November 5, 2025 • 26 mins
Andrew has transitioned from Asst. Coach at a P4 school to Head Coach at a Mid-Major. He has just led Georgia Southern to the best season in school history. Tune in and learn what he looks for in recruiting, how he leads this program and what the next steps are for the Eagles!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toepisode #20 of the UTR Pro
Tennis Tour Podcast. My name is James McKay, I'm the
director of player and collegiate development at UTR
Sports. As you know, the UTR Pro Tennis
Tour is the go to tour for rising tennis professionals
(00:23):
across the world. The next person I have on the
show, in my opinion, is one of the best young head coaches in
the country, Andrew Goodwin at Georgia Southern welcome on.
James, thanks for having me, man.
How, how's, how's life over there down down in Georgia
(00:46):
today? That's great.
It's great having a good time. We're kind of wrapping.
Up our fall. And staying busy, making sure we
finish this thing the right way,but loving it.
Let's go. So just so people know, I knew
Andrew very well. He was the assistant coach at
Mississippi State when I was theassistant coach at Tennessee.
(01:09):
So we competed a good amount andI got to see his coaching style,
his competitiveness and always admired what he's done as a
coach. Now he is at Georgia Southern
where he is the the head coach of the men's tennis team.
Andrew, I want to, I want to jump right in here.
(01:29):
I think the one of the goals of this podcast is to have real
conversations with believers obviously of of UTR.
But I want to jump in and and ask you, you've been an
assistant at a Power 5 school, right?
You are now a head coach at a mid major.
(01:49):
What has that transition been like for you professionally?
I've really enjoyed it. You know, when I first got in to
college coach, I noticed pretty soon I, I wanted to work my way
up to be a head coach. I, I'm in coaching because of my
junior coaches and who I had, especially through college.
I, I just, I felt like they really shaped me and how I act,
(02:13):
how I treat people who I'm surrounded by daily basis.
And I, I really just started seeing that.
I thought of being a head coach at a university could really
help me just emphasize that it'sthe best of my ability.
So I I'd love the transition. You know, when I was an
assistant at State, there weren't the same kind of same
kind of day-to-day. I wouldn't say issues, but
(02:35):
challenges when it comes to paying players and IO and
everything. I was not dealing with that.
There's other, other kind of stuff we were dealing with, but
as far as becoming a head coach,there are different, different
areas you can get stretched into.
I've absolutely loved it though,because I feel like there's no
one holding you back. And if you have an
administration that's going to back you up, you can address it
(02:57):
how you see fit to your values and what you feel like is most
important in running a team and showing them how we're going to
face things head on. And I've loved it.
You know, I, I think it takes a good amount of stress to off of
all those day-to-day challenges when, you know, OK, like there's
no excuse, like go address it and go figure it out.
And I think I've gotten better at just dealing with the
consequences of that. And I've I've loved it.
(03:19):
Can you do me a favor, Andrew, before I move on, can you just
move your camera a little bit toyour right?
There we go. Yeah.
So I got the window, yeah. He's getting a little bit
bright, but there we go. So on that you mentioned NIL.
Do you feel in your years since you've been the head coach at
Georgia Southern is becoming harder to recruit or is that in
(03:41):
a different range of, you know, UTR range of of player you're
looking for? In my opinion, and I feel like
if I'm getting into conversationwith guys that are asking that
I'm, I'm doing a pretty bad job because I shouldn't be, I
shouldn't be talking to those, those guys.
I mean, I think recruiting is hard enough, but I think it's
hard for everybody. And I, I got to be really,
(04:03):
really selective and really decisive of who I'm going after
and making sure, OK, like I'm not going to over be able to
overspend for, for guys I'm going to have to get them for
the right reasons. Guys they want to be coached
hard, guys they want to be poured into and guys they want
to compete and get better. Do you have a UTR range of a
player where you're like, OK, ifhe's around here and he can run
(04:26):
or he's doesn't have a clear deficiency, I'm going to go
after him or or no? I'm looking more at especially
for me, I, I feel like if I'm waiting until they pop off and
and get a good UTRI feel like I'm cheating myself.
I'm not playing to our strengths.
And I, I feel like I got to be the kind of guy that's digging
in and seeing OK, like this guy's made X amount of jump in
(04:48):
the past few months. That's a guy that's clearly on
the rise. I feel like if he continues this
like that, that's more what I'm looking for.
And especially too, if I can seea guy that has tools that I, I
feel like will translate to being successful here, that
that's more what I'm, I'm looking for.
But I mean, I, the UTR, it's thefirst thing I am looking for.
And I think there's a base levelas well kind of under that, just
(05:09):
under that 12 range. But when I'm looking a little
deeper of, OK, am I going to make a move on this guy?
It's OK. Has he been staying the same for
a while? Has he been dropping?
Is he going up? And I'm looking a lot of those
factors too. I will say on that, that I think
sometimes we get a little carried away with statistics,
you know, and it's like, I thinkback to some of our best
(05:31):
players, really. They were a low 12, but there
were a few things they had in common.
They could run. They were great athletes.
They naturally had the ability to keep the ball in play.
They didn't really have a deficiency.
And lastly, they were team players.
They they were absolute team players and they cared about so
(05:52):
and so if they got pulled out the line up, they said it's OK
coach and then they would go to the court and cheer the guy on
that that put that was put in instead of them.
So I do think there's sometimes we can get a little carried away
to you as a head coach. I see a lot of things that you
guys do on social media. Absolutely love it, by the way,
right? You're thinking outside the box.
(06:14):
You're trying to do team competitive things.
Who are you as a coach? What do you what do you believe
in? How do you you know you've?
I'll talk about your stats here in a minute, but what?
What are you trying to implementinto the program?
Yeah, into the program and all of our guys.
You know, I'm, I'm not a coach that's going to come up with
(06:34):
some crazy drill that's all of asudden going to change your
forehand and make you feel like Roger out there.
