Randy Bloemendaal
Randy Bloemendaal is in his fifth year as head men's tennis coach after serving as IU's assistant coach for two seasons. Bloemendaal has 14 years of head coaching experience at the Division I and Division II levels. In three seasons as the head coach of the Hoosiers, he has compiled a record of 70-42, and his career record as a men's head coach is 242-101. Including his time as a head coach of both men and women, Bloemendaal has 363 career wins as a collegiate head coach.
In Bloemendaal's four years at Indiana, he has helped the Hoosiers post their four best seasons since the 1999-2000 campaign, and in 2011, the Hoosiers matched the best record in school history. Bloemendaal has taken the Hoosiers to the NCAA tournament twice in four years, and at 9-1 in Big Ten play in 2011, the Hoosiers were just one win away from a Big Ten title.
At least one Hoosier has earned All-Big Ten honors in each of Bloemendaal's first four season's as head coach, and Hoosiers have earned a total of six honors, including three in 2011. Freshman Josh MacTaggart had a break through tournament at the 2009 Big Ten Singles Tournament, winning the Big Ten Singles title, the first time the trophy came to Bloomington in 33 years.
Indiana had three All-Big Ten honorees for the first time ever in 2011, with Jeremy Langer, Santiago Gruter and Josh MacTaggart leading IU to the best record in school history and berth in the NCAA tournament. Gruter capped a historic career with the award, he finished up his time in Crimson and Cream as the school's all-time leader in doubles wins.
The Hoosiers have found great success in the classroom as well during the three seasons with Bloemendaal at the helm. Fourteen IU players have been named Academic All-Big Ten, with Lachlan Ferguson also earning ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors.
Ferguson flourished in his second season under Bloemendaal's tutelage, winning 24 singles matches and 24 doubles matches as a junior and 17 singles matches and 14 doubles matches in his senior campaign. The Adelaide, Australia, native defeated six nationally-ranked opponents in his career, and won 10 matches at number one singles in Big Ten play to earn All-Big Ten honors in back-to-back years. Bloemendaal's teams have been very tough to beat at home. Since 2007, the Hoosiers are 20-9 in matches played in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have also held onto in-state bragging rights under Bloemendaal's tutelage. Bloemendaal is 3-0 against the Boilermakers of Purdue.
As an IU assistant, Bloemendaal served as the lead recruiter for the Hoosiers, bringing in a talented core of players. He was chiefly responsible for bringing in transfer Thomas Richter, who played at No. 1 singles and doubles during the 2007-08 season. Richter was named All-Big Ten and won the Big Ten Medal of Honor after his senior season. The Big Ten Medal of Honor is given to the graduating male and female athlete of the university that have best demonstrated proficiency in scholarship and athletics.
From 2003-05, Bloemendaal served as the head men's and women's tennis coach at Charleston Southern University. In 2005, Bloemendaal led the sixth-seeded men's team to the Big South Championship match for the first time since 2002. Over his two seasons, the Buccaneer men went 22-23, including a 16-11 mark during the 2005 campaign.
After finishing his first season at the helm of the Buccaneer women in 2004, Bloemendaal helped lead a remarkable turnaround. The CSU women's team improved 11 matches in 2005 to finish 11-11 overall and 4-3 in the Big South Conference. In fact, Bloemendaal saw a pair of doubles teams named all-conference to go along with an all-conference singles player.
Prior to his hiring at Charleston Southern, Bloemendaal served as the head men's and women's coach at his alma mater, Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C. Bloemendaal was the head coach of both squads from 1995-2003. During his eight years with the Bobcats, the men's team amassed a 159-36 (.815) mark, while the women were 110-63 (.634). Bloemendaal led Lees-McRae to eight Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) championships. Five of those CVAC titles came on the men's side, while three were from the women. The men won CVAC Championships in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003, and never finished lower than third in the CVAC under Bloemendaal's direction. The women's team captured three straight conference titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Lees-McRae men's tennis team advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament on seven straight occasions. The team made an appearance every year from 1997-2003. The Bobcats went 8-7 in those seven tournament appearances and advanced past the regionals and into the final 16 from 1997-2001.
During his eight years at Lees-McRae, Bloemendaal earned CVAC Coach of the Year honors six times and was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Coach of the Year on three occasions. Bloemendaal was a four-year letterman on the men's tennis squad at Lees-McRae. He graduated from the school as the program's all-time leader in singles victories (74) and doubles victories (89). During his career, he played at the top three singles positions and the top doubles spot. In 1988, he was given the Coach's Award, and in 1989, was recognized as Lees-McRae's Outstanding Spring Sports Athlete. Bloemendaal was ranked 46th in NAIA singles in 1991 and 18th in doubles during the 1992 season. He also was ranked 32nd in NJCAA singles in 1989.
Bloemendaal has been certified as a Professional Tennis Registered (PTR) instructor since 1994. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Lees-McRae in 1992 with a minor in physical education. In 2000, he earned his master's from Appalachian State University in higher education administration. Bloemendaal and his wife, Nola, have three sons, Blake, eight, Evan, four, and Paul, one.
