Center named USPTA National College Coach of the Year
AUSTIN, Texas -- University of Texas head men's tennis coach Michael Center has been selected as the National College Coach of the Year by the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA), the world's largest organization of tennis-teaching professionals. "It's a great honor to get an award from the USPTA, the premier teaching organization in the world," Center said. "It's exciting that this organization has recognized me, and I appreciate the award. I share the award with our assistant coach, Ricardo Rubio, who has been so instrumental in the continued development of our program." Center, who began his eighth season at Texas on Sept. 21 at the H-E-B Baylor Invitational, led the Longhorns to its second consecutive NCAA round-of-16 appearance last season, as UT compiled a 20-9 overall record and a 4-2 mark in Big 12 Conference play. Freshmen Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala earned berths in the 32-team doubles draw, and Kutrovsky earned a spot into the 64-player singles draw at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Kutrovsky and Zavala earned All-Big 12 honors last season, as did junior Luis Diaz Barriga. Texas reached the NCAA semifinals under Center in 2006, as the Longhorns ended the season with a No. 3 national ranking, the highest of Center's UT tenure. Texas began the 2007-08 season on a high note as freshman Kellen Damico and senior Hubert Chodkiewicz won their respective 64-player singles draws at the H-E-B Baylor Invitational.
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