But I, I feel like I'm, I'm straight up with my guys and
very honest with them on a dailybasis of getting them to
understand. OK, hey, decisions you're making
right now, this is adding up to where you want to be a month
from now or a year from now. And I think my guys would say
I'm the first one to jump on andsay, hey, like, this ain't
(06:56):
adding up. Like that's not it with my guys.
I mean, I'm really valuing our overall attitude that we're
bringing every day and just our decision making.
You know, I, I feel like a lot of like college tennis when
you're in a match. I, I don't think it comes down
to the 10% of the days where everything is feeling great, but
it's more down to pay on this specific day.
(07:16):
Given what's in my tool belt right now, am I making the most
of it? Am I focus on what I can do
today to get this done? Or am I going to focus on what I
can't do? And so I'm very, very passionate
about my guys developing and just strong dudes out there.
And I, I feel like for me, a biggoal of mine, and this has just
come from my coaches, my, my experience from being in this
(07:38):
profession, I think you can get wrapped up and get kind of an
identity in the wrong things. And I, I want to make sure guys
come in here, they're clear on what their value is.
They're clear on kind of the impact or the impact they're
having on people around them. And they're clear like, hey,
what do I really bring to the table every day?
And I got to hold myself accountable and the team
accountable of bringing that every single time that they are
(07:58):
around this program. Andrew Goodman was the Sunbelt
Conference Coach of the Year in 2024 for the first time ever in
school history. They finished in the top 75 in
the rankings and also did that back-to-back years.
So I think that shows that what he's doing as a coach definitely
(08:22):
works. And I think you should listen.
I think you should listen to people that are able to do great
things. Nuno Borges, you coached him.
Tell us, why was Nuno Borges oneof the greatest players to ever
play college tennis and why is he one of the best players in
the world right now? That guy's one of my favourites
(08:45):
out there. The first thing that sticks out
to me about him. And I was listening to one of
your other broadcasts as well. And I, I think it was Dustin
Taylor that that mentioned this.But I, I thought it was pretty
similar with Nuno. Like one of the biggest things
with him, he was showed unbelievable appreciation for
the people around him and what was being invested.
(09:05):
And I think he understood that. And I mean, he always gave an
unbelievable effort. I mean, he had his faults, but
unbelievable effort, cared aboutthe people around him.
But I think he was, he was just as simple as a sound.
He's very aware of what's going on around him and aware of the
people that are helping him out,aware of the what's being
invested of him every day. And I think that helped him just
give so much more to people. I think it took pressure off of
(09:28):
him and he realized that this isn't really all about me.
But the thing too, I love that it's very selfless.
I mean, his senior year when he had, he had established himself
as one of the top dudes in college tennis as far as his
individual time and with his academics, there was one time he
could do it, his individuals during the week.
And it was with our number 8 guythat had just transferred him
(09:49):
from Delta State, one of my favorite dudes and, you know,
went into those individuals and absolutely wanted to kill the
guy and just went all out at him.
And that helped Stedman our guy more than anything because it
kind of gave him that confidencethat, hey, like I got to stop
looking at myself how I'm feeling.
This guy's the best dude out there and he's absolutely coming
after me and I, I, I freaking loved him and helps too with
(10:14):
that team. When you have a guy like that
with just giving no excuses, appreciation, everyone else is
going to follow. And, and he frankly, he had just
an unbelievable group of guys and team teammates around him.
So I'd, I'd say it was those twothings.
And then obviously he's just hyper competitive, extremely
driven. I think he was always wondering,
OK, what could he do next? And 2, the thing I loved is he
(10:37):
was honest with me. I mean, I had some of the talks
we'd have when he was playing after losing a few matches, we'd
kind of go at each other. But I, I mean, I, I hold my guys
pretty accountable and I go after my guys.
So I I respect someone telling me they disagreed or telling me
that hey, I think this way and we we get closer to the
solution. Love it.
Appreciation going back to you transitioning from a power 5
(11:03):
school to now. Your role at Georgia?
Southern, by the way, I'm a mid major guy.
Like played a mid major, strung my rackets total.
I, I, I will be honest with you,when I first went to Tennessee,
I struggled in the other way in terms of what all these players
got and all these bells and whistles.
I struggled with that. Now going back to your
(11:25):
situation, did you struggle going from having those nice
things to then maybe going to mid major where you don't?
I mean, not, not really. You know, there's an adjustment,
OK. Like, we can't, like, we, we
don't have an indoor facility here, but it's OK.
Are we going to whine about whenever we get rained out for
practice? Or am I going to make the most
(11:46):
of that time, watch film, meet with guys, go indoors and
condition? I mean, I, I, I still feel like
we have everything we need here to be damn good.
You know, So I, I, I feel like, yeah, if I, if I wanted to focus
on everything I don't have, I could find a reason to be really
negative and say, oh, we can't do something here.
But I feel like everything that you need to make steps forward a
(12:07):
program is. And now it just comes down to me
doing my job right and, and making sure we're, we're there.
Because at the end of the day, Ifeel like it's job as a coach to
assess your current situation. Like, where are we at as a
program? What's helping us make this next
step? I don't need to be looking at
the, the next step for us, the next step for us is not the same
as like a Clemson, like a UGA, like I, I don't need to be
(12:30):
comparing us right there. I just need to be on our path.
And like you, you've said beforetoo, everyone has like
developmentally you have different steps you need to be
taking at any kind of given moment to get better and it's
the same thing with our program.Has anything changed recently?
Obviously the state of college athletics is changing.
It's evolving, right? Has has anything changed on your
(12:54):
end in terms of fundraising? I'm sure every administration is
different. Are you told by your bosses or
administrators like if fundraising is really important?
I didn't personally do too much of that, but I'm just curious on
on Your end. Yeah, I mean, one, my
(13:14):
administration isn't really breathing down my neck and
telling me how to run, run my program, which I really
appreciate because I just think that shows they they trust me.
