Women's Tennis

Jennifer Hyde
Jennifer Hyde

Position:
Head Coach
Experience:
5th Season at UH
Alma Mater:
Florida State '94

Jennifer Hyde begins her fifth season as the head coach of the University of Houston women's tennis program in 2004. With experience under her belt, Hyde plans for this to be a year of accomplishments for her young, but experienced team. Hyde brought a wealth of coaching experience to Houston after assisting at four other universities in three different conferences - the SEC, the Big 10 and the ACC.

Prior to her arrival at Houston, Hyde served as an assistant coach for one season at the University of North Carolina where she was part of the most successful women's tennis season in the program's history at that point. Hyde was instrumental in progressing a previously unranked team to a top 25 national ranking and the school's first-ever tennis berth in the NCAA tournament, where they won their first-round match at the NCAA Championships. As the recruiting coordinator at North Carolina, she identified and signed a top five nationally ranked junior and a top three nationally ranked Australian junior.

After her collegiate playing career at Florida State, Hyde began her coaching career at her alma mater where she served as a graduate assistant coach. She has also previously assisted with the women's programs at the University of Alabama and the University of Iowa.

Hyde brought an impressive playing resume` with her to UH. She was a four-year letter winner while at Florida State as well a 1994 NCAA Championship participant. During that same season she also served as the Seminole's team captain. Hyde credits the influence of her varsity coaches for her passion for coaching.

"My coaches at FSU were incredible," she explained. "They pushed and challenged me to never be content with mediocrity, and to be the absolute best player and person that I was capable of being. They taught me the true meaning of hard work. They had an immense effect on my life and that is something that I would like to give back to other student-athletes. My experience at Florida State greatly influenced my decision to pursue college coaching as my career."

Hyde has been playing tennis since the age of six and playing in tournaments since age eight. Due to her playing experience, coaching has taken on new and different strategies for handling the situations that she can encounter on and off the court.

"One of the trickiest parts of coaching is learning what makes each team member tick; when it is appropriate to be strong fisted with them and when you need to let up on the reigns a bit; when to be a motivator and when to be a listener. There are so many dimensions involved with coaching and mastering each of them is a never-ending learning experience."

"I want to challenge them each day and strive to keep practices at a highly competitive level. This year especially, with the depth we have, the expectations and demands are greater now than in the years past"

Her coaching strategy is what makes her so approachable to her players. They know that she believes in them and honestly wants them to be the best they can be in everything they do. This type of coaching strategy lends itself to a unified team.

"Unity is what makes teams great and it takes each team member giving up a part of themselves for that unity to be real. There has to be a common respect for each other and our differences. This year more than ever we have the team intangibles intact, each team member is on board and heading down the same path, and it will be a very exciting season to watch unfold.

"I'm a true believer that if you are persistent, if you do everything in your capability to improve and if you are committed to it, you will succeed. It may only be incremental, but as long as you are trying to make your self better each day you are going to improve not only in the sport of tennis, but also in everyday life."

An Alpharetta, Georgia native, Hyde enjoys traveling, backpacking, reading, and running.

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