Jim Kaser - Women's Tennis Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Jim Kaser

Title:
Assistant Tennis Coach

Jim Kaser recently completed his first season on the Bowling Green State University tennis staff. Head coach Penny Dean announced Kaser's hiring on Aug. 26, 2013, and he officially began his duties at BGSU on Sept. 1.

"Jim brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience to the BG tennis team," said Dean. "His coaching and practice drills are invaluable, along with his contagious enthusiasm."

After losing four seniors from the school record-setting 2012-13 squad, the Falcons had just two upperclass players on the seven-woman team in the '13-14 campaign. Still, Dean, Kaser and the youthful Falcons finished with a 10-9 overall record and a 4-4 Mid-American Conference mark. The team's two seniors, Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland, led the way for a Falcon roster that also included two sophomores and three freshmen.

Chiricosta became the team's first-ever MAC Player of the Year in 2014, and also was the female recipient of the Falcon Medal of Honor, the highest award given by the department. The award is given to one male and one female student-athlete who embody the essence of the qualities BGSU Athletics holds important for all student-athletes -- scholarship, athletics, leadership and service.

Chiricosta was the third tennis student-athlete to receive the Falcon Medal of Honor in four years.

In May of 2014, the Falcons were recognized with an NCAA Public Recognition Award for the ninth consecutive year. The award is given to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in their sport with their Academic Progress Rate. BGSU has earned the honor in each year since it was instituted, and Dean's Falcons have had a perfect score of 1,000 in every year of the APR's existence. BG is one of just 146 teams among all sports at the NCAA Division-I level to have captured the award in every year.

Kaser, a veteran of the Northwest Ohio tennis circuit, brings a vast amount of tennis teaching and coaching experience to the Falcon program. He was the head boys and girls tennis coach at Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, coaching the girls team for 14 seasons and the boys for 13.

Kaser also served as a teaching professional at a veritable plethora of tennis facilities in the Toledo area. For the past five years, Kaser has been the teaching professional at the Perrysburg Tennis Center, the indoor home of the Falcons. Previously, he was the head professional at Inverness Club for 17 years and the Toledo Tennis Club for eight years. Kaser also spent time as an assistant professional at Belmont Country Club, Shadow Valley, Laurel Hill, Sylvania Country Club and the Courts of Sylvania.

An accomplished tennis player himself, Kaser earned four varsity letters at the University of Toledo (1982-86). He has won a pair of national doubles titles, and has won six Toledo city men's doubles titles and two Toledo city mixed doubles championships.

Kaser and his wife, Dawn, have two sons, Tyler and Alex.