But they're like my a DS very upfront of saying, hey, this is
what we got here are your options if you want a little bit
more. And then it's just on me to act.
And so, yeah, I do decent amountof fundraising.
And I think especially here, it's a small college town, which
(13:36):
I love. And so I think it's important to
get just involved with the community, get people
comfortable just coming out to the courts anytime they can,
like going to the local country clubs in the area and just get
our name out there and showing, OK.
Like if you support, like these are our guys.
I think it's easier to do that stuff when you when you have a
personal connection. I'm really, really big into
that, yeah. And, and I'll be honest, when I
(13:57):
see a program unfortunately being cut it, it bothers me,
right? My advice to a lot of people out
there is the community won't care.
If you try to engage clubs with your student athletes, they will
love it. They will absolutely love it.
Pickleball clinics, I saw that recently a different school of
(14:17):
pro am. Get to know the players, a
signature, an autograph session,whatever it is, be creative and
try your absolute best to engagethat community because quite
honestly, some some people don'thave that much going on and they
would love to be involved. I don't know.
Anyway, back to how you said running your program, can you be
(14:41):
specific? What would a team practice look
like? What are you?
What do you do? What, what sort of is it
competitive? Is it, do you strap them?
Do you do a lot of double S? Is it feeding?
Is it technical? What?
What do you what do you guys do?And it's team practice, not not
really technical, but I, I, whether it's competitive base or
just certain tasks, I feel like when you're competing on the
(15:03):
court in a match core, it's you sink or swim, you have a
decision to make of, OK, am I going to get this done or not?
And so I like giving our guys tasks and practice where you got
to get this done to move on to the next.
Like whether it's winning a slice Game, 2 slice games of
seven from the baseline, all continental grip, whether then
it's just really simple stuff competing competition wise like
(15:25):
hitting certain targets. And I, I just want, I want guys
comfortable dealing with the pressure of crap.
If I am not where I need to be when I walk on court today, I
could be playing a slice game for two hours and, and we've had
that for certain stuff because Ithink that's like what it is in
a match. Like, no one's going to save you
and you have to make a decision of, OK, am I going to focus on
how I feel and how crappy the situation is?
(15:48):
Or am I going to engage my brainand make sure that I'm making
moves to separate from just getting this result And like,
what do I need to do to get it done?
And so like I said earlier, we don't have any crazy drills.
It's a lot of just concentrationstuff of keeping ball over the
net in between the white lines, like hitting the ball where I'm
aiming it. And then OK, like we got to hold
(16:09):
a, you got to win a certain amount of games before you get
done with your practice. So you got to hit a certain
amount of targets in in this amount of time.
And then sometimes a lot in the whole team is doing the same
thing at once. And if one guy messes up,
everyone else is starting over. So it's accountability, but
that's more of it. And then a lot of double stuff
as far as just knowing, hey, this is the most likely shot to
(16:31):
happen. Let's cover that and we'll see
how it works. There seems to be a correlation
between coaches that have rebuilt a program and
competition. Make things as competitive as
you possibly can. If you could change things with
college, tennis, the season, thefall, the spring day,
(16:54):
recruiting, anything. If you could change some things
to help grow the game, what would you do, if anything?
To grow the game. I mean, listen, the big one is I
feel like guys should be able toplay like we should be able to
take guys out to tournaments andplay as much as as much as we
can. You know, I, I don't get the
restrictions on keeping a guy like limiting him to a certain
(17:18):
amount of dates in, in the fall versus the spring, like guys
here to develop and they're, they're here to play.
And I feel like if you have the resources to back that up and
let them do it, then go for it. And then that, that's really the
big one. I'm not as not as creative with
this stuff as I know you probably hope I am, but I just
want guys out there. I want them playing.
I want that like our best players and just getting out to
(17:42):
a situation where people were seeing, OK, this is a damn good
product and I should I should maybe go to a few dual matches
in the spring too. Love it.
I think you are your players. Play PTT events I'm.
Pretty sure you are. Yeah, one of them helped out one
of our guys, especially this summer playing a bunch of them.
Davis. Yeah, why?
Why are you a believer in that? What what's what's the reason
(18:05):
for telling your guys to play? Yeah, I I think they need to be
competing consistently. I feel like just in the simplest
form, competing gives you an actual mirror of this is where
I'm really at with my game and this is where how my training is
actually adding up to me gettingwhere I want to go.
And I think you need that mirror.
And I think guys that kind of goagainst that are kind of lying
(18:27):
to themselves about what they need to to improve.
I think those events are great too, because it's multiple
matches and there's no hiding. Like you go O and 2:00, you got
to pick yourself up and you got to, you got to get it done.
Like there's no pulling out. There's no oh, OK, if I'm not
feeling it this day, then I can just go home.
And I think you like you finish what you start.
And I think that builds a resiliency of going about it the
(18:49):
right way, which I think is really, really important.
Yeah. And I, I'm a huge believer, huge
believer in it. I think we all of our guys need
and helped them. One of our especially one of our
guys was playing a bunch this summer and he got the mirror
real quick of of seeing where hewas at.
So it was great. Gave us a bit of a head start
this fall. Georgia Southern have a Power 6.
(19:11):
If you don't know what a Power 6means, it means your all of your
top six players. Their UTR ratings added up.
Your Power 6 is currently 70.90.Expectations, Goals on the year
conference. Tell us.
(19:31):
Tell us as much as you can aboutyour your expectations on the
season. Yeah, expectations.
So we do have a completely new team.
We have, we had nine guys last year and we have one, one
returner. Who's a senior?
