For a quarter century now, Don Ball has been the head coach of the NM State men’s and women’s tennis teams. The staple of Aggie Athletics, Ball is the longest tenured coach in school history as he is entering his 25th season at the helm of the Aggie programs.
Ball has coached nearly 1,100 dual matches in his illustrious career and has won 540 combined matches from his men’s and women’s teams. He came to New Mexico State in the fall of 1985 after serving as the head tennis professional at the El Paso Tennis Club in El Paso, Texas. Since taking over the Aggie tennis programs, his men’s squads have gone 263-272 (.492) while the women’s program has a 277-275 (.502) record under Ball’s guidance.
On May 12, 2009, Ball was named the 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Mountain Region Coach of the Year for guiding the men’s team into the national rankings for the first time since 2004. That was his fourth coach of the year honor, joining his selections as the 1999 Big West Coach of the Year (men), the 1999 Southern USPTA Coach of the Year (men) and the 1988 High Country Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (women).
For his men’s team in 2009, they spent six weeks in the ITA national rankings and appeared as high as No. 64 on March 17, the seventh highest ranking in program history. The six weeks the Aggies spent nationally ranked in 2009 are the second most for a single season (behind the eight polls the Aggies appeared in during the 2001 season) in program history. The men advanced to the quarterfinals of the WAC Championships for the third time in four seasons and finished the year with a 13-11 record. Nine of those 11 losses came at the hands of teams in the national rankings, as the Aggies had their strongest schedule in program history.
Also in 2009, the Aggie women recorded their 18th-straight season with at least 10 victories. Sophia Marks was named to her second-straight all-WAC team for her singles play in 2009, which was the 20th all-conference selection on the women’s side under Ball’s guidance. Eight women’s doubles teams have received all-conference honors during his tenure.
Like Marks, Jim Brouleau was named to the 2009 all-WAC team in singles. His all-conference accolade marked the 19th time under Ball that a men’s player as received all-league recognition. Roman Stoisavljevic and Eduardo Salas were named to the all-WAC first team this year after being selected to the second team in 2008 and Ball has had 10 doubles pairings on the men’s side garner all-conference accolades under him.
Brouleau also was named the 2009 ITA Mountain Region Player to Watch, which is an award that goes out to a player who has had an outstanding season and is expected to perform at a high level the rest of his career. Carlos Vargas, the men’s assistant coach, was named the ITA Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year and in 2007 the ITA honored Gustave Diep as the Mountain Region Rookie of the Year.
Along with the accolades for the high performance under Ball, his student-athletes have received more recognition for their work in the classroom. Ball’s has had three academic all-American’s, the last of which was Sandra Mayr who was a third team selection in 2004. Simone Bock was named first team academic all-America in 1997 and 1998 and Judy Kirk was a first team selection in 1989 and a second team selection the two years prior to that. Gustave Diep was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VI First Team in 2008.
Ball’s 2008 women’s team had eight student-athletes named scholar athletes, which was the most from one team in the country. His women’s teams were selected to the ITA All-Academic Team list from 2002-06 and 2008-09. He has had 14 ITA women scholar athletes, many of whom have received the honor several times. On the men’s side, his squads earned ITA All-Academic Team recognition in 2005-06 and in 2008-09 and he has had nine scholar athletes.
In the four seasons that NM State has been a part of the Western Athletic Conference, Ball has had 10 women named to the academic all-conference list and eight men.
Ball has received recognition for his community service efforts over the years. In November 2007 he was given the ITA Southwest Section USTA/ITA Community Service Award.
One of his greatest career accomplishments has been the development of the NM State Tennis Center, which opened in the spring of 2006. The 12-court complex is one of the premier outdoor facilities in all of college tennis and it is attributed to Ball, who was fundamental in overseeing the development, construction, maintenance and growth of the tennis center, where he serves as the director.
Before his coaching days began, Ball was an outstanding collegiate tennis player. He began his collegiate career at New Mexico in 1967, where he posted a 28-3 singles record in two years. After the 1968-69 season he transferred to Idaho State where he played his final season. A team captain as a senior in 1971, Ball played at the No. 1 singles position and his team named him the most valuable player. He was the runner-up in No. 1 singles at the Big Sky Conference Championships.
After graduating from Idaho State, Ball entered the United States Army where he was a member of the U.S. Army Tennis Clinic Team. In 1974, he was the U.S. Army TRADOC singles and doubles champion. Following his discharge from the Army, Ball moved to New Jersey where he became the promoter and director of the $25,000 Allaire Open in 1978, a tournament on the American Express Professional Circuit.
In 1980, Ball became the head instructor at the El Paso Tennis Club. There he coached five nationally ranked junior players, three sectional champions, one national champion and more than 50 sectionally ranked juniors.
Ball’s family has always been heavily involved with the sport of tennis and for all of their family work, the United States Tennis Association named them the USTA National Family of the Year in the spring of 1991. The award was in honor of Don, his father, Russell Ball, as well as the rest of the Ball family of their efforts in the sport over the years.
Ball and his wife, Denise, have two grown children, Donny and Darcy.
