Kenneally To Retire As CU Women's Tennis Coach
May 21, 2018 | Tennis
Kenneally also was named ITA Mountain Region Coach of the Year on Monday
BOULDER—University of Colorado women's tennis coach Nicole Kenneally, who has been at the reins of the Buffalo program for the last 19 seasons, announced Monday her intention to retire from coaching.
She made her announcement on the same day that the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) named her as the Coach of the Year for the Mountain Region. Kenneally was also honored as the Big 12 Conference's Coach of the Year in 2007.
"The University of Colorado has always been an institution that I have believed in and had faith in," Kenneally said. "CU provides great opportunities and is a great institution of higher learning. It is incredible to think I have completed 19 years as it has flown by. First I would like to thank Dick Tharp, David Burton and Karen Morrison for believing in me way back when; they took a chance on me and I appreciate that they did. Second, I would like to thank all of the support staff –there are so many of them – who have been around the program in my time as they were invaluable.
"And of course, my players," she continued. "Thank you all the way back to the first team I inherited and everyone who followed. Thank you for performing to the best of your abilities. I have learned a little something from all of you and you will forever be in my thoughts with happy memory making moments. I would also like to thank the Boulder and tennis communities and everyone who supported our program over the years. I have made some great friends in both and want to send a special shout out to them."
The Buffaloes recently completed the 2017-18 season with a 9-12 overall record, which included a 2-7 mark in Pac-12 Conference matches. Within that mark was a 7-1 record against Mountain Region opponents, earning Kenneally the honor as the top coach in the eight-state region that includes Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the northern half of Arizona.
"I am extremely humbled to be receiving this award as there are a lot of respected successful coaches in our region," she said of the ITA honor. "We always played a competitive schedule and definitely within the Pac-12 faced many of the top teams in the country. As a player sometimes it is tough to see, but one of the things that we were proud of for this year's team was that through it all, everyone continued to improve throughout the season and it all really came together in our last Pac-12 match versus Utah (a 4-3 win by the Buffaloes). I want to thank the players, support staff and the committee for thinking I am deserving of it."
"We really appreciate the contributions that Nicole has made to our athletic department," CU athletic director Rick George said. "We also want to congratulate her on being selected as the ITA regional coach of the year. It's a fitting honor for her to finish off her career with that recognition."
Kenneally completed the 12th-longest coaching tenure in CU athletic history, the third-longest by a female coach. Only Ceal Barry (basketball, 22 seasons) and Anne Kelly (golf, finishing her 21st) are the only women who have coached longer at CU. When hired at CU on August 6, 1999, at the age 26, she was the youngest head coach for major Division I program.
She is the second-winningest women's tennis coach in CU history in terms of total wins, compiling 187 victories. She led the Buffs to the NCAA Tournament twice (2003, 2007) and the team finished nationally-ranked eight times (all between the 2003 and 2010 seasons). While CU was in the Big 12 Conference, she helped the team finish in the top four three times (2007, 2008 and 2009) and reach the semifinals of the conference tournament three times (2003, 2005 and 2008). Seventeen of her athletes were named all-conference over the course of her 19 seasons. Academically, her teams earned 54 conference academic individual awards and she coached 37 ITA Scholar-Athletes.
With a career record of 187-233, she presided over 420 dual matches and countless other days in tournament competition, likely nearing 650 overall days of competition for her career, which would put her second all-time to Barry's 669 women's basketball games. Her best season was in 2006-07, when the Buffs finished 16-8 overall, with a 9-2 record in Big 12 play.
During her tenure, she had six players honored as a regional rookie of the year, most recently freshman Linda Huang this year as the Mountain Region selection. When CU was a member of the Big 12, Lynzee Kever (2004) and Monica Milewski (2006) claimed the honor for the Central Region, and after the ITA realigned the nation into 12 different regions in 2009, the Buffaloes were shifted to the Mountain Region; since, Julyette Steur (2012), Dhany Quevedo (2013) and Tina Bokhua (2015) have been recognized with the honor.
"We have had highs and lows," Kenneally said. "There were times when everything fell into place, but also times when times were tough. Either way, we always fought like Buffaloes and put our best foot forward. I look forward to supporting the new coach and all future players."
She paused to reflect on some of her favorite memories in her nearly two decades in Boulder.
"There are so many things that pop into my mind when I think about my favorite times," Kenneally reminisced. "The first year group was always a special one as I had three great seniors in Nadine (Kenzelmann), Jessica (Garrow) and Cindy (Schatz) with junior and sophomore players, Miranda (Evans) and Tracy (Moore) and a group of four freshmen who all graduated from the team. With me being so young, I really felt like I went through a freshmen year myself of head coaching with them.
"The other highlights include the graduation ceremonies and seeing everyone cross their respective podiums, and even those that took place in hotel rooms due to late season play," she continued. "Van rides, meal times and generally spending time with the team, are all up there. On the court, it's hard to narrow down to just one highlight, but those that definitely stand out is being the first number eight seed to beat a number one (Baylor) at the Big 12 Championships in 2003; coming back from being down 3-1 in matches versus 12th-ranked William & Mary to first tie it at 3-all, and then down 4-2 in the third set and then beating them. And definitely our first Pac-12 team victory against Arizona."
Kenneally in her time at CU also served in numerous capacities with the ITA, including 12 seasons on its national board of directors and the executive and budget committee. She spent 15 years on its national operating committee, including a decade as its associate national chair. She also was with the regional committees, the Central Region when CU was in the Big 12 for six years, and the Mountain Region for the last six seasons, including the final four as its chair.
She was also involved in extensive community service, particularly in Boulder. She was the founder and director of the Tennis Marathon for Breast Cancer after three of her players' mothers were afflicted with the disease. She helped raise over $125,000 in the 10-plus years of the event that was donated to Boulder Community Health and other local non-profits. For these and other community efforts, Kenneally was presented with the 2017 ITA Team Community Service Award.
Assistant coach Mike Phillips will serve as interim head coach until a successor is named, in which for CU will begin a national search immediately. A search committee has been formed, with Jill Keegan (Assistant AD/Compliance) to chair it, with members to include George, Joe Jupille (CU's Faculty Representative to the Pac-12), Tracy Tripp (Assistant AD/Human Resources) and Alexis Williams (Assistant AD/Ticket Operations).
Kenneally will remain on staff, coaching CU's tennis camps May 29-June 22; as for her future, she said, "Right now, I'm just going to sit back, do a little traveling, take some much deserved time for me and figure out what I want to do next. It may or may not be in the tennis world."
Players Mentioned
