NCAA women's tennis singles champion Amanda McDowell!
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2007 USTA/ITA National Coach of the Year When Bryan Shelton returned to his alma mater to coach the women's tennis team in 2000, the Yellow Jackets had yet to appear in an NCAA Tournament, had yet to finish higher than fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and had yet to have a player that would become one of the nation's elite.
Since his arrival, all of that has changed. Now in his ninth year as the head coach of the Georgia Tech women's tennis program, Shelton is the only coach in the history of Georgia Tech to guide a team to an NCAA National Championship. Of its 17 sports, only football has earned national titles (four), but no sport had earned the distinction of "NCAA Champion" - until 2007, that is.
After a successful fall campaign, the Yellow Jackets embarked on a gruelling dual-match schedule that began in Madison, Wisc., where they snapped the three-time defending national champion Stanford Cardinal's NCAA-record 89-match winning streak with a thrilling 4-3 victory in the semifinals before shutting down Notre Dame, 4-2, in the championship match to capture the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor title in early February. The Jackets went on to post an 8-3 record in the month of February and, after dropping a 4-3 match at Clemson to begin the month of March, embarked upon a 21-match winning streak to conclude the season, culminating with NCAA Championship in May.
Georgia Tech earned at least a share of the ACC regular season title for the third-consecutive season in 2007, finishing 10-1 in the league and tied with Clemson, but breezed to its third ACC Championship with a 4-0 victory over Duke in the quarterfinals and a 4-2 win against North Carolina in the semis before dispatching Miami in the title match for the third-straight year, 4-1. Almost a month later, Shelton's squad began their run to the championship with a pair of 4-0 victories against Furman and Kentucky in the NCAA Atlanta Regional before moving on to Athens, Ga., home of longtime rival the University of Georgia, for the remainder of the NCAA Championships.
In Athens, Shelton relied on a steady mixture of energetic underclassmen and experienced veterans to continue advancing through the tournament. The Jackets received key singles victories from seniors Alison Silverio and Tarryn Rudman, as well as underclassmen Christy Striplin and Amanda McDowell, to get the team over the hump of the NCAA Sweet 16, where Tech had seen its title hopes end in both 2005 and 2006. Shelton's squad then went on to post 4-2 victories over Notre Dame, California and UCLA over the next three days to earn the former Yellow Jacket All-American his first national title.
The national championship didn't come as a surprise to most people surrounding the program, as Shelton had steadily built a championship team over the seven years prior, beginning with guiding the team to its first NCAA appearance in just his first season on the Flats. His teams have made a total of eight NCAA appearances in eight years, captured three Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, and have had several of the nation's top-ranked players, as well as the first trio of All-Americans in the program's history. Overall, the 2007 ITA National Coach of the Year has coached a total of eight NCAA Singles participants, while four of his doubles tandems have competed in the NCAA Doubles Championships.
What a remarkable turnaround. And the accolades are still rolling in.
Prior to his arrival, no women's tennis coach had reached 100 wins at Georgia Tech, and only two had cracked the 75-win barrier. Since 2000, Shelton has amassed 139 victories with an average of 17.4 wins per season, and his teams have earned more than 48 Atlantic Coast Conference victories after the school had won just 21 ACC matches total in the 16 years prior to his return to the Flats.
That's not to mention the fact that he's engineered Tech's success at the ACC Championships, where the Yellow Jackets are the three-time defending champions.
Following a 4-4 season in 2004, the Jackets earned the ACC Regular Season Championship in 2005 with a 9-1 record, and then captured the program's first conference championship before following that up with a repeat performance in 2006, winning the ACC Regular Season and Tournament Championships for the second-straight year.
Plain and simple, Shelton just knows how to win. His .692 winning percentage at Georgia Tech is the highest of any Yellow Jacket head tennis coach-men's or women's. As a matter of fact, his .692 winning percentage is the sixth-highest among ALL coaches in Georgia Tech history, behind former football coaches John Heisman (.779) and Bobby Dodd (.713), former softball coach Ehren Earleywine (.722), former volleyball coach Shelton Collier (.704) and current volleyball coach Bond Shymansky (.747).
Since his return to the Flats, Shelton has recruited some of the most elite players and student-athletes in the nation to the Institute, including the first three All-Americans in the program's history as well as the first Academic All-American in Georgia Tech women's tennis history.
