Interim Head Coach Tassilo Schmid of the Pepperdine Women’s Tennis team has been coaching the team since Dec. 20, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Before his transition to the women’s side of the court, Schmid was an assistant coach for the Men’s Tennis team for seven years and was named ITA’s Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021 and 2022, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“The women’s team went through so much change,” Schmid said. “I think my first role was, honestly, to bring stability into this team and teach them what it means to you to play for Pepperdine.”
Despite the unexpected coaching change, as a head coach so far, Schmid has welcomed two new freshmen, including Anastasiia Grechkina and Sebastianna Scilipoti, and they’ve recently swept WCC weekly awards four times, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“They have transformed themselves from being individuals to a team, and that’s what I’m super proud of,” Schmid said.
Before Pepperdine, Schmid was a volunteer assistant coach at Florida State University, where he helped the team reach the NCAA tournament three times, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Additionally, during his college career as a player, Schmid played under the previous women’s head coach, Per Nilsson, at Mississippi State.
“I really learned fast what it means to play for a team and basically giving more than you take,” Schmid said. “That was a huge identity at Mississippi State, and that really helped me as a person and as a tennis player.”
As a Bulldog, he accumulated accolades, including reaching the second round of the 2015 NCAA tournament and being named the ITA Southern Region’s Most Improved Player the same year, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Schmid said he began his head coaching career at Florida State alongside Adam Schaechterle, the current Men’s Tennis Head Coach, who was also in the ACC at the time. During his time in Florida, Schmid helped the Seminoles go to the NCAA tournament three years in a row.
“[Schaechertle] is, in my opinion, one of the best head coaches in the country,” Schmid said.
During his time with the Waves men’s team, Schmid has been to the NCAA tournament three times and has been ranked in the Top 25 twice, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Now that he is on the women’s side for the first time, Schmid said he has grown with the differences between the two sports.
“The men’s side in general, it’s more transactional sometimes,” Schmid said. “I feel like on the women’s side, once the player trusts you, they will run through a wall for you.”
Schmid said these relationships are part of his coaching style. To him, relationships are more important than any trophy, and he wants to build them even though he did not recruit the players he has this year.
“I can pretty much tell him anything that I’m feeling or whatever’s on my mind, and I feel like that helps a lot when we get on court,” senior Savannah Broadus said.
In competition for the head coach position at Pepperdine, other coaches in the women’s circuit did not understand the hiring of a male assistant, but Schmid said he knows the Waves better than any Power 5 head coach.
“He deserves it the most because he also knows Pepperdine Tennis, which is very different than any other tennis program in the country,” Broadus said.
Women’s Tennis this season has been battling against Top 25 teams, including No. 11 Duke University with a final score of 3-4, No. 8 University of North Carolina (1-4), No. 2 Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (1-6), among others. They have held their position in the Top 30 with wins over the University of Southern California (4-2) and No. 72 University of California, Berkeley (5-2), but the younger team is still learning a lot under their new head coach.
“I think [we learned] consistency,” Schmid said. “There were certain players that had to make a choice on how they want to buy into this team.”
Off the court, Schmid is a reliable figure in the team’s lives, as he caters to what the players need in and out of practice.
“[Schmid] is always here for us,” sophomore Vivian Yang said. “He always listens. He always just tries to do his best to help us with our needs, whether that’s with rooms, with food, with things that we need.”
Schmid has made efforts to understand what each individual player needs, Yang said. While the freshmen need someone to talk to and build a deep connection with, Yang said that she needs someone who will get up early and work with her on anything.
“That just shows you how much they care,” Yang said. “I don’t care how fancy you say you’re going to do things, but when you show up, I think that’s a massive thing.”
With their WCC season coming up, the Waves are preparing for the conference in the same way they have prepared for Top 10 matchups.
“Every opponent has eight scholarships,” Schmid said. “They have a very good number one and a very good number six, so we cannot take anyone lightly.”
Women’s Tennis will play their first conference match with Schmid on March 23, against the University of Portland at the Ralps-Straus Tennis Center.
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Contact Megan Harkey via email: megan.harkey@pepperdine.edu
