Wesleyan
Fast Facts
Location: Middletown, CT
Mascot: Cardinals
Undergraduate Enrollment: 2,928
US News Ranking: Tied-14th, Liberal Arts
Coach: Mike Fried
3-Year Avg. ITA Ranking: 13
UTR Power 6: 74.66
Blogger Ratings
Academic Reputation: 9.00
Tennis Program & Tradition: 7.20
Development: 8.63
Facilities: 7.25
On Court Persona: Independent, Smooth, Bright-Eyed
Recruiting & Alumni
Target TR.net Ranking for Starter: 187
Sample Starter Profiles
Steven Chen – 4 Star, #92 in Class of 2014
Cam Daniels – 3 Star, #146 in Class of 2014
Michael Liu – 3 Star, #222 in Class of 2013
Where Are They Now?
Ravy Uong ‘13 – Princeton in Asia Fellow at National Democratic Institute, Cambodia
Jeff Legunn ‘13 – Investment Banking at Barclays, New York
Stephen Monk ‘15 – Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank, New York
Blogger Perspective: The Cardinals are really the new kids on the block in D3 tennis. After being unranked for many years, Coach Mike Fried has turned both the men’s and women’s programs around in Middletown. Wesleyan now sits in the top ten in the country, and is a force to be reckoned with in the NESCAC. Wesleyan is pegged as a “University” however don’t be fooled by this because this is a classic New England liberal arts school. Wesleyan is recruiting at a very high level recently, and they have also attracted some strong international players. If you ask D3 experts which tennis program is most “on the rise,” Wesleyan will be the answer nearly 100% of the time. Fried has the Cardinals doing things the right way, and their recent success has not gotten to their head, as Wesleyan remains very sportsmanlike. Fried is building a program from the ground up much like other coaches have done in D3, however he is executing this as successfully as we have seen. He’s getting recruits to buy into his system and they are thriving on the tennis court despite a difficult academic workload.
Wesleyan has a fairly established academic reputation nationwide, and this has helped them accelerate the escalation of the program. Despite the rural setting, Wesleyan is relatively quick trip from both Boston and New York, which allows for ample career opportunities for their student athletes. The student-athlete balance at Wesleyan is still heavily focused on academics, however, the Cardinals are managing to keep their level of tennis high, and we expect them to continue to progress in the coming years.