Tennis coach wins players' admiration

In the last 24 years, one name has been synonymous with IU's women's tennis program. Whereas other programs have seen much turnover, coach Lin Loring has brought stability and success to a tennis program regarded as the best in Big Ten history.\nIU has won 15 Big Ten titles in Loring's tenure, 11 more than Northwestern, which has the next highest total of conference championships. Only five schools have won Big Ten titles in that time. From 1978-1985, Loring's teams won 104 consecutive matches against Big Ten opponents. For his career, Loring is 264-34 against Big Ten teams. He said the team doesn't talk about winning titles, just improvement.\n"We don't talk about outcome goals, because you can't control those," Loring said. "We only talk about performance goals, because if you set up goals you can control, then the other things will fall into place."\nLoring has won two national coach of the year awards, six Midwest coach of the year awards and has been honored four times as the Big Ten coach of the year. His teams have made the NCAA tournament 14 times and in 1982, IU won a national championship, the first women's championship in IU history.\n"That championship was very significant," he said. "We had a great bunch of ladies and it was a fun year. But it was especially significant because it was the last year for the AIAW, and women's sports wouldn't be around if not for the AIAW."\nThe honors and achievements culminated in 1995, when Loring became the first women's tennis coach to surpass 500 wins. He has since raised that total to an NCAA record 587. When coupled with only 174 losses, that gives Loring a .771 winning percentage.\nThe women on the team said they enjoy playing for him.\n"He is very highly respected in the collegiate community, so it means a lot," senior Jennifer Hsia said. "Some coaches tell you what you want to hear, but he is honest. It makes it very easy to play for him."\nTeammate Amanda Field, a junior, said Loring's knowledge of the game gives him an edge.\n"One, he is very knowledgeable and two, he is organized and structured," Field said. "He gets the most out of practices. With the changes in tennis, he can get into the heads of a lot of other coaches."\nLoring said he will continue to coach as long as he enjoys it. \nWhen he looks back on his career, he said the relationship with the players will mean the most to him. The team has alumni reunions and puts out an alumni newsletter a couple times a year.\n"They all still write to me and send me baby pictures and wedding pictures. We are all one big family," Loring said. "And if the girls' experiences here didn't mean anything to them, then I wouldn't be getting those pictures and letters"