Yeah. So, and we're getting some,
we're going to be able to, we'readding a guy or two in January
that's just getting finalized. Just depends on they can get
(19:53):
some visas. But as far as expectations with
that and our team, I'm pretty clear I'm more of a day-to-day
guy with our program. I feel like that's been a
strength and something I've really emphasized since coming
years that I, I don't want our guys valuing one match one day
over another because I feel likethat at the end of the day,
you're, you're letting somethingoutside yourself control your
best habits. And I don't think successful
(20:14):
people work like that. The the big thing for us with
this newer group is is making sure that we get down to it and
get them to understand what are.What's being successful in these
college matches really going to come down to and and I think a
lot of that too is going to stemfrom just making sure they form
their form an identity as a team.
You know, I have my idea of whatI want the team to be, but I
(20:35):
think guys aren't going to really fall.
Guys aren't going to 1000% buy into it unless they see them
forming it themselves. You know, I'm, I'm preaching our
values on a daily basis and they're kind of making it their
own. So the biggest thing for this
team right now is just day-to-day forming our
competitive, our toughness or identity that revolves around
(20:56):
that competitiveness and toughness.
And yeah, I want to see our guystrust it because I think
especially the younger team, if you haven't been through
something in general, sometimes you think, oh, I got to be
someone outside of myself to to be successful at this.
And the biggest thing right now is getting guys to really buy
into the identity we're forming as a team and saying, hey, look,
if we are hell bent to establishing this each day, it's
(21:19):
going to help us ride this roller coaster of a season.
We're not going to be living anddying with every result, every
big crack, every big match, every smaller match.
And it's going to give us a little like a little bit more
consistency. I think, because that's to me,
like when I, because I, I for mycoaching based on the best
people I've been around, whetherit's coaches or players.
And I feel like those people arethey're very authentic.
(21:41):
They're true to what they value and they're they're making their
decisions and their day-to-day is, is down to that.
It's not kind of they're not reacting based on one or two bad
days or one or two good days. It's this is important.
We're going to be hell bent on establishment.
So those are my expectations with our guys.
It's nothing kind of clear cut, but I wouldn't be saying that if
I didn't believe it would lead to lead to the results that we
(22:03):
want. No, I love it day-to-day, not
focusing too much on the outcome, just just process.
I will say with new players, there were times when we had new
players coming in. The power of a whiteboard, the
power of a whiteboard at your team practice, make it as
competitive as possible. Get everyone's name on there,
(22:24):
run lots of different scenarios and keep a track every single
day of who's winning and who's losing and whether you've been
there for two weeks or whether you've been there for two years.
No one likes to lose for the most part.
Keep a track, keep it as competitive as possible.
The white board I love. Yeah, we.
We have that for our Frisbee records.
(22:45):
First thing you see in our locker room.
That's good. Yeah.
Is it when you walk in? I love it, yes.
You mentioned January. I think it's a bit of a debate.
I don't think some coaches sometimes have the choice
whether they bring in January ornot.
But it's difficult. It's, it's very, very hard for
even a great player to come in to college and play in January.
(23:08):
How do you handle that? How, how do you, these guys are
new? They're coming from a new
country, new area. It's, you know, it takes time to
adjust, don't you think? Yeah, yeah.
I think it takes time to adjust.And I mean, you're getting
thrown right into the season, you're getting shot out of the
cannon to get everything. So I, I think the first thing is
just making sure guys are clear on what are we, what are we
(23:29):
expecting of you? Like what are the expectations
coming in? And I think too, it's so much in
their life is changing. You got to make sure
everything's in order with everything off court, how
they're communicating, how theirday-to-day is working, because
if they don't have any of that stuff, they have no shot.
They're no amount of tennis or no one or two matches is going
to solve that. So I, I think it comes down to
(23:49):
that being very clear with them of I'm expecting this of you.
This is how we communicate. This is how we need to practice.
This is how you're, how preparedyou are to go.
And I think taking out initiallythe like the tennis part of
things, because I think if you're saying, yeah, I need you
to do everything in your tennis,which you're probably not going
to be able to control these first, this first fit not going
to be too tough. And then too, when you get to on
(24:11):
the court, you want guys understanding it's I mean,
college tennis, it's it's just pressure, it's consistent
pressure. And that's OK.
Are you going to focus on again,your top top percent or just
your absolute highest level? Or are you going to focus on
what are you capable given the circumstances right now?
And I think it's the same thing of like, I think if you're
(24:31):
disciplined off the court, you're disciplined with your
work on the court, it's going tofree you up to just play, you
know, And so I think that applies.
But mainly with those January guys, it's starting off the
court, making sure that's organized.
And, and I, I believe that tennis follows with that.
I'm pretty confident in that. Last question.
Yeah. Scheduling.
(24:52):
What's your mindset to it? Conference out of conference?
How are you trying to play the best teams or is there a balance
there? What are you?
What are you looking for? Yeah, for scheduling, So it's
changed this year because my first two years, we had a set
conference schedule, which is about 8 dates, and they've kind
of taken that away. So I think I've loved it because
it's giving me a little bit moreflexibility to play like our
(25:12):
region. It's really, I got lucky just
with our area of the country in Georgia, like Florida, right
here down South, there are a lotof really good teams in like the
top 75, top 100 that are all within driving distance.
So I'm staying with that. Me too.
I mean, listen, I, I don't thinkit makes much sense for me to
just schedule top five top ten teams all the time.
(25:32):
When I'm scheduling those top teams, I'm working with coaches
that I really respect that I feel like can show our guys,
Hey, this is what it's really about.
This is what matches are going to come down to and, and just a
good kind of learning point thatI feel like we've had that in my
first two years. We've pushed guys, pushed teams
like that. And then apart from it, I, I
think too, you got to schedule alot of teams that are kind of
(25:54):
like right around your level, right above.
Because again, we're, we're trying to be a nationally ranked
program consistently. And I'm I'm constantly looking
at what teams are trending up, which ones are going down and,
and matching that up too to see if some of them want to come
down the Statesboro and play a match as well.
Love it. Well again Andrew Goodwin,
(26:17):
Sunbelt Coach of the Year, back-to-back in the top 75 for
the first time ever having tons of success.
