IU women’s tennis coach Lin Loring was 23 during what he called the “Golden Age” of tennis.
It was a time when great tennis players such Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs were center stage. The 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match between King and Riggs was a defining moment for Loring’s interest in tennis.
While attending the University of California-Santa Barbara, Loring was a tournament golfer, and his roommate was the No. 1 tennis player at their school.
Loring taught his roommate golf, and his roommate taught him tennis. As time went on, Loring transitioned from the golf course to the courts.
Shortly after graduating, Loring took a head coaching job at UC-Santa Barbara and led the women’s tennis team to a 42-17 record in four years.
In 1977 Loring made the move to Bloomington, where he found his home for the next 40 years. Loring announced his retirement from coaching Thursday.
During his time at IU he became the winningest Big Ten coach in history with 804 wins. With his career total at 846 he became the all-time wins leader in women’s Division I collegiate tennis history.
Along with these wins came 16 Big Ten Championships, an overall winning percentage of 71.6 percent and an Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Championship in 1982.
In the 1991-92 season, Loring coached the singles to 69-0, dual matches to 54-0 and 15-0 in the Big Ten Championships. This led to his being named both Big Ten and Midwest Coach of the Year.
He was named Big Ten coach of the year four times, Midwest coach of the year five times and national coach of the year twice throughout his career.
Despite the historic career, Loring decided it was time to retire.
“Being able to spend more time with my two teenage daughters and family was one of the main reasons, but it’s a lot of other things, too,” Loring said. “Not many people last in this profession long. It’s a lot of hours, weekends and travel, and when you’re 27 like when I got here, it was fun and exciting. It got to the point where I was looking forward to practice every day but I wasn’t looking forward to the next road trip.”
A lot of coaches reflect on their big wins and records, but for Loring, all his accolades and accomplishments were never something he paid much attention to.
He said he didn’t even know he was close to a career milestone until someone would tell him.
“Coaching is not about titles or wins or losses,” Loring said in a letter to his players and staff. “It is about one life influencing another. When I look at our 100-percent graduation rate and my office bulletin board full of Christmas cards, baby pictures and wedding announcements, I know I have been successful.”
Many of Loring’s favorite memories came from off the court rather than on it. He remembers all the weddings, senior lunches and Christmas parties. Loring said there’s loads and loads of memories that have nothing to do with the tennis court.
Sophomore Madison Appel said Loring really helped her blossom as a player and as a person.
“Coach Loring was not only such a great coach of this team but taught me to be a great person. He cared so much for his players and Indiana and making us the best players we can be,” Appel said. “I feel I have developed and improved many important aspects of my game because of his experience and work ethic. He will be missed so much from our team, and I wish him all the best.”
The new man for the job is Ramiro Azcui. Azcui is in his 25th year as an assistant coach, and Loring said he thinks it will be a smooth transition for everyone with Azcui taking over as opposed to someone outside, he said.
“Ramiro brings in a ton of institutional knowledge,” Loring said. “If they brought in somebody new they wouldn’t know where the equipment room is. All the alumni and all the players know him. We’ve got really good recruiting classes for 2017-2018 that are already committed, and they know Ramiro so they won’t be going anywhere so it will be just a very smooth transition.”
Azcui has his fair share of accolades as well.
In 1997, 1999 and 2004, he won the Midwest Assistant Coach of the Year Award and was named the ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2004.
“Today is a bittersweet day for IU and college tennis as one of greatest coaches in history is stepping down after 40 years of aservice to this wonderful university,” Azcui said in a release from IU Athletics. “Coach Loring’s contributions on and off the court have meant so much to Indiana, college tennis, and to five decades of IU women’s tennis players. I am humbled and excited to continue the great tradition at Indiana that we have established over so many years.”
Though his historic and story-filled career is coming to an end after 44 years, Loring said he is coming away from the job and the courts happy, rather than sad.
“I want to say thank you to all my wonderful players, all my IU colleagues and all my Bloomington friends,” Loring said in the letter. “When I look back, I’ll remember the words of that great American author, Dr. Seuss. ‘Do not cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ I’m walking away with a big smile on my face.”
