Relationships the key to success for tennis coach McInerny

After 30 years as head coach for ASU women’s tennis, Sheila McInerney has several fond memories of victories to look back on. But perhaps her favorite is when the Sun Devils took down her alma mater, USC, for the first time.

“When I first started, Stanford, Cal, USC and UCLA were clearly the top in the conference,” she said. “I thought we’d never beat those schools.”

In 2008, McInerney led her team to another important victory, this time over Stanford. That win remains ASU's only defeat of the national tennis powerhouse.

When she first joined the university, McInerney found it difficult to spend enough time with each of her players as the only coach. For the last six years, however, Clint Letcher – a former Sun Devil tennis player – has been assisting her, and was recently promoted to associate head coach.

“I always admired her and her program,” Letcher said. “(I came back), because we had a good relationship when I was a player.”

The two make a good team, and McInerney remains popular with her student-athletes.

“I love Sheila a lot,” says sophomore Desirae Krawczyk. “She’s kind of like a mom to us. She keeps us in check, and she keeps us moving. … If you don’t (have it down), she’ll spend so much time on the court with you.”

McInerney knows this and says that the key to her success has been her relationships with her players and coaching staff, as was evidenced last season when she reached more than 400 wins with ASU.