Women's tennis hires first assistant coach
Missouri women's tennis gained its first-ever full-time assistant coach, as new head coach Sasha Schmid named Jason Potthoff to the position Thursday.
Potthoff has spent the last three years as an instructor at the John Newcombe Tennis Academy in New Braunfels, Texas, working with nationally and internationally ranked players. He's also been a part of the United States Professional Tennis Association staff and a graduate assistant coach at Texas A&M, his alma mater.
“I’m really excited to get this opportunity to come to Mizzou,” Potthoff said in a news release. “The school has a great reputation for academics and athletics, and I’m really excited to team up with Sasha. There’s going to be a lot of expectations because all of the other programs at Mizzou are doing so well. I think that Sasha and I are definitely ready to meet the Big 12 conference and the rest of the NCAA head on and turn the women’s tennis program into perennial winners, just like all of the other programs here at Mizzou."
Potthoff is the first coaching staff hire for incoming head coach Schmid and the first full-time assistant coach in the program's history. All assistant coaches prior to Potthoff had not been considered working on a full-time basis.
“I’m thrilled with the hiring of Jason, we had some really great candidates but he stood out,” Schmid said in the release. “He’s such a hard worker and I know he’s thrilled to be at Missouri. The hiring of Jason is one more step that Missouri has taken to improve our program, with a full time assistant. We have a great rapport, and I think we’re going to be a great team. We have the same goals to move this team forward, and we’re excited to start working toward that."