Bob Bayliss Position: Head Coach Alma Mater: Richmond '66

Over the past 38 years, Bob Bayliss has built a reputation as one of the top collegiate tennis coaches in the country. Few others have turned out so many exceptional players, had such great team success and earned as many honors.

Last year, Notre Dame reached the NCAA Round of 16 for the second straight year, finished with the most victories in a single-season since 1980-81 and ended the campaign ranked sixth in the country (the highest ranking to close a season since being ranked third at the completion of the 1991-92 season). It marked the 11th time since 1989-90 that Notre Dame has been among the top 20 in the final ITA rankings. It was the 17th consecutive year that the Irish were listed in the final ITA rankings. Notre Dame opened the preseason at #13 and peaked at t-4th (April 17) before closing the season with a 26-4 record.

Stephen Bass was named a 2007 singles All-American by the ITA. He was second Irish player in as many years (Sheeva Parbhu, 2006) to earn such status. Bass ended the year ranked 10th in the country. The ITA Senior Player of the Year for the Midwest Region was the 17th different Irish men's tennis player to be tabbed an All-American. He went 36-11, was named the BIG EAST Performer of the Year and spent most of the year ranked among the top 10 in the country. He finished his career sixth on the all-time victory list with a 109-46 record. Bass was also awarded the 2007 Intercollegiate Tennis Association's John Van Nostrand Memorial Award, given to an outstanding senior men's player who plans to pursue a professional tennis career upon graduation.

His teams' accomplishments speak for themselves. Bayliss has led the Irish to 16 NCAA Championship berths in the past 17 seasons and has helped his teams post 11 top-20 finishes in that time. Bayliss' squads have advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament on seven occasions, including a quarterfinal appearance in 1993 and a trip to the NCAA title match in 1992. On 15 occasions, his teams have won conference titles.

The players who have played under him have had similar success, earning All-America honors 19 times and bringing home eight Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national awards. A pair of Irish players and three Notre Dame doubles teams have earned national rankings in the top five under Bayliss. Six of his players have been honored with the Byron V. Kanaley Award, the most prestigious honor given to Notre Dame senior student-athlete monogram winners who have been exemplary both as students and leaders.

The professional ranks have been the next step for a number of competitors who spent four years under Bayliss' tutelage. David DiLucia, who was ranked No. 1 nationally in both singles and doubles while at Notre Dame, went on to a successful pro career in which he played in the singles main draw of all four grand-slam events, entered the world top 100 in doubles and clinched the 2001 World Team Tennis title for the Philadelphia Freedoms. He recently served as the personal coach of Lindsay Davenport, former world's #1-ranked women's player. Three other formerly the Notre Dame players (Richard Cahill, Andy Zurcher, and current assistant coach Ryan Sachire) have been ranked among the world's top 400 doubles players, and a total of eight former Irish players have gone on to play professionally since 1999.

Bayliss' talent has not gone unnoticed among his peers, as he has been honored as national coach of the year twice. He also is a five-time Midwest Region coach of the year and has been named the top coach in his conference on 13 occasions. In 1995, he was honored with the Meritorious Service Award - previously had been bestowed upon just six coaches - for his extraordinary contributions to collegiate tennis and his service to the collegiate tennis community throughout his career.

Notre Dame's Monogram Club recognized Bayliss' accomplishments by awarding him an honorary monogram in 1993. At the time, he was one of just three current Irish coaches to have been so honored.

Bayliss currently serves on the ITA executive board of directors and is the assistant chair of the ITA's Division I operating committee. He also serves as co-chairperson of the ITA ethics and infractions committee and is on the executive and budget and collegiate hall of fame committees.

On two occasions, Bayliss has been selected to lead a team of collegiate all-stars into foreign competition. In the summer of 1991, Bayliss guided the United States team to a gold medal at the World University Games in Sheffield, England.

In the summer of 2003, he led an ITA All-Star Team to Tokyo, Japan, to take part in two "Dream Matches" - exhibition showdowns with the top Japanese collegiate tennis program (Waseda University) and a Japanese collegiate all-star squad. Bayliss and the USA were victorious in two hard-fought contests.

He registered his 600th coaching victory on Feb. 18, 2005, against Northwestern, to become just the fifth active Division I coach to accomplish that feat. Bayliss has posted an overall record of 663-273-1 (.708) in 38 years of coaching, finishing with a winning record on all but one occasion. In 20 years at Notre Dame, Bayliss has a 372-170 (.686) record, and he helped Notre Dame become the seventh Division I school to register 1,000 all-time men's tennis victories, with a 5-2 upset of #18 North Carolina on Jan. 29, 2005.