He has had 13 all-ACC honorees and two conference Rookies of the Year during his tenure and has twice been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's South Region Coach of the Year while being tabbed the ACC Coach of the Year on three occasions. Under his tutelage, one player has been named the ITA National Player to Watch and South Region Rookie of the Year, six have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams, and 40 have been named to the ACC Honor Roll. Five of his student-athletes have earned the prestigious Bobby Dodd Scholarship while one has earned the coveted Honda Award for Tennis.
Now entering his ninth season, Shelton's team has a tough task ahead of them - defending their ITA National Team Indoor and NCAA titles in 2008. The Jackets lost a trio of key players in Alison Silverio, Tarryn Rudman and Amanda Craddock, but have added three talented freshmen in Noelle Hickey, Maya Johansson and Sasha Krupina to the mix.
In his first season at the helm, Shelton guided Georgia Tech to the first NCAA Tournament berth in school history, recording a victory over 25th-ranked Washington in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Regional in Los Angeles, Calif. The Yellow Jackets' No. 29 national ranking in the final polls was the highest end-of-the-year ranking ever for Georgia Tech. Under Shelton's guidance, Jaime Wong earned the first of her three all-ACC honors, while Laura Ozolins garnered first-team GTE Academic All-District III accolades.
Shelton guided Tech to its second NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001, while Wong was named to the all-conference team for the second-straight season. Ozolins also garnered conference honors in 2001, winning the ACC Flight 6 Singles Championship.
The Jackets made their third NCAA appearance, reaching the second round of the postseason tournament, in yet another successful season for Georgia Tech in 2002, while climbing to a record-high 17th in the nation in the polls. The No. 17 ranking was the first time in program history that the Yellow Jackets had been ranked in the top-20, and Tech concluded the year ranked 21st in the nation after finishing with a 15-10 dual-match record. That same season, Wong became the first Yellow Jacket to represent the Institute in the NCAA Singles Championships, and Shelton became the first Georgia Tech women's tennis coach to earn ACC Coach of the Year honors.
The 2003 team proved to be even more successful for Georgia Tech, concluding the season with a 14-7 dual-match record and the school's fourth-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Jackets also set a new record with five wins against ACC opponents in 2003, while Wong earned her second-straight appearance in the NCAA Singles Championship after earning her third all-ACC honor. That same season, Kelly Anderson became the first Georgia Tech women's tennis player to earn ACC Rookie of the Year honors.
Shelton guided his 2004 team to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in his five-year tenure, advancing to the second round for the fourth time in the program's history. The Yellow Jackets accumulated numerous honors during the year, beginning with earning the inaugural ITA National Team Sportsmanship Award in March and concluding with winning the ACC Sportsmanship Award and being named an ITA All-Academic Team for the first time in school history. With both Anderson and Lyndsay Shosho earning all-conference honors, 2004 marked the first time since 1989 that two players earned all-ACC honors in the same season. Shosho became just the second player in the program's history to represent Georgia Tech in the NCAA Singles Championship, while Anderson garnered GTE/CoSIDA Academic all-District III accolades and was named the prestigious Bobby Dodd Scholarship recipient. She also joined Sekita Grant, Maria Nieto and Alison Silverio as ITA Scholar-Athlete honorees.
The 2005 team accomplished multiple "firsts" for the program, including first ACC Regular Season Championship, first ACC Tournament Championship, and first appearance in the Sweet-16 of the NCAA Championships. The Jackets concluded 2005 with a record-breaking 21 wins and nine conference victories en route to the first ACC Tournament Championship for any Yellow Jacket tennis team. For his work, Shelton was named the ACC and ITA South Region Coach of the Year and had three all-ACC honorees in Kristi Miller, Dasha Potapova and Alison Silverio, while Miller also wrapped up the ACC and ITA South Region Rookie of the Year honors. The 2005 season also provided another "first" in the program's history, as Miller became the first Yellow Jacket to earn All-America honors when she was selected as one of the 16 seeds in the 2005 NCAA Singles Championship, where she advanced to the Sweet-16. She also teamed with Silverio to become the first tandem to represent Georgia Tech in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
The team reached as high as No. 4 in the polls during the season and concluded the year ranked sixth in the nation, both of which were new marks for any women's sports team in Georgia Tech history. Anderson again earned GTE/CoSIDA Academic all-District honors, and joined Miller as Georgia Tech's ITA Scholar-Athlete recipients for 2005. The team also earned its second-straight ACC Sportsmanship Award and was named an ITA All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year.
