Kathy Bull - Women's Tennis Coach - Ball State University Athletics

Kathy Bull

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
kbull@bsu.edu
Phone:
765.285.5174

Kathy Bull enters her 21st season at the helm of the Ball State University women’s tennis program. Bull is just the third coach in the 30-year history of the program at Ball State. Named to the post June 29, 1988, Bull is a three-time recipient of Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year laurels, as well as the winningest coach in BSU women’s tennis annals. Bull has accumulated a 228-197 (.536) slate in her 20 years as head coach. In those 20 years of tutelage, Bull has guided Ball State to .500 or better overall marks 13 times. Prior to her arrival, BSU teams registered .500 or better finishes just twice, while managing a winning record only once. Nine of the program’s top-10 records have come during Bull’s tenure, including an all-time high 19 wins in 1991 and an all-time best .800 winning percentage (16-4) in 1995. All of Ball State’s success in the MAC has come under Bull’s guidance. Her teams have scored top-three finishes five times and top-five marks on eight occasions. After guiding BSU to its first-ever winning record in regular-season league play in 1994, she led the 1995 squad to a 5-1 slate. The 1996 team matched the feat and went one step further by accumulating a runner-up finish at the league tournament. Besides placing second, BSU totalled an all-time high 53 points, just five points less than first-place and then-13-time league champion Miami. To make 1996 even more impressive, Ball State had a school-best three MAC Champions -- Kathy George at No. 6 singles, Lori Hill and Lisa Drewitt at No. 1 doubles and Lisa Barg and Fil Marcial at No. 3 doubles. Despite the graduation loss of four players from its 1996 lineup, the 1997 Cardinals registered a third-place finish at the MAC Championships, which for the first time ever, was decided by a dual-match format rather than the traditional flighted format. In 2002, Bull guided her squad to unprecedented heights, including the program’s first-ever national ranking. The Cardinals made their first appearance in the Omni Hotels/ITA National Poll March 20, 2002, at No. 72. BSU earned its highest ranking of No. 66 one week later. The team, which put together a school-record eight match winning streak at one point, finished the year with a 12-8 overall mark. The 12 victories ties for seventh all time. All five of the Cardinals’ MAC Champions -- singles and doubles -- have come during Bull’s tenure at Ball State. In the 28-year history of the program, BSU players have earned either first or second team All-MAC accolades a total of 23 times with 22 of them under Bull’s direction. In addition, she has tutored the top-10 singles players and the top-nine doubles tandems in school history. When talking about the success of the Ball State women’s tennis program, it extends far beyond the athletic accomplishments. The program, during Bull’s tenure, has flourished in the classroom with BSU being on the receiving end of numerous national and conference academic accolades. The 2007 squad was honored as an ITA All-Academic Team for the ninth straight season and the ninth time in the last 11 campaigns. The award is open to all of the more than 300 Division I programs with cumulative team GPAs of 3.25 or higher. Last season three seniors graduate from the Ball State women’s tennis program with the highest of honors. Jennifer Pollack was the only women’s tennis player that was an ITA All-American all four-years. Pollack graduated from Ball State with the highest of honors summa cum laude. Haly Calderwood graduated magna cum laude and Emma Retter graduated cum laude. The 2007-08 women’s tennis team was named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s All-Academic Team for the tenth consecutive year. The Cardinals have earned the prestigious award 11 times over the last 12 years. Six members of the squad received individual ITA Scholar Athlete accolades -- Haly Calderwood, Stephanie Farrar, Hayley Hall, Jennifer Pollack, Emma Retter and Georgina Thomson. This past summer Bull coached the 2008 Midwest 16 zone team to its first USTA (United States Tennis Association) national tournament championship in St. Louis, Missouri. Bull’s teams have regularly ranked at or near the top of all athletic teams at the school in terms of grade-point average. Her 2005-06 squad continued the academic success, posting the fourth-highest cumulative GPA of all of BSU’s teams with a 3.5. “I am blessed with student athletes who appreciate and respect their education,” Bull says. “I have and always will make our academic mission our number one priority. We dedicate ourselves to this cause. We feel our academic record is one to be very proud of. Not many teams in the country can equal the successes we have had in the classroom.” BSU tennis players have earned national academic honors 30 times and league academic accolades on 87 occasions. Lisa Barg, a Whitinger Scholar who graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA, capped her highly successful career by earning selection to the 1996 GTE At-Large Academic All-America First Team. She is the first tennis player in school history to earn Academic All-America First Team accolades. She was later honored as Indiana’s NCAA Woman of the Year. The impact BSU tennis players have made extends into the city of Muncie, where the team commits to numerous hours of community service. In addition to volunteering for a plethora of activities including Meals On Wheels, Fit Kids and Jump A Thon. The program initiated a very popular, university wide holiday toy and food drive 16 years ago and has continued the successful drive each year. In addition to Ball State, Bull has been involved with tennis in the Muncie community. She has continued her active involvement in junior tennis and began BSU’s first ever girls tennis camp. Bull also serves as a U.S. Professional Tennis Association instructor and has served as tournament director for the Midwest Tennis Association Junior Wightman Cup Tournament held now called the Marian Baird Cup in Muncie for the past 17 years. Bull spent six years as head coach of the national 16’s zonal championships. She was selected to that post after serving as a coach for the USTA National Challenge Cup for 12-year old girls and boys for four years. Prior to her appointment at BSU, she was the men’s and women’s tennis coach and women’s volleyball coach at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., for four years plus was an assistant professor and motor learning specialist. Bull was honored with her induction into her alma mater’s Hall of Fame Oct. 16, 1999. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Winona State in 1980. She was a physical education teacher at Woodstock Junior High School in Illinois, plus was assistant girls’ volleyball and softball coach at Woodstock High School. In 1981, she was a physical education teacher and coached girls’ varsity volleyball, basketball and softball at Johnsburg High School in Illinois. As a collegiate student athlete at WSU, Bull was a four-year member of the tennis and volleyball teams plus was on the basketball squad for two seasons. She was named Winona State’s most valuable player in both tennis and volleyball.