Bayliss remains best known as the mastermind behind Notre Dame's march to the NCAA final in 1992 as the 10th seed. The '92 Irish were the lowest seed and first Northern school to reach the NCAA final since the team format was adopted in 1977.

He wasted little time in making his mark on Notre Dame men's tennis. In just the third year under Bayliss, in 1990, Notre Dame received its first-ever listing in the ITA national rankings. DiLucia advanced to the NCAA Singles Championship for the second year and was named one of 16 seeded competitors, becoming the first Irish player to earn All-America honors in 22 years.

Bayliss directed Notre Dame to a new level in 1991, when the Irish earned a berth in the NCAA Championship for the first time since the team format was adopted in 1977. Notre Dame was voted the top squad in the Midwest Region and defeated Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual champion USC in the round of 16.

The following season, 1991-92, marked the return of two-time national champion Notre Dame to the nation's elite. The Irish posted an overall record of 23-4 on their way to the NCAA title match. Notre Dame entered that event ranked No. 10 in the country but proceeded to record wins over #7 Mississippi State, host and third-seeded Georgia, and top-ranked USC before falling to Stanford in the final. Bayliss was named ITA National Coach of the Year for his efforts, while DiLucia finished his career as a five-time All-American and won the Dan Magill Award as the top senior collegiate tennis player in the country.

Despite the impressive accomplishments of the '91-'92 team, the performance of the '92-'93 Irish team may have been even more remarkable. The Irish lost DiLucia to graduation and the pro tour, and captain Zurcher went out for the year in December, sidelined with a wrist injury just before the start of the dual-match season.

With the performance of a solid senior class and some surprises from the underclassmen, Bayliss and his team posted an 18-9 record and defeated Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAAs to advance to the quarterfinals and finish the season ranked 10th in the country. The Irish also captured the prestigious Blue-Gray National Classic title in March.

Seniors Chuck Coleman and Will Forsyth both were named singles All-Americans, the first time Notre Dame had boasted multiple singles All-Americans in 34 years. Coleman won the inaugural Tennis Magazine/Arthur Ashe National Collegiate Award for Sportsmanship and Leadership.

Bayliss faced a dual challenge in 1993-94 -- coaching his team and playing host to the NCAA Championships -- but he came through to lead the Irish to a 23-10 record and a spot in the round of 16 after they won the Region IV championship. The South Bend community came out to see the best players in the nation, and Zurcher and Todd Wilson gave the hometown crowd something to remember by advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship. Zurcher became the second Notre Dame player in three years to win the Dan Magill Award and was the first Irish men's tennis player to earn Academic All-America honors.

For the second year in a row, Notre Dame played host to NCAA early-round action in 1995. The Irish finished with a 16-9 mark after falling to eventual NCAA finalist Mississippi in the final of the Region IV championship. Mike Sprouse became the second Notre Dame player in three years to win the Arthur Ashe Award, continuing the pattern of Irish dominance of national honors.

The Irish again advanced to NCAA Region IV play in 1996, after winning the BIG EAST championship in their inaugural season in the league. Despite losing half of the singles lineup and the No. 1 doubles team from the previous season, the 1996-97 team delivered a seventh top-20 finish for Notre Dame in eight years with a No. 16 final ranking.

Sachire became the first singles All-American in five years when he earned a seed in the 1998 NCAA Singles Championship, advanced to the third round, and finished as the 20th-ranked player in the country. He also became the first Notre Dame player to be named Most Outstanding Player at the BIG EAST Championship.

Bayliss helped Sachire improve his game and develop into the #2-ranked singles player in the country during his junior season, 1998-99, as he reached the final of the ITA All-American Championships, the second leg of the collegiate grand slam. Bayliss' milestone 500th career win came in a 9-0 victory against Northwestern on Feb. 20, and the Irish won their second BIG EAST title in April.

Under Bayliss' tutelage, Sachire became the first Irish player ever to win the Ted A. Farnsworth/ITA National Senior Player of the Year Award and the John Van Nostrand Memorial Award, which gives a cash stipend to a senior player intending to pursue a professional career. The 2000 Irish nearly pulled off the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA Team Championship, but No. 2 UCLA eventually prevailed 4-2 over the 34th-ranked Irish The 2001 squad vaulted from a preseason ranking of 33rd to a season-high 10th before finishing at 16th. For the first time since 1993, the Irish won the Blue-Gray National Classic and returned to the top 10.

