Chuck Kriese Position: Head Coach

Clemson Head Coach Chuck Kriese develops and educates winners. He is proud of his players' accomplishments both on and off the court.

Kriese proved his coaching practices and theories are successful for the long term when he won 26 matches in 2004, his 29th season leading the program. Now the fourth winningest active coach in college tennis, his 2004 team finished second in the ACC tournament and reached the NCAA Final Eight.

In 2003, the Tigers were 25-11 and finished second in the ACC. The victory total included a victory over sixth-ranked Georgia and a birth into NCAA Tournament for the 20th time in his career.

Kriese,the father of three sons, is challenged more by developing his players into well-balanced individuals rather than seeing them become one-dimensional athletes. He is concerned with a player's total well-balanced growth-physical, mental and emotional development while they are at Clemson.

"A player must be physically capable of the skill, he must mentally recognize and have confidence in that capability, and lastly and most importantly, he must be emotionally comfortable with the level of achievement that he is striving to reach."

Becoming a well-balanced individual requires discipline and dedication and these are key planks in Kriese's coaching platform.

"I really try to stress to my guys 100 percent effort is required in striving for their goals in all walks of life. I am concerned with the inner growth of the person and for the players to always think in terms of an inside-out performance. Athletics is probably the last great training ground for our nation's leaders of tomorrow. It is the one area where the quick fix and microwave results just will not work. I love the base of solid fundamentals that it gives to youngsters to carry throughout their lives.

"This usually means deferred and not immediate results or gratification. It also means hard work and frequent setbacks. These are ideals that our microwave society in America does not always understand. But it is still the only principle from which a young man or woman can grow. Personal discipline and working hard for deferred gratification instead of only the moment are the habits of the champion."

Kriese's philosophies as a coach have proven to be successful over the years.

Academically, over 95% of all tennis players who have stayed four years at Clemson have earned their degree.

Kriese took over the reigns of a dormant Clemson tennis program in 1975, and he promptly turned the tide in his first year, leading the netters to their most wins ever at the time, 17. From this point, Kriese has formed a national tennis powerhouse compiling a career record of 591-368 overall (29 years) and a 148-62 mark in regular season ACC play. He became the ACC's winningest coach in 1995 for total wins, and is now ninth in the nation among active coaches, 15th among active and retired coaches. He won his 500th career match on April 10, 1999 with a 5-2 victory over North Carolina at Clemson's Hoke Sloan Tennis facility. Overall, he has 116 career top 25 wins, more than any other Clemson coach in any sport in history.

Prior to Kriese's arrival in Tigertown, only the 1969 Tiger team had won an ACC title. Since 1979, Clemson has been successful in ACC tennis and won 10 regular season conference titles and 10 tournament titles. This includes the 1997 season when Clemson won three matches in three days in Atlanta, GA, including a thrilling 4-3 triumph over 12th-ranked Duke. That was his 100th career win over a top 20 team.

Between 1979 and 1999, Clemson has won 144 of 181 conference tennis matches. Since 1978, the Tigers have won 68 of 80 ACC home matches.

Clemson made 18 trips to the NCAA Tournament between 1979 and 1999 and 11 straight between 1979 and 1989.

The Tigers have finished in the Final Eight of the NCAA tournament six times and among the top 20 in the final rankings every season but seven since 1979, and the 1986 club finished fifth overall. Under Kriese's tutelage, 17 Tigers have earned 31 All-America honors, and four of these players have been named National Senior Player-of-the-Year. Also, 34 different Tigers have won 48 ACC championship flights under Kriese.

Along with the flow of individual and team honors that have come Clemson's way since 1980, Kriese has picked up several prestigious awards of his own. He is a six-time ACC Coach-of-the-Year selectee, as well as a five-time Southern Tennis Coach-of-the-Year honoree. His first national award came in 1981, when he was selected the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association Coach-of-the-Year, as well as the United States Professional Tennis Association National Award Winner, which he won again in 1986. He was the first Clemson coach regardless of sport, to be named national coach of the year.

