If first-year men’s tennis coach Charles Merzbacher gets his way, the Huskies will be a national power in five years.

Fresh out of the pro circuit, Merzbacher was hired as the men’s coach in the summer of 1989. Although he has no previous coaching experience, Merzbacher has his goals for his Huskies set sky high, “maybe a little too high in expetation” he admits. But the new coach is determined to take his group one step further than previous head coach Carl Neufeld, who escaped to the University of Southern California as the assistant coach.

Merzbacher said, “The letters I get to NIU, the people want to come play tennis here. We have a good reputation in the state of Illinois. The top players in Illinois high schools want to come play tennis here, but I would like to add to that by getting a reputation in the Midwest and maybe beyond as a strong tennis school.”

In order to reach that goal, the net boss will need plenty of help from his players. Merzbacher said he would like to develop his team into a tough, hard working group. A group with the attitude like the Northwestern men’s basketball team.

“I heard Dick Vitale say that other teams have to lace up their shoes to play Northwestern because they play so hard, and that’s the type of group I would like for us to be,” said Merzbacher. “When other teams have to play us, I want them to have to lace up their shoes. We may not be able to win every meet but I would like for us to be tough.”

Sometimes tennis coaches have a tough time in dealing with the different styles, attitudes and temperments of their players. Merzbacher said that he is flexible enough to handle this, yet some things are still basic. “Having played in the pro circuit I know what it’s like. Each guy has his own style. I try to make our program flexible for our guys to adapt. We have some basics that everyone doesn’t mind following and then we get flexible by doing individual workouts where each guy can do his own thing,” said Merzbacher.

Merzbacher has a big job ahead of him if he wishes to make NIU a national power. The Midwest has always had the cupcake tennis schools while the West dominated the National scene. But thanks to the many available indoor facilities, he believes the Midwest is ready to explode.

He said, “Midwest used to be great in the 50’s and the 60’s and they had to play against guys that played in the sun all year long and that’s a great disadvantage and it caught up to the (Midwest). But now the Midwest is making a comeback with the indoor courts. Last year five teams in the Top 25 were from the Midwest. I think I like being at NIU right now because the Midwest is going to explode. Now the Midwest is keeping its own players, they’re not going to USC or UCLA, now they’re sticking around.”

NIU’s acceptance to the Association of Mid Continent Universities really pleases Merzbacher since it gives his team a conference to identify with. He said that as a Independent, it’s much tougher to set goals. Merzbacher feels that his Huskies can jump right in and be on top of the AMCU and dethrone six-time defending AMCU champion Southwest Missouri State. “They (SWMS) have a tremendous program, which is fully funded, but our goal is to win the AMCU in the next two years. Also by our fourth year, we’d like to be in the top five of the Midwest and after that be able to compete nationally.”

In order for that to happen Merzbacher is going to have to take a lot of beatings—from his own players. Right now no member of the team is able to beat the first year coach. “Well, if that happens they (the players) will have the bragging rights, so I try not to lose a set to them.”

Merzbacher got his first taste of tennis when he was 5-years-old in his home town of Finday, Ohio. He began competing at 6 and began competing nationally at 12. In his senior year at Finday High School, Merzbacher captured the Ohio State Tennis Championship in 1983.

He then went on to the University of Minnesota where he immediatly helped the Gophers capture their first Big Ten tennis championship ever by winning the No. 4 Big Ten singles title.

The following year, Merzbacher qualified for the NCAA Championship Tournament where he lost to eventual champion and future French Open finalist Michael Pernfors of Georgia. Merzbacher was the only player to take a set off Pernfor during that tournament.

Merzbacher was an alternate for the NCAAs the next two years. After his graduation from Minnesota, Merzbacher turned pro in May 1987. “It was the best two years of my life,” he said of his two years in the pro circuit.

Merzbacher faced such star players as Andre Agassi and Thomas Muster. Although he qualified for the Australian Open and won a Master’s Satellite Tournament, he started struggling financially. “I think that the glory is there for the Top 20 or 30 guys, but after that everyone is struggling money wise and getting from place to place.”

So after his exit from the Wimbledon Qualifiers in 1989, he applied for the opening of the NIU coaching job. “I’ve always wanted to coach and I would like to use my experiences as a pro to help our guys here (at NIU).”