Jenny Mainz' Legacy as Alabama Women's Tennis Coach More Than Just Success
The memory of that meeting with the late Mal Moore more than 20 years ago is still as fresh and vivid for Jenny Mainz as if it happened yesterday.
It was 2001 and Mainz had completed her third season as the Crimson Tide women’s tennis coach.
She got word that Moore, the Alabama athletic director, wanted to meet with her.
“Of course I knew why he wanted to see me,” Mainz said.
Through her first three seasons, Mainz had just 10 wins and 54 losses with zero SEC wins.
She sat down with Moore in his office and, just like she surmised, he talked to Mainz about the state of the program, which wasn’t good.
“He never raised his voice and never lectured you,” Mainz said. “He’s warm and kind and thoughtful and charming. He says, ‘Jenny, I really like you, but you have to win, and you have to win in the SEC.’ I was like, ‘Yes sir.’ Those were the expectations and I respected them and understood them. That’s why I ultimately came to Alabama.”
It’s 2023 and Mainz is still here. Well, she’s here at least until the conclusion of the season. Then she retires after a 26-year career with the Crimson Tide.
Mainz took the Alabama tennis program to uncharted territory during her quarter-century at the helm. The 2013 team earned the school’s first Round of 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The following year the Crimson Tide reached the quarterfinals.
Thirteen of Alabama’s 15 NCAA Tournament teams were coached by Mainz. The 2013 ITA National Coach of the Year coached two-time NCAA doubles champions Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe (2014-15). Mainz coached 11 All-Americans and sent six players into the professional ranks.
“What a privilege this has been,” Mainz said. “It’s probably the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life. This has been my dream job. There is crimson in my blood and I’ll always be a part of the Alabama family.”
Mainz, a Blue Gray National Tennis Hall of Fame and Alabama Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, was a three-time SEC Coach of the Year and six-time ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year.
She led Alabama to its first conference title with the 2014 SEC regular season championship with four SEC Western Division titles.
“I want to thank everyone for following our team through the last 26 years—the good, the bad and everything in between,” Mainz said.
Oh, you can bet she remembers the bad. You don’t forget going winless in your first season.
That 1998 season was unlike any other. Most of the team was sidelined with injuries while others transferred out.
“I didn’t have a team,” Mainz said.
The only thing she could do was make up some flyers, scout the physical education classes and knock on sorority house doors to search for players.
“If someone had a year or two of high school experience, I took them,” Mainz said.
The team struggled that season, losing all 21 matches. In fact, the team won just 13 games and were shutout 13 times.
“It got so bad when we went to play Florida (NCAA runner-up and Indoor champs), we had four players on the team. Coach Andy Brandi told me, ‘Jenny, when you have six players come back and play us.’ That’s part of the story. It was really rough. But the bravery, the courage, the fortitude those players showed—they really need to be given a lot of credit for staying with us.”
The first few years of heartache and struggle were tough for Mainz, but she persevered. Moore gave Mainz a chance to prove she was the right person for the job, and she did.
“I believed in myself, and we were doing the right things,” Mainz said. “We did win that fourth year. We got into the top 20 and made the postseason. The first big win we had was Florida State. I remember picking up the phone and calling my parents and saying, ‘I’m staying. We are going to win and get this done and I’m the right person.' That’s a testament to Coach Moore and his patience, and I’m thankful for that.”
Mainz leaves behind a legacy of NCAA tourney success and she’s coached great players who received multiple honors and achieved success.
That’s not how she wants to be remembered, though. Her time at Alabama runs deeper than wins and losses.
“I left Alabama better than when I arrived and I made a difference, not just in the athletes’ lives, but far beyond that,” Mainz said of what she wants her legacy to be. “That I noticed people behind the scenes pitching in and making the program better.
"My father passed away from ALS in 2009. He taught me to be good to everyone, to show respect, kindness, gratitude and to give back and make things better than when you arrived. It’s not about me. It’s about other people, it’s about service. That’s part of his legacy. I’d like to think I’m part of his legacy.”
