[StanfordMatt]

Anyway, I'm getting off a tangent here, haha. I'm curious if your assessment of Goldstein's recruits are similar to that of Gould's. We have been having a lot of success recruiting wise (according to the rankings), but just hasn't translated to NCAA titles just quite yet (which I know there a lot of factors as well, the international recruits being one of them).

I think it's hard to compare recruiting because so much has changed since Gould's heyday. My understanding is that Gould never left Palo Alto to recruit. He would follow the junior rankings, send letters out to the top players, and the Stanford Tennis brand would more or less take care of the rest. That's not to take anything away from Gould. He's a deserving hall of famer. But that approach to recruting simply wouldn't fly today and it started to let him down in the early 2000s.

The program went through a major lull under Gould's longtime assistant, John Whitlinger, who was a fantastic person but wasn't cut out to be head coach. It's crazy to think that it's already been nine years since Goldstein was hired. No, Goldstein isn't going to win 17 national titles like Gould but I think the program is in good hands under his stewardship as it's at least returned to national relevance even if it's not contending for national titles just yet. Keep in mind, he wasn't a coach before taking the Stanford job; he was working in sales for an energy company so the learning curve was steep. I don't follow super closely anymore, but the recruiting has been terrific on paper as you mention (#2 class in '23, #1 class in '22, #1 class in 2020). Similar to so many other college sports nowadays, though, what those rankings don't capture is the overwhelming role of international recruiting and transfers. Recent Stanford men's teams have featured far more international players than Gould's teams ever did so the program has adapted under Goldstein. Hopefully the title contending teams are coming soon.

[StanfordMatt]

Anyway, I'm getting off a tangent here, haha. I'm curious if your assessment of Goldstein's recruits are similar to that of Gould's. We have been having a lot of success recruiting wise (according to the rankings), but just hasn't translated to NCAA titles just quite yet (which I know there a lot of factors as well, the international recruits being one of them).

I think it's hard to compare recruiting because so much has changed since Gould's heyday. My understanding is that Gould never left Palo Alto to recruit. He would follow the junior rankings, send letters out to the top players, and the Stanford Tennis brand would more or less take care of the rest. That's not to take anything away from Gould. He's a deserving hall of famer. But that approach to recruting simply wouldn't fly today and it started to let him down in the early 2000s.

The program went through a major lull under Gould's longtime assistant, John Whitlinger, who was a fantastic person but wasn't cut out to be head coach. It's crazy to think that it's already been nine years since Goldstein was hired. No, Goldstein isn't going to win 17 national titles like Gould but I think the program is in good hands under his stewardship as it's at least returned to national relevance even if it's not contending for national titles just yet. Keep in mind, he wasn't a coach before taking the Stanford job; he was working in sales for an energy company so the learning curve was steep. I don't follow super closely anymore, but the recruiting has been terrific on paper as you mention (#2 class in '23, #1 class in '22, #1 class in 2020). Similar to so many other college sports nowadays, though, what those rankings don't capture is the overwhelming role of international recruiting and transfers. Recent Stanford men's teams have featured far more international players than Gould's teams ever did so the program has adapted under Goldstein. Hopefully the title contending teams are coming soon.