BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s tennis Associate Head Coach Mark Booras, who has served as head coach Jeff Brown‘s top assistant the past ten years, has been named the head coach for the Tulane men’s tennis team, Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson announced Saturday.
Booras, the 2007 ITA Assistant Coach of the Year, will take over the Green Wave program that has been suspended since Hurricane Katrina. The Green Wave will return to competition in the 2009-10 season.
“I am very grateful to have had the privilege to work with Jeff and be a part of this great LSU program,” Booras said. “LSU has been my home for the past ten years and I will always cherish the memories and relationships I have been blessed with during my time in Baton Rouge.
“I am excited and honored to be selected the men’s tennis head coach at Tulane University. This tennis program has had a great tradition of success and I look forward to working with the athletic department and community in helping the program reach a championship level once again. My wife and I are delighted to be a part of the New Orleans community.”
The Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament every year Booras coached at LSU.
Booras helped recruit some of the top players around the country to attend LSU, including three-time All-American Ken Skupski who recently played in the doubles tournament of the Wimbledon Championships.
The Tigers have earned nine ITA All-American honors during Booras’ tenure.
Brown and Booras’ encouragement for academic success was showcased the past two seasons as the Tigers were honored by the NCAA for scoring a perfect Academic Progress Rate score each year.
Booras was recognized in 2004 and 2007 as the best assistant coach in the ITA Southeast Region, which holds some of the top coaching and playing talent in the country.
Booras was given the title of associate head coach in 2004.
In his first season with the Tigers, Booras helped guide LSU to its second consecutive SEC Championship as well as a berth in the Final Four. The 1999 squad also won its second-straight SEC Tournament, becoming the first team to ever repeat as tournament champions.
“Mark has played a large role in our program’s success over the past 10 years,” Brown said. “He has helped our players tremendously on and off the court. He has earned this opportunity and I wish him and his wife Laura the best of luck.”