Richard Gallien
Now entering his 19th season at Troy, USC women's tennis head coach Richard Gallien has strung together 17 straight NCAA appearances for his Women of Troy, 16 top-20 team rankings, seven trips to the NCAA Quarterfinals and two to the NCAA Semifinals. Under Gallien's watch, USC has finished in the top-20 for the past 15 years, and has nine top-10 finishes in that span. Since 2005, three Trojans have been named conference Player of the Year, and two USC doubles teams have been honored as Doubles Team of the Year.
A three-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year and two-time ITA West Region Coach of the Year, Gallien has compiled a 309-129 (.706) overall record at USC while holding a career record of 371-153 (.708) in his 20 seasons as a head coach, including three years with the Pepperdine men's program [Due to NCAA penalty, 7 wins left undecided and 1 win became a loss; revised USC record: 301-130 (.698) and revised career total: 363-154 (.702)].
Last year, Gallien and the Women of Troy won a share of the Pac-12 Championship, finishing 8-1 in conference play before making a run to the NCAA Semifinals, thanks to a quarterfinal win over Stanford. The 24-4 finish for USC had the Trojans ranked No. 4 in the nation for USC's highest final ranking since 2006. In 2011, USC made a run to the NCAA Second Round, finishing the year with a 15-9 overall record to improve on a 14-10 mark in 2010. In 2009, Gallien's Women of Troy rolled undefeated through Pac-10 play, snapping a 23-year losing streak to the Cardinal along the way to get USC to the top of the conference to claim honors as 2009 Pac-10 Champions and help secure Gallien's third selection as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year as well as an eventual pick as the ITA West Region Coach of the Year. USC finished 21-3 overall on the year after a run to the NCAA Second Round [Due to NCAA penalty, 4 wins left undecided and 1 win became a loss; revised record 16-4]. Gallien also saw Amanda Fink become the second Trojan to win the Pac-10 Singles Championship with her run to the title in 2009.
In 2008, USC continued its NCAA streak with another trip to the NCAA Round of 16, where USC met rival UCLA for the third time that year. The Trojans finished out the season 19-8 overall and went 5-3 in Pac-10 competition. [Due to NCAA penalty, 3 nonconference wins left undecided; revised record: 16-8 overall]. The 2007 season saw USC work its way into a rematch with its 2006 NCAA Semifinal opponent, Miami, much earlier in the NCAA stretch. A tight 4-3 loss to Miami in the NCAA Round of 16 gave USC a 19-5 overall record, as the Trojans finished ranked No. 10 in the nation. In Pac-10 play, USC went 6-2. Under Gallien's guidance, Lindsey Nelson won USC's first Pac-10 Singles Championship and went on to make her second straight trip to the NCAA singles final -- the first time in program history a USC player has made back-to-back appearances in the final.
In 2006, Gallien's USC squad rolled to another 7-1 mark in Pac-10 play and worked its way into the NCAA Semifinals, where the Trojans fell to Miami in a match that was interrupted by rain and resumed the next day. USC finished with a 21-4 overall record and wound up ranked No. 3 at season's close with Gallien named Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
The 2005 season saw the Women of Troy stick in the nation's top 10 with a 19-4 overall mark capped by a visit to the NCAA Quarterfinals and a No. 7 final ranking. The 2004 Trojans went 7-1 in Pac-10 play to place second in the conference and tie for USC's program-best Pac-10 finish. USC's only Pac-10 loss came to Stanford, which went on to win the 2005 NCAA title.
The previous year, Gallien's young 2004 team proved that they could compete even with only one senior in the lineup. USC posted an 18-7 overall record and matched that program-best with a second-place 7-1 mark in Pac-10 action (again, the only loss was to eventual NCAA champion Stanford). After advancing to the NCAA Round of 16, USC completed the season ranked eighth.
Gallien was named the 2003 ITA West Region Coach of the Year after leading the squad to the ITA's No. 1 ranking for three weeks midseason, marking the first time USC had held the top spot since 1985. The Women of Troy also finished with the program's best overall record (22-6) in 15 years. Armed with four seniors, the team finished the season ranked No. 5 after advancing to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
USC finished the 2002 season with a program-best 7-1 Pac-10 record, advancing to the NCAA Round of 16 and earning a No. 11 ranking at season's end. In 2001, the Women of Troy made a third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Quarterfinals following big postseason wins over South Alabama and Northwestern. USC earned a No. 8 final national ranking with a 20-8 overall record and a second-place finish in the Pac-10.
To begin the new millennium, Gallien led the 2000 Women of Troy to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second time under his leadership. USC completed the season with an 18-9 overall record and No. 11 final team ranking.
The 1999 season marked Gallien's first appearance at the NCAA Quarterfinals, as his team went 21-9 overall. The Women of Troy finished 7-1 in the Pac-10 that year and Gallien was honored as the Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year. Their second-place finish was USC's best since 1990, and the team's 21 wins, at that time, were the program's most in 12 seasons.
Gallien's career at Troy began in the 1995-96 season as he led the Women of Troy to a 16-9 overall record and 4-6 mark in the Pac-10 Southern Division. At that time, USC's 16 wins were its most since the 1990 season. The following year, the 1997 Trojans were overwhelmed by injuries and finished the season with a 10-16 overall record and 0-10 finish in the Pac-10. The 1998 Trojans, despite still being plagued by injuries throughout the year, garnered a winning record at 13-11 and went 3-5 in the Pac-10 for sixth place.
Prior to coming to USC, Gallien spent 11 years at Pepperdine as a player, assistant coach and co-head coach. He spent the 1995 season as an assistant to Pepperdine men's coach Allen Fox. He began his coaching career as Fox's assistant for three seasons (1985-87), where the Waves finished second in the nation in 1986. Gallien then became Pepperdine's co-head coach with Fox for three seasons (1988-90) and helped guide the Waves to a 62-24 mark. His 1988 and 1990 squads played in the NCAA Tournament and Wave Robby Weiss won the 1988 NCAA singles crown.
Gallien left Pepperdine in 1990 to become the head professional at the prestigious Los Angeles Tennis Club and later entered private business for two years (1993-94) before returning to Pepperdine as an assistant for the 1995 campaign. During his four-year (1980-83) playing career at Pepperdine, Gallien twice earned All-American honors (1982-83) and his teams went 81-21 and advanced to the NCAAs each year. The 1982 Wave squad was the NCAA runner-up. He won 60 dual-match singles matches during his career and qualified three times in both singles and doubles for the NCAA Championships. He spent 1984 playing professional tennis and then returned to Pepperdine as an assistant coach. As a prep at Verdugo Hills High in Tujunga (Calif.), Gallien was named the Los Angeles City Player of the Year as a 1979 senior. Gallien, 49, earned his bachelor's degree in organizational communications from Pepperdine in 1985. He also has served as a part-time color analyst for FOX Sports West.
He and his wife, Lisa, currently reside in the South Bay with their daughters, Leah and Ava.