Behind The Masses • UMass Tennis Blog • Juancarlos Nunez Q&A

After such a memorable week, it feels only right that I have a special Q&A for you today. My interviewee kindly fit me in with his incredibly busy schedule so that we can learn a little more about one of UMass tennis' most crucial members: Coach JC Nunez. Without him, none of the milestones of this past week could have been reached, none of us would be a part of this programme, and there would likely be no team at all. He is the pillar that supports this team and who works every day to help us reach greater heights as individuals and as a programme.

Starting his career as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Coach JC quickly moved onto the University of Massachusetts, where he worked as the assistant coach for six years whilst earning two master's degrees (probably how he managed to develop such immaculate time management skills). During this time, he helped to guide the team to the top of the Atlantic 10 Conference, earning an ITA Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year Award for his efforts.

Upon his graduation, Coach JC moved onto Brown University, where he remained for two years and found particular success coaching doubles and helping one pair reach an ITA National Ranking of No. 45, the highest in programme history. When his mentor, Judy Dixon, announced her retirement from UMass, it felt only logical that Coach JC would be hired to carry on the mantle. Moving back to Amherst, he took the lead of the programme and continued to strive for success, whilst molding the team into one of his own design; no longer are we a group of individuals on a team, we are the team and each of us is committed to our motto "We Before Me".

In his two years as head of UMass tennis, many exciting milestones have been reached: first ITA Northeast Regional Ranking (No. 9); first time two players are ranked in the ITA Northeast Regional Rankings (No. 17 and No. 19); second most winning season in programme history; first player to reach the ITA All-American Championships. Under his firm guidance, the team is certainly beginning to thrive and I can't think of anyone else that I would rather work under. His passion for the game is infectious and he drives us to reach our full potential everyday, whilst also caring about each of us off of the court. Whatever time of day, he's always only a text or a phone call away (I think I might have abused this though and he is now filled with anxiety whenever I contact him). It's a true honour to work under Coach JC and I hope that through this interview, each of you will be able to see what amazing work he does and what a special person he is.

Coach, your career began at Arkansas-Little Rock, your alma mater, where you posted a 78-30 career singles record and served as captain during your senior year. After graduating, you began working as the assistant coach for the women's programme, why did you choose this career path after graduating?

Juancarlos Nunez: I've always loved tennis; my dream as a kid was to become a pro and I gave it a shot playing some Futures and some Satellites, which are no longer a thing to tell you how old I am, back in college. Other than getting through qualifying a few times and winning a couple of main draw doubles matches, I didn't get much traction and it became clear that going pro was not on the cards. Plus, being a broke college student made traveling a bit tough. Even though I couldn't go pro, I still wanted to stay involved in tennis and a lot of my teammates, and even my coach, had mentioned that they thought I could be a good coach.

My senior year, we had a very strong team and I was battling for playing time whilst making sure to support my team relentlessly when I wasn't in the line up. In time, my coach started to trust me as a player coach when I wasn't playing and the idea of this as a career became more and more exciting to me. Even some of my teammates started telling me how much they appreciated my help on the court and passion for the game. By graduation, I was pretty determined to give coaching a chance. It was something I cared about and it just felt natural to stay involved in tennis, whilst trying to help other players as I had been helped by my coaches growing up.

So coaching tennis wasn't always the plan? Did you ever think about a career path outside of tennis?
JN: If I had chosen a different career path, it would have been working in the business side of sports. When I started coaching at UMass in 2009, I was also pursuing a master's degree in sport management. At that time, I was still trying to decide if I was going to pursue coaching full time or give the sports business world a look. I loved my time in Isenberg and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the sport management program. It is one of the best sport management programs in the world, with a great faculty that I still have strong relationships with. We also had great people in the program and I had a lot of fun being a part of that group for those two years.

If I had followed Sport Management, I probably would have pursued event management as it was one of the areas I found most interesting; as a coach I love the atmosphere around events and tournaments, so I know I would have enjoyed this path. Ultimately, my love for tennis, competition and helping people develop outweighed everything else and coaching became my mission. I love what I do and feel very lucky to have found my passion early on. No matter what you choose to do, if you have a true passion for it, you will lead a great life.

I think we can also count ourselves lucky that you found college coaching as who knows where we would be if you weren't here! As a coach, I'm sure your Sport Management skills come in handy as I know there is a lot of administration work that you have to do behind the scenes. Can you tell us a little more about your role off of the court?
JN: Being a college tennis coach is about so much more than tennis and that's something you never truly know until start. I feel that the most important part of my job is building connections. Connections between myself and the girls, as well as between each team member are vital so we can work together from a place of trust and shared ownership in the program, then focus on what we want to achieve as individuals and as a team. I do spend a lot of time in the office chatting with each player individually, on top of speaking as a group. Those moments are so important when it comes to building understanding and trust; the players deserve to know what we're doing and above all else, why we are doing it so we can always be on the same page and moving in the same direction.

Other than that, you can often find me running around the building tracking down a pair of shoes or clothing item or meeting with all of our different support areas, from academics to media to fundraising and everything in between. All of this is done with the goal of continuing to provide our team with an amazing experience and the support they need to thrive in the classroom, socially, and on the court. Ultimately, everything I do behind the scenes is what that goal in mind: to make sure that every girl is getting what they need and what they deserve in order to be successful in their lives.