The winning tradition continued in 2006, as Georgia Tech again captured the ACC Championship and made its second-straight appearance in the Sweet-16 at the NCAA Championships. For his work, Shelton was again named the ITA South Region Coach of the Year, and the Yellow Jackets finished the season with a record-high 23 victories and a final ranking of No. 7 in the nation. He had two players to earn All-America honors, as Kristi Miller was named a singles and doubles All-American while Lyndsay Shosho earned Doubles All-America honors in her final season on the Flats. Miller also achieved another first for the program, as she became the first Yellow Jacket to earn the No. 1 ranking in singles play, before finishing the season ranked No. 2. For her outstanding performance, Miller accumulated numerous awards, including the Honda Award for Tennis and the ITA National Player to Watch. She also became Tech's first Academic All-American, while Kelly Anderson was named CoSIDA Academic All-District for the third-straight year. Rounding out the accolades for the Jackets were ITA South Region Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship winner Alison Silverio and Academic All-ACC members Anderson, Miller, Shosho and Silverio.
Five Yellow Jackets finished the year with singles rankings, while Miller and Shosho concluded 2006 ranked 14th in the nation in doubles.
Georgia Tech concluded the 2007 ranked atop the national rankings for the first time in history and had a pair of players earn All-America honors. Whitney McCray earned her first All-America honor by earning the No. 3 seed in the 2007 NCAA Doubles Championships, teaming with Kristi Miller, who earned All-America honors in both singles and doubles for the second-consecutive season. Overall, Shelton had two members of the squad compete in the NCAA Singles Championships at the season's end, while two doubles teams also played in the NCAA Doubles Championships. Miller was again tabbed an Academic All-American in 2007, while seniors Alison Silverio and Tarryn Rudman took home the ITA's South Region Sportsmanship Awards. Seven members of the team finished the season ranked in the top-100 in singles, while three Yellow Jacket doubles teams earned national rankings at the season's end.
Prior to returning to his alma mater, Shelton spent over a year as a national coach with the United States Tennis Association. Before joining the USTA coaching ranks, Shelton spent nine years on the ATP Tour, winning two singles and a pair of doubles titles prior to his retirement following the 1997 U.S. Open.
Shelton's hiring in the summer of 1999 reunited him with former Georgia Tech teammate and doubles partner Kenny Thorne, who serves as Georgia Tech's head men's tennis coach.
Shelton and Thorne both lettered for the Yellow Jackets from 1985-88 and helped Georgia Tech to an overall 70-38 dual-match record and a 20-7 ACC mark during their four seasons. As seniors in 1988, the duo guided Tech to a school-record 26 wins, which included a 7-0 run through the ACC, a second place finish in the conference tournament and Tech's first appearance in the NCAA Championships.
Shelton earned all-ACC honors in each of his four seasons on the Flats and garnered All-America honors in 1988. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1988 NCAA Singles Championship, falling to eventual champion Robbie Weiss.
Shelton ranks second on the Jackets' career singles wins list with 101 victories and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002. This past year, Shelton was inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame in Alabama.
Following his collegiate career, Shelton won his first tour title at the Hall of Fame Championships in 1991, becoming the first African-American to win an ATP event since Arthur Ashe in 1978. He repeated as the singles champion at Newport in 1992 and also claimed a pair of doubles titles, winning the 1994 Mexican Open with Francisco Montana and the 1997 Australian Hardcourt Championship with Patrick Rafter. In 1993, Shelton was a finalist in the Mixed Doubles at the French Open.
A six-time participant at Wimbledon, Shelton defeated second-seeded Michael Stich in the first round of the tournament in 1994 en route to a berth in the Round of 16.
Shelton climbed as high as 55th in the ATP singles rankings and also played in seven U.S. Opens, six Australian Opens and four French Opens while posting victories against the likes of Andre Agassi, Thomas Muster, Richard Krajicek and Todd Martin.
After retiring from the tour, Shelton coached MaliVai Washington, a 1996 Wimbledon finalist, until being named a USTA National Coach.
With the USTA, Shelton assisted with the development of some of the top juniors in the Southeast, covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Born in Huntsville, Ala., Shelton currently resides in Smyrna, Ga., with his wife Lisa, and their children, Emma and Benjamin. He earned his degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech in 1989.
Shelton's Accomplishments at Tech
Shelton's Coaching Career (Head coach, Georgia Tech, 8 years, 139-62, .692 overall -- 48-24, .667 in ACC)
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