The Suffolk University men’s tennis team needed a coach, and quickly. After coach Steve Counihan retired just before the 2022 spring season, Athletic Director Cary McConnell approached volleyball head coach Scott Blanchard and asked if he would return to tennis and be the interim head coach.
Now in his third year of coaching men’s tennis, Blanchard has his eyes on victory.
Blanchard played tennis in high school. He didn’t get into volleyball until he had surgery on his ankle his senior year, which eventually led to him becoming a volleyball head coach.
With a coaching change right before the start of the schedule, there were some struggles as the team stumbled to a 1-10 record that included nine straight losses to end the season. That didn’t prevent McConnell from asking Blanchard to take on the role full-time in addition to being the head coach of Suffolk’s volleyball team.
“We had a pretty decent season and [McConnell] approached me about combining the two jobs,” said Blanchard. “I said ‘yeah, sounds like fun. Let’s give it a shot.’”
Blanchard had a goal right away when he took over in an interim capacity in 2022: build up what was going on around the team and make sure they had the resources to perform their best. This included giving them the proper gear and uniforms in addition to getting as much preseason practice as possible.
“I wouldn’t say it was a culture change because the coach that was there before, he was a good tennis coach,” said Blanchard. “With him not being on campus as much as I can be, I just wanted to make sure that you treat them like a college team and hold them accountable like a college team and then they become a college team.”
Men’s tennis senior Matthew Gallego said Blanchard earned the respect of the team by stepping in on short notice and trying to guide them through a season out of the blue.
“The team could tell he was trying his best, out of the blue they asked him to be the coach for us, just to help us organize matches and honestly he did a really good job,” said Gallego. “He always fed us after the games, he got us courts for every practice, managed all the matches, made sure that everything was going well. At the same time he was also doing spring training for his volleyball team, so he had a lot on his plate and he still managed to give us all the time that he had.”
With 2024 being his third season with men’s tennis, the focus has shifted towards winning rather than adjusting to a new dynamic. Gallego noted the energy was different right off the bat.
“This year it’s something different with the team, we have a lot of good players, everybody’s focused on winning,” said Gallego. “I really think this year we can make it far into the playoffs. We’re all focused on winning, we have really good players and I really think we can go far.”
Across both teams, Blanchard has preached a focus on teamwork, communication and building a positive team culture. Volleyball’s Morgan Kelsey noted the positive effects it has led to during matches.
“We have a lot of team meetings where we just talk about how we’re gonna approach this next season and how we’re gonna spend time together on and off the court,” said Kelsey. “Just making sure that we have that trust and communication outside of practice, outside of volleyball because that really does make a huge difference when we’re on the court. It makes us comfortable with each other, so that’s a big thing that we push.”
With volleyball competing in the fall and men’s tennis competing in the spring, Blanchard dedicates most of his time coaching to the team that is currently in season. He credits his assistant coaches and captains on both teams for stepping into a larger role during practices that he can’t attend due to obligations for the other team.
“Right now, we’re in our informal spring season for volleyball, which is also tennis season, so Hannah [Fabiano] and Talia [Lombardo] run a lot of the practices and I get there when I can. I couldn’t do what I do without the support of my captains, my assistant coaches and the administration,” said Blanchard.
Both Kelsey and Gallego have great appreciation for Blanchard when he coaches their teams but also respect that he can be the head coach for both teams at the same time.
“I think coach Blanchard is a great guy,” said Gallego. “He cares for us, he cares for all his teams. He talks very highly about his volleyball team, he talks highly about us, I really appreciate the work that he’s put in for us.”
For both teams, Blanchard is a pillar of the athletics department.
“He tries to come as much as he can, but he works around his tennis schedule and I just think it’s really great that he’s able to do both and he prioritizes the team that’s in season,” said Kelsey.
Jokene Davis • Apr 16, 2024 at 2:47 pm
Sounds like the way a coach should be! Not just trying to win but creating a team.