You sound incredibly busy. I now feel even worse about texting you all of the time… Is there anything you like to do when you get some downtime?
JN: Time off is not really in large supply at the moment! When it does come around, I love to spend time with my wife. We watch a lot of movies and shows on Netflix; we recently started watching a Mexican show called "Monarca" that is all about drama and I'm here for it. My wife and I are both fluent in Spanish so we love watching those types of shows. When we do have a free weekend together, we always love to try new things, explore the area, check out a festival or enjoy a nice walk outside with our two dogs, Roger and Frankie.

Traveling is one of our favorite things to do together so we love taking a fun trip somewhere new during the summer. This past year we went to San Diego and had a great time with the beautiful weather and good food. The next adventure we want to take is across the pond to Europe, hopefully next summer. When I do have time to myself, I always love to watch soccer; it is by far my favorite sport (after tennis of course) and there is nothing better than watching the premier league on lazy weekend mornings. When I'm feeling more active, I like to get a good workout and sweat in, which I've recently combined with meditation, my saviour during the busy times lately. Being able to stay active and mindful through exercise and meditation makes a better and more present person that allows me to be a better coach and support for our team.

I'm not sure I can support you calling football "soccer" Coach, especially when speaking about the premier league. It sounds like you have a lot of interests that you try to fit in but I must admit, my favourite is definitely going for a walk with your dogs. What is it like having two dogs around the house?
JN: It's the best. Roger and Frankie are awesome. Both full of energy and super sweet, I honestly couldn't imagine my life without them. I had so much fun bringing Frankie to practice earlier this fall and can't wait to bring her and Rog back again. It's clear how much this team loves dogs and how much fun they have when the pups come around.

I think I'm the only one on the team who prefers cats to dogs. I feel like an outcast! It's ok, I'll just blame my allergies so no one judges me. You seem to really love doing things for the team, whether it's helping us improve or simply bringing the dogs to lighten up our practice. Why is it that you care so much? Why is UMass so special to you?
JN: UMass is the place where it all started for me. It's the place that gave me the opportunity to break into college coaching, thanks to former head coach Judy Dixon, who took a chance on an unknown kid from Venezuela, with no experience, coming from a small college in Arkansas. I will be forever grateful to Judy for giving me that opportunity and for everything she has taught me.

UMass is also the place where I met the love of my life, when we were both in the same grad program getting our master's in education (My second master's at UMass) ;). UMass is more than just a job for me, it's a very meaningful place that has shaped me as a man. I feel honored that I get to wear the UMass logo on my chest every day and that I get to play a small role in impacting the lives of our student-athletes for the better. At my core I'm someone who believes in putting your head down and going to work, which UMass is all about; it's a place that is built on hard-work, sweat, grinding, and a blue collar mentality. I could go on more and more about why UMass is so special to me and I'm so excited to continue seeing where this program and school can go. There's no place like it!

It's certainly exciting to watch the new milestones that UMass reaches every year and we recently had one of our own, with Janja Kovacevic becoming the first player in programme history to reach the ITA All-American Championships. How excited are you for this event and your trip to Tulsa this weekend?
JN: I'm thrilled to be heading to Tulsa with Janja; I'm so proud of her and what she has accomplished in her career. She has earned this opportunity and I can't wait to see her in action on Saturday wearing the UMass colors proudly among the best teams in the nation. This a great moment for our program and I am so happy to see this year's team get to share in that moment as they are so invested in everyone's success. Seeing how happy and excited every single person was for Janja when I told them made me feel very proud to be the coach of this program.

It's been great to see us accomplish so many firsts and continue to set new standards; I know Janja will not be the last to represent this program at events like this. We have a very hungry and passionate group of student-athletes that are going to raise the bar and I can't wait to come back again next year and for many years to come. Janja and I had a great practice this morning surrounded by top programs like Ole Miss and Texas A&M, who were flanking us on the adjacent courts. It's been so much fun to share that with the whole team through our group text with pictures and fun messages.

We have really loved being a part of it and can't express our pride in Janja. We are so excited to see what this programme does next! Can you tease any future plans for the team, on or off the court?
JN: There are a few exciting things I'm working on right now. Our spring schedule is not finalized but we do have some cool matches this year with some opportunities we haven't had before, some exciting trips to new places, and we will also be hosting some teams for the first time in program history. I'm also working on a few fun activities to do for the team later on this fall to continue enhancing our players experience.

As I said before, when it comes to college tennis, off court matters too and it's a long season, so it's important to break the routine up with different activities. We also have some new additions we're looking to make to our locker room, making it a place we can be proud to call our home.

I can't wait to see all of these plans come to fruition! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and put so much thought into each one. I hope all of you have enjoyed gaining some detailed insight into the head of our programme and will join me next week when we return to learn a little more about the players who make up the team. (P.S. Was there enough flattery for you Coach? I tried really hard).

- Jodie Annie Lawrence-Taylor, sophomore, UMass tennis

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