University of North Carolina Athletics
Sam Paul Wins Mideast Region Coach of the Year Honors for the Fourth Time
May 15, 2007 | Men's Tennis
May 15, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For the fourth time in his 14-year coaching career, University of North Carolina head men's tennis coach Sam Paul captured the Intercollegiate Tennis Association/Wilson Mideast Regional Coach of the Year Award as announced Tuesday by the ITA national heaquarters in Skillman, N.J. Paul is now one of eight selections for regional coach of the year awards who will be eligible for national coach of the year accolades which will be announced at the end of this year's NCAA Championships.
Paul faced an tough challenge in 2007, having to replace four senior starters off a 2006 team which went 25-5, tied the school record for victories in a season and advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time since 1993.
He led this year's team, which featured four new starters in singles and three in doubles, to a 24-4 mark, starting the season with a 20-match winning streak. During that season, UNC was outstanding in close matches, going 11-0 in matches decided by 4-3 or 4-2 scores. The Tar Heels fell only one win short of the school record of 25 wins in a season, reached as high as a No. 5 national ranking, was a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the ACC Tournament championship match for the first time since 2002.
"This award is really about the players on this team and the commitment they made to becoming a good team and the hard work they invested in order to achieve that," said Paul. "I also was the beneficiary of a great coaching job by Tripp Phillips, my first-year assistant. He stepped in for Don Johnson and we did not skip a beat. I've been lucky to have great assistant coaches working for me."
This is the fourth time that Paul has won the regional coaching accolade in his 14 seasons as UNC head coach. He also won the honor in 1996, 2000 and 2004. In those 14 season, Carolina is 237-115 under Paul's tutelage and have made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances in 14 seasons.
"I'm very excited about where our program is at this time and already looking forward to next year. We have quality people associated with the program. With three seasons in the last four years with 23 or more wins, I feel we are where we need to be," said Paul. "We lose a great senior leader in Sebastian Guejman but otherwise we return our entire team and we are looking forward to continuing to build on the success we've had the past two seasons."
Players Mentioned
