Russelburg to go out on top with Mather, hangs it up after 12 seasons as head coach for Red Devils tennis

June 14, 2022 | 12:05 am

Updated June 14, 2022 | 12:38 pm

After Dylan Mather’s senior year came to a close, Head Coach Cody Russelburg decided to hang it up with him following the 2022 season after 12 long years at Owensboro High School.

Russelburg’s Red Devil ties run deep, going back to his playing days in high school himself when he played tennis and golf. Initially he took golf much more seriously, but after his coach gauged his interest in attempting tennis he became enamored with the game.

“The tennis coach then was also the golf coach, which was my primary sport,” Russelburg said. “He told me and a few friends that he was looking for some guys to come out that had decent hand-eye coordination because he was a little worried about not having enough players to field the team. So a few friends and I came out and fell in love with it.”

Russelburg started out by playing doubles with an eighth grader his senior year and went on to compete in the regional tournament. This led to a love for the game that continued at college, playing recreationally at the University of Kentucky as well as taking a tennis class for a credit.

But when Russelburg graduated from UK, he had no intentions of becoming a coach. However, a little convincing after being hired as a Social Studies teacher and Russelburg felt like he needed to take the job—one that was a decision he looks back on happily now.

“After OHS offered me the position, the principal then, Anita Burnette, called me to say they had a recent opening for the Head Boys Tennis Coach position,” Russelburg said. “I said, ‘you know I only played for one year right?’ and she responded with ‘we think you’d be great.’ Being a first year teacher who just got hired, I’ll say I didn’t think I was in a good position to say no. But it turned out to be one of the best “reluctant” decisions of my career.”

Looking back on the moments when Russelburg played sports, he’d always been able to connect well with coaches growing up so he’d always thought that door was open. He enjoyed being able to look up to them and connect over competition in whatever sport he played and that love for tennis grew once again when he stepped into the role at Owensboro.

“After a couple of years of learning how to coach tennis specifically, it really got a lot more fun for me,” Russelburg said. “I was really able to get invested in those kids and their growth in a different way that I was able to in the classroom.”

One of those kids that he was able to invest in turned out to be Mather, who has competed with the Red Devils varsity tennis team since he was 10 years old. Russelburg’s relationship with the recent graduate has evolved over the years as the two don’t just look at each other as player and coach, but as friends.

“After 8 years, I have seen him grow from an innocent kid, to an emotional teenager, to a mature and responsible young adult,” Russelburg said. “I remember him telling me about his 4th grade MAP scores at practice, and now he is going to the University of Alabama in a few months on a full academic scholarship, and everything in between seems like it happened so fast. And while I feel like I’ve watched him grow up, he could almost say the same for me. In the time he has been on this team he has seen me get married, have two children, lose both of my parents, change jobs, and so many other life events. It’s really been a journey together.”

As Mather was approaching the end of his high school career, Russelburg had also taken on a new position that was going to make coaching much more difficult. But instead of leaving coaching right away, his wife knew that he had to continue to coach Mather until he graduated.

“I was ready to leave coaching then in order to dedicate more time to my family and learning the new position, but Jana without hesitation asked, ‘well when does Dylan graduate,’” Russelburg said. “I told her that he had two years left, and she said, ‘I mean you have to keep coaching until then.’ So I decided that I would see it through until his graduation. As difficult as that has been for my wife with two small children at home, I really can credit her for being so supportive of that move.”

So watching Mather and the tennis program overcome a number of obstacles was extra sweet these last few years. With COVID canceling a large senior class’s final seasons, it took a long time to put together a team halfway through the 2021 season. But when it finally was, Mather was able to help elevate his game and the program’s success as well.

“I spent most of March calling anyone and everyone I could think of to get players out for the tennis team,” Russelburg said. “By the end of spring break we finally had a full team and could stop forfeiting the team matches we had scheduled.  It turned out to be one of the better achievements of my tennis coaching career I thought. Just to assemble a team at all, and then add to that a long awaited regional title for Dylan was so rewarding. He had lost in the Finals two years prior in 2019, then didn’t get a chance to get that back in 2020, so an unbeaten 2021 season seemed like the perfect culmination of hard work, dedication, and validation. He would go on to beat a seeded player at State to get to the round of 16. He was the only player in the tournament to do that and it was our first time making it to Day two. The whole postseason was really redeeming that year.”

While Russelburg is ready to take that next step in his life and walk away from the game, he also is thankful for all the people that have allowed him to make an impact on others and himself within the game of tennis at Owensboro High School.

“I’m just so grateful to my wife for her dedication to our girls and this family with so many long nights away and I’m also so grateful to the tennis community and coaches in this region,” Russelburg said. “I found a tennis circle that I didn’t know existed before I started coaching, and they are some of the most dedicated and passionate individuals that have a true love for the game and its growth. It has been inspiring, and I am honored to have been a part of it.”

June 14, 2022 | 12:05 am

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