Dominic Modise is wrapping up his first season as the head coach for both men’s and women’s tennis. Before coming to Nicholls, he served as an assistant coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and most recently was an assistant coach of women’s tennis at the University of New Orleans.Q: How has your first year as head tennis coach been?
A: “Actually, I don’t really feel like a first-year head coach, because when I was at UNO I did the same thing. I was running the team. My first year at Nicholls as the head coach was tough. It was a learning experience, learning to be an underdog and realizing that I cannot always win all the time. Having always played at the big programs, I’m used to winning all the time. It’s good. It’s not bad. I can use it as a learning experience to realize that sometimes I have to start from the bottom and go up because I’m used to starting up-doing well and going up.”
Q: Was it a difficult transition for you since this was your first head coaching position?
A: “The only difference was a title change. I had an advantage because at both institutions I had a chance to have head coaching duties. That was the advantage about it, but the difference was the title changes (moving up from assistant coach to head coach).”
Q: Was it difficult coming in as a new head coach and trying to improve the women’s squad while simultaneously reviving the men’s program?
A: “Yeah. It was one of the toughest jobs. I have to deal with the men’s tennis programs. The reputation that the women’s program had was not a winning program. What I do is try to convince some of the men’s players to come here, that it’s a great place, and then at the same time we get the women’s results and say ‘whoa.’ For the guys that I’ve brought here to come here, it’s a hell of a job to make those changes and get to where we’re at in a short period of time to be able to have a tennis program. Usually one gets a year to be able to do that.”
Q: How has the challenge of rebuilding the men’s squad been?
A: “It’s tough. It’s a lot of work because I don’t really want to bring everybody for the hell of it. I want to start with a decent men’s program because it’s going to affect our recruiting in the future. It’s not an easy job. I do my best with what I can, and that’s the key. It’s pretty tough, but it’s something that we’ll work on. I had only two scholarships with the men’s program. It’s really tough to start a program with two scholarships. If I have four or five scholarships, I can do better. To get the guys we have with two scholarships is a good deal.”
Q: How difficult for you was the time you missed leading up to the start of the season for both teams?
A: “Actually it was not hard because I only missed one match. It was a little bit tough because I had to make up for the past couple weeks of practice. It was obvious when I came back that some people were not ready because they thought I’d never come back. But then I came back, and we got back to where we’re supposed to be. I managed to get things going, and we got it on track. My first priority when I came here was to take care of the kids-to make sure that everything’s good for them. That really was my first priority because I didn’t really care about winning or losing, but I cared more about taking care of the kids.”
Q: What has been the most challenging aspect of coaching the tennis teams this year?
A: “It’s hard coaching both teams because I have to travel. I have to give each team attention. That’s why I decided to separate the practices. I have to give each team attention, because if I have 16 players it’s hard to give 16 players attention at the same time. Coaching two teams, it’s very difficult. Not all teams have men’s and women’s tennis teams. A coach can’t always schedule to play one team. A coach can take the men’s team and women’s team to play their team. A coach can do that with a lot of teams because they have separate head coaches.”
Q: What is your opinion of the way the squads have performed so far this season?
A: “With the men’s tennis program, I figured we played some matches that we could have clinched. The hardest thing was some of the guys were not cleared to practice to play in matches, so it was a little bit tough playing with three guys who could play and three guys who were on the cross country team. When we got all those guys together, it felt so much better like we were a team and we played better. For the women’s program, there are some teams that we could have beaten, but we need more experience. We need more people who can bring something different to the team to make it better.”
Q: What are your goals for the future for both programs?
A: “My goal is to recruit good athletes who will come here and represent the University on and off the court. They get respected. My goal is to get the program to get respect from other schools. Nicholls State is always looked upon as Nicholls State. I want Nicholls State to get respect for their play, their athletes who can compete-not that we’re going to walk through.”
Q: What aspects of the tennis programs would you like to change in the future?
A: “I think there’s a perception to get people to support the program-people to believe that I’m going to be here to make it better. I’ve done better. I’ve done a lot to get the program better since I came here. Getting the right players, getting the right athletes, it’s a key. I want to get the tennis team involved in the community-to give back to the community. We need to give back for what we have-especially for the people who support tennis.
Q: Will you continue to recruit international players in the future for the men’s squad? Will you recruit individuals to play on the women’s squad as well?
A: “A coach has to recruit international, both men and women, unless he becomes a top 50 program in the country. With a top 50 program, we might attract the best Americans easily if they want to come here because there’s a good tennis program. It’s not even guaranteed. Let’s say a top 20 ranking, which is tough. Then I have to recruit internationally because the level every team in the country is at has internationals, especially in our conference.