From everyone at UTR, we wish you in the program all the best
this year. Thank you for your time and good
luck this season Coach. James, thanks the time man, this
is a lot of fun. See you.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toepisode #20 of the UTR Pro
Tennis Tour Podcast. My name is James McKay, I'm the
director of player and collegiate development at UTR
Sports. As you know, the UTR Pro Tennis
Tour is the go to tour for rising tennis professionals
(00:23):
across the world. The next person I have on the
show, in my opinion, is one of the best young head coaches in
the country, Andrew Goodwin at Georgia Southern welcome on.
James, thanks for having me, man.
How, how's, how's life over there down down in Georgia
(00:46):
today? That's great.
It's great having a good time. We're kind of wrapping.
Up our fall. And staying busy, making sure we
finish this thing the right way,but loving it.
Let's go. So just so people know, I knew
Andrew very well. He was the assistant coach at
Mississippi State when I was theassistant coach at Tennessee.
(01:09):
So we competed a good amount andI got to see his coaching style,
his competitiveness and always admired what he's done as a
coach. Now he is at Georgia Southern
where he is the the head coach of the men's tennis team.
Andrew, I want to, I want to jump right in here.
(01:29):
I think the one of the goals of this podcast is to have real
conversations with believers obviously of of UTR.
But I want to jump in and and ask you, you've been an
assistant at a Power 5 school, right?
You are now a head coach at a mid major.
(01:49):
What has that transition been like for you professionally?
I've really enjoyed it. You know, when I first got in to
college coach, I noticed pretty soon I, I wanted to work my way
up to be a head coach. I, I'm in coaching because of my
junior coaches and who I had, especially through college.
I, I just, I felt like they really shaped me and how I act,
(02:13):
how I treat people who I'm surrounded by daily basis.
And I, I really just started seeing that.
I thought of being a head coach at a university could really
help me just emphasize that it'sthe best of my ability.
So I I'd love the transition. You know, when I was an
assistant at State, there weren't the same kind of same
kind of day-to-day. I wouldn't say issues, but
(02:35):
challenges when it comes to paying players and IO and
everything. I was not dealing with that.
There's other, other kind of stuff we were dealing with, but
as far as becoming a head coach,there are different, different
areas you can get stretched into.
I've absolutely loved it though,because I feel like there's no
one holding you back. And if you have an
administration that's going to back you up, you can address it
(02:57):
how you see fit to your values and what you feel like is most
important in running a team and showing them how we're going to
face things head on. And I've loved it.
You know, I, I think it takes a good amount of stress to off of
all those day-to-day challenges when, you know, OK, like there's
no excuse, like go address it and go figure it out.
And I think I've gotten better at just dealing with the
consequences of that. And I've I've loved it.
(03:19):
Can you do me a favor, Andrew, before I move on, can you just
move your camera a little bit toyour right?
There we go. Yeah.
So I got the window, yeah. He's getting a little bit
bright, but there we go. So on that you mentioned NIL.
Do you feel in your years since you've been the head coach at
Georgia Southern is becoming harder to recruit or is that in
(03:41):
a different range of, you know, UTR range of of player you're
looking for? In my opinion, and I feel like
if I'm getting into conversationwith guys that are asking that
I'm, I'm doing a pretty bad job because I shouldn't be, I
shouldn't be talking to those, those guys.
I mean, I think recruiting is hard enough, but I think it's
hard for everybody. And I, I got to be really,
(04:03):
really selective and really decisive of who I'm going after
and making sure, OK, like I'm not going to over be able to
overspend for, for guys I'm going to have to get them for
the right reasons. Guys they want to be coached
hard, guys they want to be poured into and guys they want
to compete and get better. Do you have a UTR range of a
player where you're like, OK, ifhe's around here and he can run
(04:26):
or he's doesn't have a clear deficiency, I'm going to go
after him or or no? I'm looking more at especially
for me, I, I feel like if I'm waiting until they pop off and
and get a good UTRI feel like I'm cheating myself.
I'm not playing to our strengths.
And I, I feel like I got to be the kind of guy that's digging
in and seeing OK, like this guy's made X amount of jump in
(04:48):
the past few months. That's a guy that's clearly on
the rise. I feel like if he continues this
like that, that's more what I'm looking for.
And especially too, if I can seea guy that has tools that I, I
feel like will translate to being successful here, that
that's more what I'm, I'm looking for.
But I mean, I, the UTR, it's thefirst thing I am looking for.
And I think there's a base levelas well kind of under that, just
(05:09):
under that 12 range. But when I'm looking a little
deeper of, OK, am I going to make a move on this guy?
It's OK. Has he been staying the same for
a while? Has he been dropping?
Is he going up? And I'm looking a lot of those
factors too. I will say on that, that I think
sometimes we get a little carried away with statistics,
you know, and it's like, I thinkback to some of our best
(05:31):
players, really. They were a low 12, but there
were a few things they had in common.
They could run. They were great athletes.
They naturally had the ability to keep the ball in play.
They didn't really have a deficiency.
And lastly, they were team players.
They they were absolute team players and they cared about so
(05:52):
and so if they got pulled out the line up, they said it's OK
coach and then they would go to the court and cheer the guy on
that that put that was put in instead of them.
So I do think there's sometimes we can get a little carried away
to you as a head coach. I see a lot of things that you
guys do on social media. Absolutely love it, by the way,
right? You're thinking outside the box.
(06:14):
You're trying to do team competitive things.
Who are you as a coach? What do you what do you believe
in? How do you you know you've?
I'll talk about your stats here in a minute, but what?
What are you trying to implementinto the program?
Yeah, into the program and all of our guys.
You know, I'm, I'm not a coach that's going to come up with
(06:34):
some crazy drill that's all of asudden going to change your
forehand and make you feel like Roger out there.
