Green Readies for Women's Tennis' Lead Role

If Traci Green’s start at Harvard seems a bit familiar, it’s because it is. After all, when the new Crimson women’s tennis coach took over the Temple program in 2004, the Owls were coming off a 4-15 season, much like the 4-16 campaign of Harvard in 2007. The program sat overshadowed by the more prominent aspects of the university, and the well-known leader of the men’s basketball team was the coach who garnered the most attention.

But there’s one glaring difference between Green’s takeover at Temple three years ago and her occupation with the Crimson now: Temple hadn’t had a winning season in five years when she took over, while Harvard had won its last four conference championships prior to last year.

It’s that recent string of success that has Green most excited to take the reigns as the Crimson’s head coach, a position that will become official on July 2.

“I did quite a bit of building at Temple,” Green says. “From what I’ve seen so far, it’s not going to be so much building, but more tightening the screws. Coach Gordon Graham has done a great job creating a competitive program and he’s won several Ivy League championships, so I’m basically coming in there and tightening the screws.”

And though she’s installed new hardware before—her handiwork with the Owls helped Temple to a 16-4 mark last year and a second-place finish in the Atlantic-10 conference—her level of excitement upon hearing of the appointment was of a different magnitude than three years ago.

“My feelings about Harvard have always been the same—it’s a great institution and the feeling of getting the opportunity to work for the nation’s premiere academic institution was amazing,” Green says. “I was just really excited and thrilled about the opportunity.”

‘PART OF THE MOVEMENT’

It’s an opportunity that few people like Green get at Harvard these days—she will become just the second African-American head coach among Harvard’s 32 positions and the first ever black woman.

But if Green would have been hired three months earlier—when the initial question of Harvard’s coaching diversity was publicly raised by the Boston Globe—she would have been the only black face of any kind within Harvard's coaching ranks.

In April, Nichols Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise hired Tommy Amaker to coach the Crimson men’s basketball program.

Green seems to embrace her role as Harvard’s first ever African-American woman coach, but she’s also quick to extend that embrace to everyone in Harvard athletics, minority or otherwise.

“Diversity’s a great thing and I’m glad I can be a part of the movement,” Green says. “I got to meet Tommy Amaker when I went up for an interview, and he’s a great guy and I look forward to working alongside him and the rest of the department.”

Rising sophomore Lena Litvak said soon after the announcement of Green’s hiring that she doesn’t “think [race] makes a difference.”

“I’m excited about the knowledge she has of tennis, not that she’s a minority,” Litvak said.

Green agrees that it was her aptitude that won her points within the Harvard athletic department, not her race.

“Harvard and Mr. Bob Scalise and [Senior Associate Director of Athletics] Pat[ricia] Henry saw something in me at Temple,” she says.

WINNING THE RACE

What Crimson fans will see immediately when Green takes over is a new focus on recruiting. Despite winning nine Ivy League titles at Harvard, former coach Gordon Graham—who stepped down after 17 years at the helm in April—was an all too familiar face within a Harvard program that had never managed great success outside the confines of the conference.

With experience bringing in talented recruits to a floundering program, Green expects even more success doing it with a program that routinely finishes at the top of its class.

“Of course I’m new, so it might take a little longer,” Green says of the recruiting effort. “It’s something I’m used to doing at Temple, something I did over there, and I’m just interested in learning the system.”

Green acknowledges that her being hired after admissions results will make it difficult to greatly affect any imminent recruiting decisions.

But the class of 2012 will be carefully constructed by Green—and of course, the admissions office, too.

“Recruiting is always a huge thing in coaching at universities, but at this point it’s my main focus—to bring in quality student-athletes,” Green says. “Without the horse, it’s hard to win the race.”

Perhaps it’s more of a marathon, if the past is any indication. But even though her predecessor spent nearly two decades wearing Crimson and constantly bargaining with the admissions office for players, it will take time to determine whether Green will stay at Harvard that long.

For now, though, she doesn’t believe Harvard’s perceived “academics-first” mindset will prevent her from scoring the same top-flight athletes she’s used to nabbing.

“I’m kind of spreading the wings a little bit,” Green says. “I’m one of the hot up-and-coming female coaches in the country right now. I just happen to coach at Harvard.

“There’s no reason women wouldn’t want to come to Harvard and become part of the Crimson legacy.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.