8 — Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Adam Steinberg sat in his office,
feet up on his desk, and consid-
ered a tradeoff that would alter the
trajectory of his coaching career
and tennis legacy. The June 2014
calendar on his wall seemed like a
ticking time bomb.
As Steinberg leaned back in his
chair, he pondered swapping the
soft sand of Malibu’s beaches for
Ann Arbor’s brutal winters. He
weighed the prospect of leaving
the national powerhouse he es-
tablished as the head coach of the
Pepperdine men’s tennis program
— where he was sitting on a 265-92
record over 13 years — for Michi-
gan, which hadn’t advanced past
the second round of the NCAA
Tournament since 2008.
While contemplating this, it oc-
curred to Steinberg that the
change of scenery would amount
to much more than just leaving
palm trees in his past.
As his eyes wandered around his
office, Steinberg recalled some of
his greatest achievements during
his memorable tenure with the
Waves. An NCAA championship
banner, 2006 National Coach of
the Year plaque and over a decade’s
worth of team photos dangled
from the wall — enveloping Stein-
berg in the nostalgia of his most
successful coaching stint to date.
But when push came to shove,
Steinberg’s competitive edge — a
driving force in his playing days
on Long Island and at Penn State
— wouldn’t let the task of righting
the ship at Michigan slip through
the cracks.
“It was a very hard decision,”
Steinberg said. “Pepperdine was
special, but after being there 12
years, I was ready for a new chal-
lenge. Not many times in your life
does a Michigan come along with
that combination of athletics and
academics. It was just too good to
pass up at that stage of my life.”
After 13 seasons, a 2006 national
title and 10 West Coast Confer-
ence Tournament championships,
Steinberg called Pepperdine Di-
rector of Athletics Steve Potts to
inform him of his decision.
With that, he punched his ticket
to Ann Arbor, where a program
mired in mediocrity stood stag-
nant at a crossroads between con-
tention and irrelevance.
When Steinberg stepped down at
Pepperdine, it wasn’t the first time
he left a successful head coaching
post in favor of a new challenge.
The first time, it was June 2002.
A 36-year-old Steinberg had just
wrapped up his fifth year as the
head coach at Alabama. Under his
tutelage, the Crimson Tide fin-
ished the season ranked inside the
top-25 in four of five seasons.
Though Steinberg was one of the
country’s youngest coaches at the
time of his Pepperdine interview,
experience was one of his strong
suits. He became the head coach
at St. John’s in 1990, just two years
after the end of his playing career
at Penn State. During his five-year
tenure with the Red Storm, Stein-
berg guided the program to a 61-22
overall record — highlighted by a
conference championship in his
debut season
— before accepting a job as North-
western’s assistant coach after the
1995 season. He spent two years
there, where he helped the Wild-
cats reach the NCAA Tournament
in 2001 and 2002.
It was at that point that Pepper-
dine Director of Athletics Dr. John
Watson gave Steinberg a call about
the Waves’ head coaching job.
“In the interview process, he an-
swered all the questions (the way)
I wanted him to in tennis and stu-
dent development, but also as hu-
man beings,” Watson told The Dai-
ly in a January phone interview.
“He was an ethical person and a
strong leader. He has a strong per-
sonality, but he’s also compassion-
ate and understanding.
When Watson formally offered
him the position, Steinberg looked
him in the eye and made a guaran-
tee before even picking up his pen
to sign the contract.
“You will have a national champi-
onship in four years.”
Sure enough, the Pepperdine play-
ers dumped a cooler of Gatorade on
their coach after upsetting Georgia
in the NCAA Tournament final
four years later.
“Winning is important to him,”
Watson said, “but not everything
to him — he wants his players to be
successful on the court, but more
importantly successful in life.”
Michigan’s
academic
prestige,
coupled with the camaraderie of
its athletic pride and tradition, was
enough to sway Steinberg to pack
his bags.
Before he was an All-American,
Michigan’s captain and national
singles runner-up, 2018 gradu-
ate Alex Knight was just another
redshirt freshman. A little more
than a month before Steinberg
was named the Wolverines’ head
coach, Knight’s phone buzzed as
a call came in from then-coach
Bruce Berque, who recruited
Knight and welcomed him with
open arms as an early enrollee.
Their relationship was short lived.
After the team failed to advance
past the second round of the
NCAA Tournament for the sixth
straight season, then-Athletic Di-
rector Dave Brandon decided it
was time for a change. Berque had
been fired, bringing his decade-
long stint in Ann Arbor to a close.
