Brian Rector recently completed his 19th season at Baldwin-Wallace College in 2007-2008. He is the winningest men's tennis coach in B-W and Ohio Athletic Conference history with a 326-70 career record and an outstanding .823 winning percentage.
Coach Rector has led three Yellow Jacket teams to OAC titles and has developed the B-W program into being among the best in the OAC and Central Region of Division III at the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association). His goal is to take the program to the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
Evidence of the strength of he program is five 20-win seasons in the last six years (the other season, B-W won 19 matches), OAC titles in 2003 and 2004 and four OAC Championship match appearances in the last five years, including this spring. During the past six years, Rector's teams have posted an amazing mark of 125-17 with an .880 winning percentage.
"We are proud of our team accomplishments and those of our student-athletes," said Rector. "We have a tradition of excellence both in the classroom and on the court. We are proud of the fact that four of our tennis student-athletes have earned Academic All-America acclaim and four have been named OAC Player of the Year since the award was established in 1999, including two two-time honorees.
"This spring, we graduate our all-time best player in James Daly (Akron/ Firestone)," said Rector. "He graduates as the all-time leader in B-W, OAC and Ohio collegiate tennis history in terms of wins in singles, doubles and combination wins. James had a marvelous career and we are grateful for having the opportunity to work with him the last four years. Next season, we will begin a new era of B-W tennis."
Prior to taking over the team in 1989, Rector was a four-year letterman in tennis, a team captain and a CoSIDA/ GTE Academic All-American player for the Yellow Jackets. He also, at one time, owned all of the B-W single season and career records for singles, doubles and combination victories. Now all of his current and former players own all of his marks.
After receiving his bachelor's degree in business administration in the spring of 1989, Rector immediately took over the reins of the B-W program from his coach and mentor Truman Fields. In his inaugural season, Rector guided the Yellow Jackets to their best-ever record and has since led his squad to new standards of excellence.
"Brian has been an outstanding coach and teacher of the game of tennis for 19 years and has built our men's tennis program into the best in the OAC," said retiring Athletic Director Steve Bankson. "Our program is respected in Ohio, in the OAC and regionally by the ITA. Year-in and year-out, Brian's team competes for the OAC title."
Coach Rector is a strong believer in the NCAA Division III philosophy of the student-athlete. During his coaching career, Rector has mentored three other CoSIDA Academic All-America student-athletes in Kevin Peacock '98, Josh Myers '01 and Bryan Bartunek '02.
"We tell our student-athletes when we recruit them to come to B-W that they are here to first get a quality education and that playing on a championship tennis team is a part of the benefit," said Rector. "We have had great success both on the court and in the classroom."
Rector has brought the Yellow Jackets to the brink of being an NCAA Division III National Tournament contender. His goal is to take B-W to the NCAA Division III tournament in the very near future.
"Our goals as a team every year are to first go unbeaten during the OAC regular season, then win the OAC Tournament title and hopefully advance to the NCAA Division III National Tournament," said Rector. "Individually, we want each player to excell to the best of his ability in the classroom. We have been fortunate to have a number of players go on to earn Academic All-OAC, Academic All-District and Academic All-American honors."
Rector is currently employed by KeyBank in Cleveland as a Network Engineer and resides in Berea.
Last updated on May 14, 2008
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