Sept. 10, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame head coach Bob Bayliss has signed a multi-year contract to continue as coach of the Irish men’s tennis program. Bayliss’ teams have made appearances in each of the last 11 NCAA championships, the longest current streak of any Notre Dame team.
Bayliss begins his 33rd year as a collegiate coach and has guided Notre Dame to a 261-121 (.683) record since he began coaching the Irish in the fall of 1987. In his career, Bayliss owns a 543-215 mark. His .716 winning percentage ranks as the fourth-highest among active collegiate coaches and seventh on the all-time NCAA list. Prior to coaching the Irish, Bayliss spent three years at MIT (1985-87) and 15 at Navy (1970-84).
Just three years after arriving at Notre Dame, Bayliss led Notre Dame to its first national ranking in school history in 1990. One year later, he led his team to a berth in the NCAA championships for the first time in the program’s history. The following season, Bayliss’ Irish finished 23-4 and advanced to the 1992 national title match before falling to Stanford. Notre Dame’s march to the championship match as the No. 10 seed still makes the Irish the lowest seed and only non-Sun Belt school to reach the NCAA final since the team format was adopted in 1977. The Irish reached the national quarterfinals again in 1993. In 14 years at Notre Dame, Bayliss has coached his players to 14 All-America honors.
Bayliss was named Intercollegiate Tennis Association national coach of the year in 1992 and has won regional coach-of-the-year honors 14 times, including last season. The ITA honored Bayliss again in 1995 with the Meritorious Service Award, which previously had been awarded to just six coaches, for his extraordinary contributions to collegiate tennis and his service to the collegiate tennis community throughout his career. Bayliss has been named conference coach of the year six times in his career and has helped Notre Dame capture two BIG EAST titles since joining the conference in 1996, as well as seven consecutive Midwestern Collegiate Conference titles from 1989-95.
In 2001, the Irish finishing 17-7 and were ranked as high as 10th in the country before ending the season with a No. 16 ranking. Notre Dame captured the Blue-Gray National Classic title, marking the first time the Irish had won the tournament and the first time they were ranked in the top 10 since 1993.
“Bob Bayliss has done an exceptional job in helping our men’s tennis program to become one of the finest in the nation,” said Notre Dame director of athletics Kevin White. “He is respected across the country as one of the best coaches on the collegiate level and he has been instrumental in the development of many players in their time at Notre Dame.”
“I am very appreciative of the faith Kevin White and the rest of the administration has shown in me,” said Bayliss. “I look forward to continuing and eventually completing my coaching career at Notre Dame.”