“Winning and inclusivity wasn’t
(Berque’s) primary goal,” Knight
said. “He would admit it too — he
didn’t crack down on a few guys
he should’ve. The reason for the
(shortcomings) was a kind of
clown culture.”
When Brandon hired Steinberg,
his new leader embodied the
much-needed attitude change he
sought throughout his national
search. As a result, Knight and his
teammates saw their goals align
with Steinberg’s from the start.
“After (Berque was fired), players
wanted an environment that was
positive, fun and hard-working,”
Knight told The Daily three weeks
ago. “(Steinberg) came in and said
the exact same things, and we had
to start from ground zero to lay the
foundation
for
the program.”
With a blueprint in place, the team
began to build.
When Steinberg joined the fold,
Brandon also brought back Sean
Maymi, the Wolverines’ former
associate head coach under Ber-
que from 2006-2011. Knight cred-
its Maymi with installing the pro-
gram’s work ethic, accountability
and precise attention to detail.
Still, Steinberg’s cultural renova-
tion didn’t yield immediate results.
Michigan posted a 7-17 record in
2015 — its worst season since 1992.
Despite the poor record, the pro-
gram’s entire outlook changed.
“It was such a shock in terms of
how far off we were from being a
good program,” Knight said. “We
went from, ‘You come to practice,
you try to get away with as much
as you can, then you leave and go
party’ to ‘Hey, every minute of
practice is a gift, and you need to
come out extra, and your number
one priority needs to be getting
your teammate better.’ ”
Because players grow up repre-
senting only themselves at tourna-
ments and national draws, most
struggle when they’re asked to buy
into a team atmosphere in college.
After a lackluster season, Stein-
berg and Maymi took a creative ap-
proach when they went back to the
drawing board. The next season,
they put the burden of leadership
on everybody’s shoulders by rede-
fining the role of a “captain.” All 11
players on the roster received the
title, and the idea made a massive
difference on the practice court.
“When you practice, you’re not
practicing for yourself,” Tishman
said. “You’re focusing on getting
your teammates better. The idea
is that if all 11 guys are doing that,
it’s going to come back around to
help you. In theory, your tennis
goes through the roof. And it has
worked beyond words.”
The mindset took Michigan to new
heights, as the Wolverines won 21
matches in 2016 — a season that
marked the team’s transformation
from bottom feeder to contender.
Michigan’s 14-win turnaround set
a program record, and the entire
roster wholeheartedly embraced
Steinberg’s culture. By the end of
the season, it had become an en-
during staple of the program.
“You support and play for each
other,” Steinberg said. “It’s some-
thing bigger than yourself. (This
program) takes the individual-
ity out of tennis, which is hard be-
cause these kids have only ever ex-
perienced playing for themselves.
We try to create ‘team’ each day.
I did it for 12 years at Pepperdine,
and I’ve done it every day here.
“To me, college sports are all about
pride and passion and playing for
your school, so you have to show it.
I tell (the team), ‘Never apologize
for being passionate about some-
thing in your life.’ We don’t accept
anything less.” Now, the passion in
Michigan tennis is more apparent
than ever.
“Michigan is the only
program in the country that truly
preaches team first,” Knight said.
“Tennis is usually an individual-
istic sport, but college tennis is
a completely different animal.
(Michigan’s culture) is unique to
Steinberg.
“He’s the best coach in the coun-
try.”
***
Just two years after Steinberg’s
hiring, No. 24 Michigan put its
growth to the test against sixth-
seeded Wake Forest in the second
round of the 2016 NCAA Tourna-
ment. The Demon Deacons — who
entered the match having already
eclipsed the 30-win milestone —
were widely expected to cruise
past the Wolverines. To their sur-
prise, Michigan came out strong,
riding its team-first philosophy to
a hard-fought doubles point. Mo-
ments later, the Wolverines took
fourth singles via retirement.
Wake Forest eventually battled
to back to complete the comeback
on its home court, but Michigan
boarded its flight home with no
shortage of takeaways.
“We went right to the end with
them,” Steinberg said. “After that,
I could see we were really ready to
move forward. That was a big turn-
ing point because you could see the
guys believing they belonged for
the first time.”
From there, the Wolverines knew
the future was bright. With the
infrastructure in place, Steinberg
began to score big wins on the re-
cruiting trail.
When Steinberg gets on the phone
with a high school prospect, the
first topic of discussion is his pro-
gram’s culture. He knows it’s not
for everyone, and finding the right
puzzle pieces while recruiting is
crucial to his team’s success.
