by Vanessa Hofer
Keiran President, the Director of Tennis Operations at McPherson College, is known not only by his players on the tennis team but also by many student athletes from different sports. Thus, the newsflash of President leaving McPherson College, and the position as the Director of Tennis Operations, surprised more people than just his players.
President was a special one. To his players, he was way more than just their coach. McPherson College tennis players confirm that he was a coach, a mentor, an idol, a friend, a guardian, a shoulder to cry on, someone to share a good laugh with, and he always had an open door for everyone. President’s sudden leave to pursue a career at the Division 1 Chicago State University was a shock to all student athletes. Additionally, the tennis season starts on January 31 and President resigned on January 10, so the timing is unfortunate for the tennis team.
The athletic department is doing everything they can to hire a new tennis coach as soon as possible. They began the search the moment President announced his resignation. However, the tennis season has started and the team needs to prepare to defend their conference championship titles. Almost like the universe had something planned out, their long-term assistant coach, Craig Holman, who is a McPherson alumni himself, as well as a big sponsor of the college, recently retired and was already planning on being the team’s full time assistant coach. Thankfully, that means the women’s and men’s tennis teams are not completely on their own.
Nonetheless, President’s absence is not going by unnoticed. The athletes can feel it every day and are reminded of it all the time. There is no office for them to hang out in between classes, no coach to talk to about their personal problems, and there is clearly no practice with the motivating and positive attitude of Coach President. Everything is different and the athletes will need to adapt to that change.
Still, the players are hopeful and ready to take on that challenge. Although they all agree on the fact that change can be scary, they also shared that it can be something very valuable. The tennis program is learning to be a team on a whole different level. They now have to be disciplined without someone telling them what to do all the time, they have to hold each other accountable instead of being held accountable by their coach, and they have to learn how to deal with the life as a student-athlete on their own. The tennis players are more than excited for their season and can’t wait to defend their conference championship title at the end of the season.
