Since 1998, Jeff Brown has been at the helm as LSU’s men’s tennis coach.
Brown, 50, was a standout on the courts for LSU in the late ’80s, and went on to have a solid professional career in doubles matches before returning to LSU as an assistant coach in 1995.
“I can still remember so clearly when I was an assistant for a few years,” Brown said. “I can still remember all the different relationships I’ve had with all the players, and when I first took over as the head coach. So much of it is so clear, yet there have been 20 seasons that have gone by.”
Brown’s success in his first two years as the head coach were by far his most extraordinary.
In 1998, the team finished with a record of 25-2. The Tigers won the Southeastern Conference Championship and finished second in the nation. The following year, Brown was named National Coach of the Year, as the Tigers again won the SEC and finished fourth in the nation.
“It was an opportunity with a team that we had,” Brown said. “The very first year I got a guy back off of a medical issue, and that made us really loaded. The more special year was the next year when we lost four of those guys off of the first Final Four team, and we were able to duplicate that success.”
However, Brown and the tennis program have never been able to match their early success. The tennis program was never truly invested in until recently. A brand new facility, the LSU Tennis Complex, opened in 2015 across the street from Alex Box Stadium.
“The facility we were in was not conducive to maintaining that success,” Brown said. “But we were able to continue it very well. To get this place, it is going to help us go and get back closer to those levels again.”
Another reason for the Tigers’ struggles to continue that heightened success has been the rise in competition at the collegiate level.
“There has been a lot of things that have happened in the NCAA, as far as how many teams are now competitive,” Brown said. “It is a big difference. There were only 16 teams that made the NCAA’s, but now there is a 64-draw so a lot more schools have invested in it.”
Brown’s ability to consistently get his team into that draw, even when the team may be a lesser-talented squad, is why he is considered one of the best coaches in the SEC.
“There has been a couple of years like [2017], where we started off poorly, Brown said. And you could not really see that it was going to be a possibility to make the tournament.
“I think having made the tournament in 17 out of 19 years, there were three or four of those years where I felt like it was kind of iffy, and we had some guys step up. Those are more special to me than some of the ones like the first year, where we were just so good and ultra talented. It’s the seasons when you can make something out of what is apparently nothing that are the most special, like this one can be.”
The 2017 season started off slow for Brown, having only won two out of the first eight games. However, he still views this team, which only has four upperclassmen, as one that can grow throughout the season.
“There’s been so many great teams, SEC Championship teams, Final Four teams, teams that have gotten to the doubles NCAA Championships and so many other high moments,” Brown said.