The coach wants to come back.
The players want him back.
The coach led his team to a 12-1 record and the national team semifinals.
The coach might not be asked to return.
Make any sense?
No, but this is the exact scenario currently facing interim women's tennis coach Jamie Ashworth. The athletic department is currently conducting a nationwide search to find a replacement for former head coach Jody Hyden, who resigned in March. A decision is expected any day.
After spending much of the past two months and, in particular, 10 days during the NCAA Tournament at Stanford, observing and interacting with the team, we see only one acceptable outcome.
With Ashworth, Duke is poised to overcome the loss of five players and continue its push towards the national title.
Without him, the university's most successful athletic program over the past five years risks a total breakdown.
Our statements may seem broad and overly emphatic, but simply consider all that Ashworth offers:
¥Player Relations: Statistics can only tell half the story. Every player we spoke to both at Stanford and beforehand talked of how much they like Ashworth. But not only do they like him, they respect him. That's not easy for a team that boasted two of the top three seeds at last week's NCAAs.
The loyalty of senior co-captain Karen O'Sullivan was so strong, it led her to go so far as to write a letter of support for Ashworth to athletic director Tom Butters.
Fellow co-captain Wendy Fix said, "I've never had a bad day with Jamie since he took over. I love Jamie."
We've passed by Duke Tennis Stadium during early afternoon practice and seen that when Ashworth wants Vanessa Webb, arguably the nation's premier net player, to alter her volley, she listens.
And don't misperceive the departure of Karin Miller as the fault of Ashworth. Miller told us back in the fall that she planned to leave early, and throughout her freshman campaign she's been one of the coach's most enthusiastic supporters.
¥Ashworth's success: While statistics aren't the only thing, results are ultimately what a program is judged by. Keep in mind, Ashworth closed out the year in such an impressive manner without the luxury of an assistant coach.
Since his arrival at Duke as an assistant in 1994, the Blue Devils have reached and maintained an unprecedented level of excellence-the last two years, they've finished as the third-best team in the country. Ashworth's role in the team's success surpasses what is typically expected of an assistant.
As head coach, he refocused the team on playing tennis after Hyden's distracting resignation. There was no letdown, no turmoil and the team never missed a beat.
¥Coaching presence: At the age of 25, Ashworth displays the poise and presence of a head coach well beyond his years. During the NCAAs, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to calm and refocus his players during difficult moments of their matches.
Following Miller's decision to leave early, he didn't panic but instead immediately turned his attention to recruiting a replacement. The process began the day after the NCAAs.
In dealing with the media, Ashworth was confident and frank in his assessment of his team, his players and even himself. He offered no excuses.
¥Vision: Ashworth knows what this team needs to reach the top. After Duke's loss to Stanford in the semifinals, he didn't dwell on any one loss but rather the Blue Devils' inability to completely adopt the team concept, a philosophy he was unable to fully instill in a mere two months.
With such a large turnover from this past year's team-Duke loses four of its six regulars-chemistry could serve as the key to overcoming the influx of new players. Ashworth deftly handled the change in coaches and is prepared to do the same with his team.
He demonstrates devotion not just to his players, but to the program as a whole. Ashworth has wisely stated that, should someone else be named as head coach, he would not consider remaining as an assistant-not because it's a blow to his ego, but because he knows his presence as a player favorite would only be a distraction and a hindrance.
Make no mistake about it, though, this is where Ashworth clearly wants to be in the fall.
"I want to stay," he said. "It's not my decision-it's totally the athletic department's decision. I don't know really where I stand within the athletic department. I think I did as well of a job with this team as I could've. I think I did everything I had to do."
But the fact is, Butters and the athletic department should leave no doubt as to where Ashworth stands. He deserves the chance to be the future of the program, a program that stands on either the brink of unparalleled success or disaster.
Joel Israel is a Trinity junior and associate sports editor of The Chronicle. Michael King is an Engineering senior and sports editor of The Chronicle.
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