 "Photo: Sam Mclaeese/The Daily Northwestern")
By Liana B. Baker The Daily Northwestern
When his team won the NCAA tennis championship last year, Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg saw his former boss, Paul Torricelli, run up to him in tears. Torricelli was so proud of Steinberg that he stayed on the court late into the night, taking pictures of the team and celebrating the victory like it was his own.
"That really says who he is," Steinberg said.
Torricelli has been coaching at NU for 24 years and is used to seeing his former assistants succeed as head coaches. Currently, five of his past assistants are coaching Division I tennis.
The latest, Arvid Swan, left NU last year to take over the post at DePaul. Others are Steinberg at Pepperdine, Jay Udwadia at Fresno State, Gordie Ernst at Georgetown and Greg Davis at Louisville (women). Over the years, Torricelli has helped create a tight network of coaches who draw on each other for support and rose through the ranks with a little help from their mentor.
Torricelli's former assistants said he tries hard to get assistants head coaching jobs.
"Some coaches get a little selfish. They want to keep a person and keep them from progressing," Steinberg said. "But with Paul, you work a year or two, and he'll really help you if the opportunity comes along."
According to Swan, Torricelli trains good coaches by giving them a lot of responsibility. Swan said that unlike many coaches, Torricelli makes a concerted effort to give his assistants administrative and recruiting duties.
"You learn how to recruit, run a team, practice, budget, set team goals and work through a season, knowing the times when you work hard and when you don't," Swan said.
Torricelli's newest coaching protégé, Nick Carless, appreciates the responsibility he's been given in his first year. He said he took the team's three seniors to the All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. for a week in October.
"He gives me a big degree of freedom," Carless said. "I have the respect for him as a boss, but he's so easy to work for that it doesn't feel like I'm coming in to work for a boss everyday."
Torricelli is quick to point out that his assistants help improve the program and are not just focused on using NU as a stepping stone in their careers. He said his track record is no coincidence because he only hires assistants who are truly dedicated to coaching as a career.
Developing his assistants comes naturally to Torricelli, who said that head coaches helped him early in his career.
"I learned early on you have to help younger guys as much as you can," Torricelli said. "I never would have gotten my job at Northwestern years ago if it wasn't for (former NU coach) Vandy Christie."
This humility is part of the "first-class" attitude Steinberg said his old boss has instilled in his coaches and players.
"Paul is all about representing Northwestern," Steinberg said. "He made me realize that when you put on that Northwestern shirt, you're representing a lot of people-past players, professors and the student body."
Steinberg also said he learned from Torricelli to step back from his ego and focus on the players. In turn he has passed down Torricelli's coaching style to his assistants, and it has paid off. Three of Steinberg's assistants have become head coaches.
When Torricelli's assistants move on to head coaching jobs, they still call him regularly.
Steinberg added that it's possible he calls Torricelli more than his wife, and that Torricelli was a groomsman in his wedding in December.
While Steinberg is part of Torricelli's coaching past, the 25-year-old Carless could be the next member of the so-called "Torricelli coaching family tree."
"You see all these other guys and the programs they're now directing, and I just kind of wonder which one is going to be mine," Carless said, "And when my day will come, Paul will be ... in my corner helping me."
Reach Liana B. Baker at l-balinsky-baker@northwestern.edu
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