Kriese is very active in college tennis administration and has served on the Board of Directors of the ITA. He is a much sought after guest lecturer. In 1991, Kriese lectured on his innovative coaching methods in England, Spain, the Netherlands and Japan. He has also appeared on ESPN's Instructional Series, "Play Your Best Tennis." In 1982, he was chosen to coach the U.S. Junior Davis team at the French Open. In November of 1983, Kriese was inducted into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame as its second charter member. And in 1985, he became the first tennis player ever to be inducted into the Tennessee Tech Hall of Fame.

In 1988, he completed his first book Total Tennis Training, a literary work on coaching techniques and motivation, which has already sold over 12,000 copies, and it is in its third printing. Kriese completed his second book, Winning Tennis in 1993. In the spring of 1994, he completed his third book Youth Tennis. His fourth book, Coaching Tennis hit the bookstores in the summer of 1997. This past December he co-authored a book on the history of Clemson athletics entitled Clemson--Where the Tigers Play.

The 50-year-old Kriese is a native of Indianapolis, IN. He is a 1972 graduate of Tennessee Tech. He spent 1973 in New York working for his mentor, Australian Harry Hopman (who was largely responsible for his coaching philosophies and beliefs) at the Port Washington Tennis Academy (NY) before returning to Tech to complete his master's degree in health and physical education (1975).

Coach Chuck Kriese has two ways in measuring his impact on the Clemson tennis program-by trophies in the trophy case and successful individuals who benefitted from his teaching and coaching-a winning combination.

CLEMSON ALL-STARS UNDER KRIESE
INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL AWARD WINNERS
Mike Gandolfo, ITA National Senior Player-of-the-Year, 1980
Mark Dickson, ITA National Senior Player-of-the-Year, 1982
Jean Desdunes, ITA National Senior Player-of-the-Year, 1983
Mitch Sprengelmeyer, ITA National Senior Player-of-the-Year, 1997
Matt Frooman, NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, 1987
Lawson Duncan, National Rookie-of-the-Year Award,1984
Rick Rudeen, Rafael Osuna Award,1984
Richard Matuszewski, Van Nostrand Memorial Award,1986
Mitch Sprengelmeyer, Van Nostrand Memorial Award,1997
17 Tigers have earned 31 All-America honors
37 Tigers have won 48 ACC individual flights under Kriese
15 of his former players named to ACC 50-Year Anniversary Team

CLEMSON TEAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS UNDER KRIESE
NCAA
21 NCAA team appearances
7 Final Eight finishes in the NCAA Tournament
12 Final 16 finishes in the NCAA Tournament
14 Top 20 Coaches Poll finishes since 1979
116 career wins over top 25 teams, including 43 top 10 victories

ACC
10 ACC regular season titles
10 Conference Championships
10 ACC Tournament titles
81 of 98 ACC wins at home since 1978
Clemson has won 172 of its last 239 ACC matches
The Tigers have a record of 176-79 against ACC competition under Kriese (regular season and ACC tournament matches)
148-62 vs. the ACC in regular season matches
28-17 in the ACC Tournament
Six-time ACC Coach-of-the-Year

INNOVATIONS BY KRIESE
Momentum Control in Sports
PEPP-Motivation Program
Strength Flexibility Program for the Tennis Player
Motor Fitness Enhancement and Anaerobic Training
Nationwide lecturer and speaker
Motivation Specialist
Doubles specialist
Developer of Power Groove Swing Trainer
Author of five books

QUOTES ABOUT KRIESE
"Chuck Kriese is the best motivator and physical conditioner in college coaching today. He obtains maximum talent and potential from all the players he trains."
David Markin--Chairman of the U.S. Davis Cup and past president of the USTA.

"Chuck Kriese's Total Tennis Training is one of the best books ever written on Tennis and Coaching."
Bobby Bayliss, Head Tennis Coach, University of Notre Dame.