But I, I feel like I'm, I'm straight up with my guys and
very honest with them on a dailybasis of getting them to
understand. OK, hey, decisions you're making
right now, this is adding up to where you want to be a month
from now or a year from now. And I think my guys would say
I'm the first one to jump on andsay, hey, like, this ain't
(06:56):
adding up. Like that's not it with my guys.
I mean, I'm really valuing our overall attitude that we're
bringing every day and just our decision making.
You know, I, I feel like a lot of like college tennis when
you're in a match. I, I don't think it comes down
to the 10% of the days where everything is feeling great, but
it's more down to pay on this specific day.
(07:16):
Given what's in my tool belt right now, am I making the most
of it? Am I focus on what I can do
today to get this done? Or am I going to focus on what I
can't do? And so I'm very, very passionate
about my guys developing and just strong dudes out there.
And I, I feel like for me, a biggoal of mine, and this has just
come from my coaches, my, my experience from being in this
(07:38):
profession, I think you can get wrapped up and get kind of an
identity in the wrong things. And I, I want to make sure guys
come in here, they're clear on what their value is.
They're clear on kind of the impact or the impact they're
having on people around them. And they're clear like, hey,
what do I really bring to the table every day?
And I got to hold myself accountable and the team
accountable of bringing that every single time that they are
(07:58):
around this program. Andrew Goodman was the Sunbelt
Conference Coach of the Year in 2024 for the first time ever in
school history. They finished in the top 75 in
the rankings and also did that back-to-back years.
So I think that shows that what he's doing as a coach definitely
(08:22):
works. And I think you should listen.
I think you should listen to people that are able to do great
things. Nuno Borges, you coached him.
Tell us, why was Nuno Borges oneof the greatest players to ever
play college tennis and why is he one of the best players in
the world right now? That guy's one of my favourites
(08:45):
out there. The first thing that sticks out
to me about him. And I was listening to one of
your other broadcasts as well. And I, I think it was Dustin
Taylor that that mentioned this.But I, I thought it was pretty
similar with Nuno. Like one of the biggest things
with him, he was showed unbelievable appreciation for
the people around him and what was being invested.
(09:05):
And I think he understood that. And I mean, he always gave an
unbelievable effort. I mean, he had his faults, but
unbelievable effort, cared aboutthe people around him.
But I think he was, he was just as simple as a sound.
He's very aware of what's going on around him and aware of the
people that are helping him out,aware of the what's being
invested of him every day. And I think that helped him just
give so much more to people. I think it took pressure off of
(09:28):
him and he realized that this isn't really all about me.
But the thing too, I love that it's very selfless.
I mean, his senior year when he had, he had established himself
as one of the top dudes in college tennis as far as his
individual time and with his academics, there was one time he
could do it, his individuals during the week.
And it was with our number 8 guythat had just transferred him
(09:49):
from Delta State, one of my favorite dudes and, you know,
went into those individuals and absolutely wanted to kill the
guy and just went all out at him.
And that helped Stedman our guy more than anything because it
kind of gave him that confidencethat, hey, like I got to stop
looking at myself how I'm feeling.
This guy's the best dude out there and he's absolutely coming
after me and I, I, I freaking loved him and helps too with
(10:14):
that team. When you have a guy like that
with just giving no excuses, appreciation, everyone else is
going to follow. And, and he frankly, he had just
an unbelievable group of guys and team teammates around him.
So I'd, I'd say it was those twothings.
And then obviously he's just hyper competitive, extremely
driven. I think he was always wondering,
OK, what could he do next? And 2, the thing I loved is he
(10:37):
was honest with me. I mean, I had some of the talks
we'd have when he was playing after losing a few matches, we'd
kind of go at each other. But I, I mean, I, I hold my guys
pretty accountable and I go after my guys.
So I I respect someone telling me they disagreed or telling me
that hey, I think this way and we we get closer to the
solution. Love it.
Appreciation going back to you transitioning from a power 5
(11:03):
school to now. Your role at Georgia?
Southern, by the way, I'm a mid major guy.
Like played a mid major, strung my rackets total.
I, I, I will be honest with you,when I first went to Tennessee,
I struggled in the other way in terms of what all these players
got and all these bells and whistles.
I struggled with that. Now going back to your
(11:25):
situation, did you struggle going from having those nice
things to then maybe going to mid major where you don't?
I mean, not, not really. You know, there's an adjustment,
OK. Like, we can't, like, we, we
don't have an indoor facility here, but it's OK.
Are we going to whine about whenever we get rained out for
practice? Or am I going to make the most
(11:46):
of that time, watch film, meet with guys, go indoors and
condition? I mean, I, I, I still feel like
we have everything we need here to be damn good.
You know, So I, I, I feel like, yeah, if I, if I wanted to focus
on everything I don't have, I could find a reason to be really
negative and say, oh, we can't do something here.
But I feel like everything that you need to make steps forward a
(12:07):
program is. And now it just comes down to me
doing my job right and, and making sure we're, we're there.
Because at the end of the day, Ifeel like it's job as a coach to
assess your current situation. Like, where are we at as a
program? What's helping us make this next
step? I don't need to be looking at
the, the next step for us, the next step for us is not the same
as like a Clemson, like a UGA, like I, I don't need to be
(12:30):
comparing us right there. I just need to be on our path.
And like you, you've said beforetoo, everyone has like
developmentally you have different steps you need to be
taking at any kind of given moment to get better and it's
the same thing with our program.Has anything changed recently?
Obviously the state of college athletics is changing.
It's evolving, right? Has has anything changed on your
(12:54):
end in terms of fundraising? I'm sure every administration is
different. Are you told by your bosses or
administrators like if fundraising is really important?
I didn't personally do too much of that, but I'm just curious on
on Your end. Yeah, I mean, one, my
(13:14):
administration isn't really breathing down my neck and
telling me how to run, run my program, which I really
appreciate because I just think that shows they they trust me.
But they're like my a DS very upfront of saying, hey, this is
what we got here are your options if you want a little bit
more. And then it's just on me to act.
