things I did. I started talking to [LSU men’s tennis coach] Jeff a lot about it, and this is what I realized I wanted to do.” Danny Bryan said making the transition to coaching had its challenges. “The first challenge is I played with a bunch of the guys, so it was kind of weird being on one side of it where you’re actually teammates with the guy, and now you’re actually coaching them,” he said. LSU assistant men’s tennis coach Mark Booras said Danny Bryan is a great asset to the coaching staff, and his experience as a player is valuable. “First and foremost as a successful athlete here, he’s been there and done that,” Booras said. “The guys understand that he knows how to get there, so they have a better respect for him because he’s actually been successful.” Bryan was especially successful with doubles partner Colt Gaston. They reached the NCAA doubles quarterfinals on their way to finishing No. 6 in the nation this past season. The duo also received All-American honors in 2007. Bill Bryan could not be prouder of his son’s success. “When he and Colt were on the verge of making All-American, I told everybody at the club that if anybody sees me do anything but smile for the next seven years to just hit me in the head,” he said. “And they actually did it, so that was unbelievable.” Gaston said Danny Bryan has a bright future as a coach based on his performance as a player. “Danny’s the type of guy that takes tennis very seriously, so he’s going to do whatever he can to make the team as good as [it] can be,” Gaston said. “And last year playing doubles with him, he was very prepared for every match and just took everything so seriously.” Gaston said one of the biggest advantages of having Bryan as a coach is his ability to interact with the players in a different way than Booras and Brown. “He relates to the players very well because we look at him as one of our friends and a coach,” Gaston said. “We feel that we go to him for a lot of stuff that we wouldn’t go to the other coaches with.” Bryan said he also stresses the importance of school and community service. Bryan was the 2007 LSU Male Volunteer of the Year and received Southeastern Conference Community Service team honors three times. “I’ve tried to get the guys to get into community service,” Bryan said. “I was pretty into it when I was in school, and I really felt like that benefited me. I thought it was always great … to give back to the community any way we could.” Booras said the team is excited about Bryan’s presence on the coaching staff. “He wants to work hard with them, and he’s really committed to the job,” Booras said. “This is a career that he possibly wants to look into, so he’s getting the most out of it. Our guys are the ones benefiting from it, so we’re very thankful that he’s here giving us his time.”
—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]