After working with a mixture of
Berque’s recruits and his own,
Steinberg was finally able to bring
in personalities that aligned with
his philosophy. Headlined by blue-
chips Andrew Fenty and Patrick
Maloney, Steinberg put together
the nation’s fifth-ranked recruit-
ing class in 2018.
In Knight’s eyes, that’s the key to
taking the next step.
“The only rebuilding that ever has
to be done is personnel,” Knight
said. “The culture is there — with
that comes not only a good work
ethic in everything you do, but
inclusivity. When freshmen come
in, it’s like a family — whereas be-
fore (Steinberg’s arrival) it was an
environment of hazing and upper-
classmen being different. Now it’s
inclusive.”
Though Knight and his classmates
have graduated, their posters still
hang in Ann Arbor’s Varsity Ten-
nis Center, a reminder of their
impact on the program. By buy-
ing in from the start, Knight’s
class paved the way.
Putting the team first
takes sacrifice. It takes
humility. It takes emo-
tion-
al strength. But
above all else, it can’t be done
without giving.
Steinberg is no stranger to that.
After Pepperdine won the national
championship in 2006, his players
knocked on Dr. Watson’s door to
call in a favor.
When the team was invited to the
White House for a celebration, the
players went to Watson at Stein-
berg’s request to ask if they could
fly back two days earlier than
scheduled. When Watson asked
why, the players told him they
wanted to go to an underprivi-
leged side of town and run a day-
long tennis clinic for kids.
Fresh off their championship, the
Waves coordinated and carried
out the children’s tennis clinic.
After spending a humid day on
makeshift communal courts, the
team joined the families for din-
ner at a cluster of tattered public
picnic tables. The parents — who
could barely afford food for their
own children — prepared a pot-
luck meal to express their heartfelt
gratitude.
“They were there all day long en-
couraging those kids,” Watson
said. “Not to become professional
tennis players, but to understand
the value of the sport and know
how it can build relationships with
other people.”
The next day, President George W.
Bush praised the young men for
giving back.
“That’s what champions do — they
give back,” Bush said in a presiden-
tial address.
Though Knight will never sit in the
Oval Office, he reflected on a simi-
lar takeaway.
“This culture teaches giving, and
through giving you get,” Knight
said. “The end goal with setting
up that kind of culture wasn’t just
to have a good tennis team, it was
to become better men who lead
better lives. Now we’re seeing the
fruits of that success.”
***
Today, Steinberg’s office calendar
marks February 2019. The Wolver-
ines — fresh off a Sweet 16 appear-
ance last season — are locked and
loaded with talent throughout
the roster. The synergy of
the program’s culture and
increasingly-talented re-
cruiting classes could
propel Michigan to the
same heights Steinberg
reached at Pepperdine
sooner rather than
later.
“Our goal here
is
to
win
Big Ten
championships
and
national
championships,” Steinberg said.
“That’s what Michigan is all about.
With the support, the facilities,
and everything else we have here,
that has to be the goal. It was a big
part of the allure of this job. The
academics, the college town, the
name, the block ‘M’ — it all means
so much.”
Since the day Steinberg arrived,
the team-first attitude has grown
contagious. Once players em-
braced it as fact, wins started to
come. They kept coming, and they
haven’t stopped since — the Wol-
verines boast a 66-21 record over
the last three seasons.
But unlike most of the nation’s top
programs, Michigan isn’t operat-
ing on a title-or-bust mentality.
Instead, winning admittedly takes
a back seat to the program’s phi-
losophy.
“I learned selflessness and how
rewarding it truly can be,” Knight
said. “If you give everything, you
get a million times more than what
you would’ve gotten and you truly
get better. That’s something that
truly applies to life, to relation-
ships, to family, to random people
on the street.
“Obviously, the goal is to win
championships. That’s Michigan.
But the end goal is to become bet-
ter people, and that has certainly
changed my life.”
After 27 years of coaching, the ten-
nis court has naturally become
Steinberg’s classroom of life. It
may lack desks and chairs, but it
isn’t missing the most important
component: a teacher devoted to
his craft.
“That’s the secret: This (culture)
makes you a better person,” Stein-
berg said. “I feel like that’s the
most important part of my job
— helping these kids understand
life’s not about ‘you’ as much as it’s
about being unselfish, giving and
caring about others, whether it be
on the tennis court or anywhere
e l s e
in life.”
Daniel Dash - Daily Sports Writer