And so, yeah, I do decent amountof fundraising.
And I think especially here, it's a small college town, which
(13:36):
I love. And so I think it's important to
get just involved with the community, get people
comfortable just coming out to the courts anytime they can,
like going to the local country clubs in the area and just get
our name out there and showing, OK.
Like if you support, like these are our guys.
I think it's easier to do that stuff when you when you have a
personal connection. I'm really, really big into
that, yeah. And, and I'll be honest, when I
(13:57):
see a program unfortunately being cut it, it bothers me,
right? My advice to a lot of people out
there is the community won't care.
If you try to engage clubs with your student athletes, they will
love it. They will absolutely love it.
Pickleball clinics, I saw that recently a different school of
(14:17):
pro am. Get to know the players, a
signature, an autograph session,whatever it is, be creative and
try your absolute best to engagethat community because quite
honestly, some some people don'thave that much going on and they
would love to be involved. I don't know.
Anyway, back to how you said running your program, can you be
(14:41):
specific? What would a team practice look
like? What are you?
What do you do? What, what sort of is it
competitive? Is it, do you strap them?
Do you do a lot of double S? Is it feeding?
Is it technical? What?
What do you what do you guys do?And it's team practice, not not
really technical, but I, I, whether it's competitive base or
just certain tasks, I feel like when you're competing on the
(15:03):
court in a match core, it's you sink or swim, you have a
decision to make of, OK, am I going to get this done or not?
And so I like giving our guys tasks and practice where you got
to get this done to move on to the next.
Like whether it's winning a slice Game, 2 slice games of
seven from the baseline, all continental grip, whether then
it's just really simple stuff competing competition wise like
(15:25):
hitting certain targets. And I, I just want, I want guys
comfortable dealing with the pressure of crap.
If I am not where I need to be when I walk on court today, I
could be playing a slice game for two hours and, and we've had
that for certain stuff because Ithink that's like what it is in
a match. Like, no one's going to save you
and you have to make a decision of, OK, am I going to focus on
how I feel and how crappy the situation is?
(15:48):
Or am I going to engage my brainand make sure that I'm making
moves to separate from just getting this result And like,
what do I need to do to get it done?
And so like I said earlier, we don't have any crazy drills.
It's a lot of just concentrationstuff of keeping ball over the
net in between the white lines, like hitting the ball where I'm
aiming it. And then OK, like we got to hold
(16:09):
a, you got to win a certain amount of games before you get
done with your practice. So you got to hit a certain
amount of targets in in this amount of time.
And then sometimes a lot in the whole team is doing the same
thing at once. And if one guy messes up,
everyone else is starting over. So it's accountability, but
that's more of it. And then a lot of double stuff
as far as just knowing, hey, this is the most likely shot to
(16:31):
happen. Let's cover that and we'll see
how it works. There seems to be a correlation
between coaches that have rebuilt a program and
competition. Make things as competitive as
you possibly can. If you could change things with
college, tennis, the season, thefall, the spring day,
(16:54):
recruiting, anything. If you could change some things
to help grow the game, what would you do, if anything?
To grow the game. I mean, listen, the big one is I
feel like guys should be able toplay like we should be able to
take guys out to tournaments andplay as much as as much as we
can. You know, I, I don't get the
restrictions on keeping a guy like limiting him to a certain
(17:18):
amount of dates in, in the fall versus the spring, like guys
here to develop and they're, they're here to play.
And I feel like if you have the resources to back that up and
let them do it, then go for it. And then that, that's really the
big one. I'm not as not as creative with
this stuff as I know you probably hope I am, but I just
want guys out there. I want them playing.
I want that like our best players and just getting out to
(17:42):
a situation where people were seeing, OK, this is a damn good
product and I should I should maybe go to a few dual matches
in the spring too. Love it.
I think you are your players. Play PTT events I'm.
Pretty sure you are. Yeah, one of them helped out one
of our guys, especially this summer playing a bunch of them.
Davis. Yeah, why?
Why are you a believer in that? What what's what's the reason
(18:05):
for telling your guys to play? Yeah, I I think they need to be
competing consistently. I feel like just in the simplest
form, competing gives you an actual mirror of this is where
I'm really at with my game and this is where how my training is
actually adding up to me gettingwhere I want to go.
And I think you need that mirror.
And I think guys that kind of goagainst that are kind of lying
(18:27):
to themselves about what they need to to improve.
I think those events are great too, because it's multiple
matches and there's no hiding. Like you go O and 2:00, you got
to pick yourself up and you got to, you got to get it done.
Like there's no pulling out. There's no oh, OK, if I'm not
feeling it this day, then I can just go home.
And I think you like you finish what you start.
And I think that builds a resiliency of going about it the
(18:49):
right way, which I think is really, really important.
Yeah. And I, I'm a huge believer, huge
believer in it. I think we all of our guys need
and helped them. One of our especially one of our
guys was playing a bunch this summer and he got the mirror
real quick of of seeing where hewas at.
So it was great. Gave us a bit of a head start
this fall. Georgia Southern have a Power 6.
(19:11):
If you don't know what a Power 6means, it means your all of your
top six players. Their UTR ratings added up.
Your Power 6 is currently 70.90.Expectations, Goals on the year
conference. Tell us.
(19:31):
Tell us as much as you can aboutyour your expectations on the
season. Yeah, expectations.
So we do have a completely new team.
We have, we had nine guys last year and we have one, one
returner. Who's a senior?
Yeah. So, and we're getting some,
we're going to be able to, we'readding a guy or two in January
that's just getting finalized. Just depends on they can get
(19:53):
some visas. But as far as expectations with
that and our team, I'm pretty clear I'm more of a day-to-day
guy with our program. I feel like that's been a
strength and something I've really emphasized since coming
years that I, I don't want our guys valuing one match one day
over another because I feel likethat at the end of the day,
you're, you're letting somethingoutside yourself control your
best habits. And I don't think successful
(20:14):
people work like that. The the big thing for us with
this newer group is is making sure that we get down to it and
get them to understand what are.What's being successful in these
college matches really going to come down to and and I think a
lot of that too is going to stemfrom just making sure they form
their form an identity as a team.