His `02 team was one of the finest in Irish history. It was ranked in the top 10 throughout the regular season, peaking twice at No. 4, the highest midseason listing in school history. The Irish played host to NCAA action again and advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 1994. They also won their third BIG EAST title, posted the second-highest win total of Bayliss' tenure, and defeated three top-10 teams, as well as eventual national champion USC in a fall exhibition match. Taborga was ranked as high as 11th in singles and joined DiLucia as the only players in school history to earn All-America honors in singles and doubles in the same season. He also won the National Senior Player of the Year award and was the only player in the country to defeat both the final national No. 1 singles player and No. 1 doubles team. He and Casey Smith teamed up for one of the best doubles seasons in school history, earning All-America honors and both winning a school-record 32 matches along the way.

In 2004, Bayliss guided his team from a preseason ranking of 49th to as high as 26th en route to a thrilling BIG EAST championship. The Irish avenged earlier losses to rivals Miami and Virginia Tech, in claiming the conference title in the final year with those two schools as league members.

The 2005 campaign saw the Irish return to the national top 20, peaking at 16th en route to winning back-to-back BIG EAST titles for the first time. The 2006 Irish finished 17th in the final edition of the Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings, administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). It was the highest year-end listing for the Irish since 2001-02 (14th). The Irish were 26th in the preseason, fell to as low as 31st (Feb. 14) and peaked at 15th (March 21) before finishing with a 19-9 record and reaching the round of 16 of the NCAA Championship.

Sheeva Parbhu was named a 2006 singles All-American by the ITA. The first Irish player to be so honored since 2001-02, he finished with a 33-8 record and was 28th in the final ITA national singles rankings after being the program's first player since 1959 to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship.

At Notre Dame, Bayliss remains responsible for much more than just providing the Irish with a winning men's tennis record. He oversees the Eck Tennis Pavilion, and has been responsible for improving the Courtney Tennis Center and erecting stadium-type bleachers for that outdoor facility. A series of free clinics for the Notre Dame and South Bend communities organized by Bayliss won the Irish program a grant from Volvo Tennis. Bayliss came to Notre Dame after a three-year stint at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He guided the MIT men's tennis team to a 43-23-1 (.649) record. He led MIT to two consecutive New England Intercollegiate titles, its first in school history. He also was an assistant professor of physical education and the tennis pro at the Wellesley (Mass.) Country Club.

During 15 seasons at Navy (1970-84), Bayliss led the Midshipmen to a 248-80 (.756) record. His tenure was highlighted by being named the 1980 National Coach of the Year by the United States Professional Tennis Association. Navy finished with a 19-5 record that season and Bayliss was named the Maryland Professional of the Year.

He is the only Navy men's tennis coach that never lost to Army and was named the Mid-Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in three consecutive seasons from 1978-80 before guiding the Middies to a 22-3 record in 1982. In addition to his tennis duties at Navy, Bayliss was an assistant professor of English and associate professor of physical education. He also coached Navy's squash team to a 42-16 (.724) record from 1978-1982. In the fall of 2005, Bayliss - who compiled a 19-0 career mark against Army - was recognized by Navy with both a plaque in the squash facility and the renaming of one of the tennis courts in his honor.

Bayliss is nationally esteemed in his profession. He has lectured at the United States Tennis Association program for teaching professionals and at the National Tennis Coaches convention. He oversees the Notre Dame tennis camps in the summer and completed the USTA's High Performance Coaching Program in 2002. In 2005, he traveled to Wimbledon to participate in a High Performance Continuing Education Program organized by the USTA.

Assistant coaches have benefited from spending time under Bayliss, being named the top assistant in the Midwest Region four times since `97. Four recent Irish assistants have gone on to head coaching positions. Brian Kalbas stayed on as an assistant under his former coach after graduating in 1989, eventually leaving for the head women's tennis job at William & Mary.

Kalbas was the '98 National Coach of the Year and moved to North Carolina in the summer of '03 to become its head women's coach. Mike Morgan, an Irish assistant from 1997-2000, left to be the head men's coach at Claremont McKenna/Harvey Mudd/Scripps Colleges in California. In `03, he took over the men's and women's programs at Colby (Maine) College. Billy Pate, the '02 National Assistant Coach of the Year under Bayliss, is in his fifth season as head coach of Alabama.

Most recently, former Notre Dame assistant Todd Doebler was named head coach at Penn State following the 2006 season.

Bayliss received his bachelor of arts degree in English at the University of Richmond (1966), where he also captained the tennis team and was a member of the basketball squad. In 2002, Bayliss was inducted into the University of Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame. A member of Omicron Delta Kappa (national leadership fraternity), he completed his master's degree in English at Richmond in 1971.

Bayliss and his wife, Pat, have four children: Jackie, Rob, Brendan, and Patrick. All of them graduated from Notre Dame.