From Teammates To Team Builders

The year was 1995. Toy Story premiered in theaters, Friends and Seinfeld could be found on any television, and cell phones were only used for calling people. The 90s were in full swing and so were Mississippi State Women's Tennis coaches Daryl Greenan and Sachin Kirtane, who were both competing on the same tennis team at Valdosta State.

When thinking back to their glory days of college and playing with each other, Greenan can only chuckle when recalling his first impression of his now assistant coach.

"Something that everyone notices is that Shaq [Kirtane] is very loud and outgoing," Greenan said. "Shaq was definitely loud and outgoing [back then]. Everybody remembers him, especially in South Georgia."

Coming from India to South Georgia, Shaq Kirtane found himself to be in a culture shock.

"For me, I was starting out and I didn't know how to be on a team," Kirtane said. "In India, you are kind of spoon fed a lot of things and I wasn't used to doing a lot of stuff on my own. [Greenan] definitely helped me in that aspect. You could definitely tell he was going to be a leader."

Greenan and Kirtane have since become a dynamic duo coaching pair with an overall record of 99-71 together at Mississippi State. Together, they have made five appearances in the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship over six fully-completed seasons, as well as advancing to three SEC Championship Quarterfinals in that span.

Before all that, the men had two years of playing time together at Valdosta State before Greenan left to begin his coaching career up the road from Starkville at the Mississippi University of Women from 1998 to 2001. While coaching at the W, the two crossed paths due to still being in the same conference, the Gulf South Conference, while Kirtane finished his playing career at Valdosta State.

Once Kirtane wrapped up his playing career, he headed off to Northern Iowa where he was head coach there from 2002 to 2012. He landed at Lindsey Wilson to become the head coach for both men's and women's tennis teams from 2012 to 2014.

Greenan became an assistant coach at the University of Alabama from 2002 to 2004, but soon found himself again crossing paths with Kirtane when he landed another head coaching position at the University of Iowa from 2005 to 2009.

Eventually, Greenan made his way back down to the South and became the head coach of the Bulldogs. He still always kept in touch with Kirtane through the years. Soon, the two would be reunited in Starkville.

"I think it was the third time when I was hiring a new assistant when I said, 'How about you,'" Greenan recalled of bringing Kirtane onboard at Mississippi State.

The rest was history.

"At that point, our minds met at the same place, 'Why don't we pair up?'" Greenan said.

Kirtane made the move from Columbia, Kentucky, and joined the MSU staff in the summer of 2014.

"There's very few people I would go be an assistant for," Kirtane said when talking about his decision to come to Starkville. "[Greenan] was one of the ones that I felt very comfortable with doing that."

The pair's coaching tactics have proven to be a fantastic mix. Greenan and Kirtane are similar in some ways, but their differing characteristics complement each other.

"People that know us know that our personalities are almost opposite in ways, but we're very much the same when it comes to the passion with the sport and the competitiveness," Greenan explains.

Greenan says that Kirtane brings the competitiveness to the team with his fire and obvious desire for the team to give it their all.

"The passion and energy that he brings [and] his experience in the game; I think [Kirtane] does a great job of pushing the girls in those areas to be competitive," Greenan said.

While Kirtane brings the fire, Greenan is the ice that cools the team down.

"He doesn't have highs and lows," Kirtane says about Greenan's coaching style. "He's very, very steady. If you got a big win or you have a loss, he has the same philosophy."

Kirtane goes on to include that in his mind, Greenan is one of the biggest players' coaches in the country.

"Nobody takes more input from their team than he does," Kirtane says. "I think that makes the team feel very good about being involved."

One thing can be certain about both of these coaches is that they not only respect each other, but they respect their team as well. Coaching can be full of ups and downs, but this pair relies on each other and their players to get them through the trials and tribulations of tennis.

"We work all week to get ready for a match and that's where all the adrenaline is going," Greenan answers about his favorite part of being a coach. "To me, that's the most fun part [is] trying to find a way to beat the opponent and rally the troops to find a way to get it done. I like the competition more than anything else."

Greenan and Kirtane hold a team right now with eight of nine players being international students. Some might find this dynamic tricky with so many backgrounds and stories, but not this pair. Both Greenan and Kirtane were once international students themselves back in college with Greenan from Ontario, Canada, and Kirtane coming from India.

"I just think that first and foremost you have to realize that they're very impressionable, young girls that are here for the first time," Kirtane explains about coaching his players. "The number one thing we try to do is make them feel like they're family. They can come talk to us at any time about anything and we'll always be there to help them."

Greenan and Kirtane use their own college experiences now with coaching. They look back at what they learned then and what they can do better now as coaches.

Greenan compares every team he's coached and every new season that approaches as a game of cards. He uses his background to figure out how to best play his hand.

"You're dealt a different hand and you have to play the hand differently," Greenan said. "I guess our experiences playing on a college team and I guess all the years of coaching a college team is what we draw from."

Greenan and Kirtane have every right to look back and feed off their college years. Both had tremendous careers and made their marks on Valdosta State with being inducted into the Valdosta State Hall of Fame. Greenan was enshrined in 2004 and Kirtane in 2005.

"You could say that I was proud of the fact that I was able to contribute enough to a program where they would consider honoring us for that," Greenan said. "It was definitely a very positive experience for me there. I had a great time at Valdosta State and learned a lot from those days."

Kirtane compares his time at Valdosta State to his time here in Starkville.

"To me, it's one of the most awesome places there is," Kirtane said. "It's a lot like here with the people and how genuine people are over there and how they care about you. That's something that I'll take [with me] for the rest of my life."

As these two rally together to try and earn another NCAA Tournament appearance at MSU this season, and then beyond, their story is something that they will carry with them for life. Their paths may have drifted away at times, but they prove that the right people always find their way back to each other. Their roles are very similar to their team, but make no mistake, Greenan and Kirtane certainly have different backgrounds and personalities. In the end, that just makes them stronger.

"You don't have to be the same," Greenan says. "You can have people from different cultures and different backgrounds who just have to jell together. That's sometimes the trick. When I was talking about having to play a different hand, it's just how you play it and how you get them to jell together."

Greenan and Kirtane have proved this statement as this pair has found a way to jell together themselves to coach and produce great talent for the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Mississippi State University Athletics

From Teammates To Team Builders

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