You know, I have my idea of whatI want the team to be, but I
(20:35):
think guys aren't going to really fall.
Guys aren't going to 1000% buy into it unless they see them
forming it themselves. You know, I'm, I'm preaching our
values on a daily basis and they're kind of making it their
own. So the biggest thing for this
team right now is just day-to-day forming our
competitive, our toughness or identity that revolves around
(20:56):
that competitiveness and toughness.
And yeah, I want to see our guystrust it because I think
especially the younger team, if you haven't been through
something in general, sometimes you think, oh, I got to be
someone outside of myself to to be successful at this.
And the biggest thing right now is getting guys to really buy
into the identity we're forming as a team and saying, hey, look,
if we are hell bent to establishing this each day, it's
(21:19):
going to help us ride this roller coaster of a season.
We're not going to be living anddying with every result, every
big crack, every big match, every smaller match.
And it's going to give us a little like a little bit more
consistency. I think, because that's to me,
like when I, because I, I for mycoaching based on the best
people I've been around, whetherit's coaches or players.
And I feel like those people arethey're very authentic.
(21:41):
They're true to what they value and they're they're making their
decisions and their day-to-day is, is down to that.
It's not kind of they're not reacting based on one or two bad
days or one or two good days. It's this is important.
We're going to be hell bent on establishment.
So those are my expectations with our guys.
It's nothing kind of clear cut, but I wouldn't be saying that if
I didn't believe it would lead to lead to the results that we
(22:03):
want. No, I love it day-to-day, not
focusing too much on the outcome, just just process.
I will say with new players, there were times when we had new
players coming in. The power of a whiteboard, the
power of a whiteboard at your team practice, make it as
competitive as possible. Get everyone's name on there,
(22:24):
run lots of different scenarios and keep a track every single
day of who's winning and who's losing and whether you've been
there for two weeks or whether you've been there for two years.
No one likes to lose for the most part.
Keep a track, keep it as competitive as possible.
The white board I love. Yeah, we.
We have that for our Frisbee records.
(22:45):
First thing you see in our locker room.
That's good. Yeah.
Is it when you walk in? I love it, yes.
You mentioned January. I think it's a bit of a debate.
I don't think some coaches sometimes have the choice
whether they bring in January ornot.
But it's difficult. It's, it's very, very hard for
even a great player to come in to college and play in January.
(23:08):
How do you handle that? How, how do you, these guys are
new? They're coming from a new
country, new area. It's, you know, it takes time to
adjust, don't you think? Yeah, yeah.
I think it takes time to adjust.And I mean, you're getting
thrown right into the season, you're getting shot out of the
cannon to get everything. So I, I think the first thing is
just making sure guys are clear on what are we, what are we
(23:29):
expecting of you? Like what are the expectations
coming in? And I think too, it's so much in
their life is changing. You got to make sure
everything's in order with everything off court, how
they're communicating, how theirday-to-day is working, because
if they don't have any of that stuff, they have no shot.
They're no amount of tennis or no one or two matches is going
to solve that. So I, I think it comes down to
(23:49):
that being very clear with them of I'm expecting this of you.
This is how we communicate. This is how we need to practice.
This is how you're, how preparedyou are to go.
And I think taking out initiallythe like the tennis part of
things, because I think if you're saying, yeah, I need you
to do everything in your tennis,which you're probably not going
to be able to control these first, this first fit not going
to be too tough. And then too, when you get to on
(24:11):
the court, you want guys understanding it's I mean,
college tennis, it's it's just pressure, it's consistent
pressure. And that's OK.
Are you going to focus on again,your top top percent or just
your absolute highest level? Or are you going to focus on
what are you capable given the circumstances right now?
And I think it's the same thing of like, I think if you're
(24:31):
disciplined off the court, you're disciplined with your
work on the court, it's going tofree you up to just play, you
know, And so I think that applies.
But mainly with those January guys, it's starting off the
court, making sure that's organized.
And, and I, I believe that tennis follows with that.
I'm pretty confident in that. Last question.
Yeah. Scheduling.
(24:52):
What's your mindset to it? Conference out of conference?
How are you trying to play the best teams or is there a balance
there? What are you?
What are you looking for? Yeah, for scheduling, So it's
changed this year because my first two years, we had a set
conference schedule, which is about 8 dates, and they've kind
of taken that away. So I think I've loved it because
it's giving me a little bit moreflexibility to play like our
(25:12):
region. It's really, I got lucky just
with our area of the country in Georgia, like Florida, right
here down South, there are a lotof really good teams in like the
top 75, top 100 that are all within driving distance.
So I'm staying with that. Me too.
I mean, listen, I, I don't thinkit makes much sense for me to
just schedule top five top ten teams all the time.
(25:32):
When I'm scheduling those top teams, I'm working with coaches
that I really respect that I feel like can show our guys,
Hey, this is what it's really about.
This is what matches are going to come down to and, and just a
good kind of learning point thatI feel like we've had that in my
first two years. We've pushed guys, pushed teams
like that. And then apart from it, I, I
think too, you got to schedule alot of teams that are kind of
(25:54):
like right around your level, right above.
Because again, we're, we're trying to be a nationally ranked
program consistently. And I'm I'm constantly looking
at what teams are trending up, which ones are going down and,
and matching that up too to see if some of them want to come
down the Statesboro and play a match as well.
Love it. Well again Andrew Goodwin,
(26:17):
Sunbelt Coach of the Year, back-to-back in the top 75 for
the first time ever having tons of success.
From everyone at UTR, we wish you in the program all the best
this year. Thank you for your time and good
luck this season Coach. James, thanks the time man, this
is a lot of fun. See you.
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