Buffs In Good Hands With Steinberg As Head Coach

BOULDER – Danielle Steinberg stepped foot on Colorado's campus this week after being introduced as the new women's tennis coach of the Buffaloes on Tuesday.

She arrived in Boulder late Wednesday and was introduced to staff, CU supporters and the tennis community on Thursday before heading back out on Friday. Her first duties on the job will be to hire an assistant coach and to hit the road recruiting.

In her first six seasons as a head coach, Steinberg has built up quite the reputation across the country. In both the tennis world and the athletic director circle, by all accounts her hiring to be the Buffs' new head coach has made an impression.

"(CU athletic director) Rick George has hired a tenacious leader who will be a tremendous asset to both CU athletics and the Boulder community, while elevating Buffalo tennis into a Pac-12 contender," said John Currie, Kansas State's athletic director from 2009-17, who hired Steinberg to Manhattan from McNeese State.

Entering one of the toughest tennis conferences in the country – a Pac-12 program has won the NCAA women's championship 11 times since 2000 - is a challenge that Steinberg not only looks forward to, but knows will help her as she looks to establish her program at CU.

"Obviously it is one of the top tennis conferences in the country, but that gets me excited," Steinberg said. "The challenges and the players we want to recruit, the players that want to play in the Pac-12 and against the best players in the country, it is a great recruiting tool."

When it comes to recruiting, she has built up a strong resume in her half-dozen years as a head coach.

"She is a tremendous recruiter and has accomplished so much during her time at Kansas State," said Lisa Hart, Washington State's head coach. "Having played in the Pac-12, she is already very familiar with our conference and I have no doubt she will be very successful at Colorado."

At McNeese State, Steinberg recruited to Lake Charles the 2013 and 2014 Southland Conference Freshmen of the Year, including Klaudia Gawlik, who was the overall SLC Player of the Year in 2013.

She also brought in Maria Linares, the 2018 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, to Kansas State. Her last recruiting class at Kansas State was ranked as the 14th-best in the country by tennisrecruiting.net.

"I think there is so much going on here that is going to appeal to recruits," Steinberg said of CU. "Obviously the high academics, it is a great school. Boulder is probably one of the nicest cities in the country. Then I really want to build a program that is going to attract a hungry kid, hungry players and a build a program of excellence. Once we have that then we'll have the complete package, really."

Steinberg showed that drive to be successful ever since she first got into coaching. When she was first hired at McNeese State she reached out to Lee Taylor Walker, who had built up Memphis into a top 25 program.

"She kind of reached out and wanted to know, 'how can I do this, how can I do that.' We had just finished building a pretty good program at the University of Memphis and she was ready to get it going," Walker said. "It took me about six years to build a good program at Memphis and it took her about two at McNeese State and another two or three at Kansas State.

"I would just say that she's kind of an all-in in every aspect. From building relationships with players, to recruiting to the player development to the in-match coaching, she just kind of checks off all the boxes. It is hard to find people as intense and tenacious and as driven as her, so I think you got a very driven coach who wants to do things the right way with integrity and she is going to be real successful."

It was all that and more that made her CU's top candidate to take over as head coach.

"Her accomplishments as a player at Arizona and in her two roles as head coach at McNeese State and Kansas State has really shown that she is a proven winner and that she is going to do great things at CU," athletic director Rick George said. "We are excited that she is in our family and excited what she will do for our women's tennis program and for our tennis community at large."

Colin Foster, Wichita State's head coach who hired Steinberg as an assistant coach in 2010, applauds the way she goes about her business.

"We started off here together at Wichita State and I really enjoyed my time here with her, and I've enjoyed watching her grow and develop into really one of the premier coaches in the country," Foster said. "She has been able to build programs and build programs the right way at each of her previous stops and certainly was a big part of our success in her time here.

"She is great, passionate, energetic, enthusiastic and is a winner, but she does it the right way. She doesn't compromise her values to get the job done."

Colorado University Athletics

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