Pawel Gajdzik's 13-year run ends as Purdue men's tennis head coach
WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue men's tennis coach Pawel Gajdzik will no longer oversee the program, ending his 13-year run.
A spokesman for the athletic department said the two parties “mutually agreed upon a change in leadership.”
Although the decision was finalized about a month ago, the athletic department didn’t issue a press release.
“Due to that mutually agreed upon change in leadership, the athletic department elected to make a formal public announcement once the new head coach for the program has been identified," the spokesman said.
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The vacant men’s tennis head coach position was posted on the school’s careers website on May 24. The position remained open as of Friday.
Purdue is also conducting a search to replace women’s golf coach Devon Brouse, who will retire on June 30. Brouse also coached the men’s golf team before concentrating on the women's program and served as the director of golf operations for both programs.
Under Gajdzik, the Boilermakers finished 9-15 this spring, the fourth losing season in the last five years. Purdue is just 8-40 in Big Ten matches over the last five years.
The native of Szczecin, Poland, was named ITA Ohio Valley Region Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2016. He was a finalist for ITA Wilson National Coach of the Year in 2017 after the Boilermakers posted a 20-13 record.
His 2014 team earned a berth in the NCAA Championships, the first for the program since 2002.
Gajdzik came to Purdue in 2009 after spending one season as the head coach at Northern Illinois. He also spent six seasons on the staff at Baylor, his alma mater. Gajdzik won the 1998 Big 12 singles and doubles titles and was named the league’s Newcomer of the Year with the Bears.
Softball
Standout Rachel Becker was voted third-team All-America At-Large at the shortstop position, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced.
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It’s the second time a player has earned All-America honors in program history. Second baseman Andrea Hillsey was named to the first team in 2003.
Becker is the program’s all-time leader in runs scored and was named first-team All-Big Ten and All-Region for the second consecutive year. She led the conference with a .429 batting average.
Wrestling
Ten individuals are scheduled to compete for a spot in their age-group national teams as they head to U20 & U23 U.S. Freestyle World Team Trials in Ohio.
Nine of the 10 wrestlers will compete in the U23 division. Sophomore Hayden Copass earned a spot in the U20 field with a fifth-place showing at 125 kg in Las Vegas last month.
Joining Copass are Dustin Norris (61 kg), Christian White (65 kg), Jaden Reynolds (70 kg), Stoney Buell (74 kg), Hayden Filipovich (92 kg), Tristan Ruhlman (125 kg), Christian Navida (70 kg), Trey Kruse (70 kg) and Macartney Parkinson (79 kg).
Academic Awards
Purdue produced 90 Academic All-Big Ten honorees this spring, bringing the total for the school year to a record 265.
Track & Field had a combined 43 honorees - 22 from the women's roster and 21 from the men's program. Baseball (19), softball (11), men’s golf (7), women’s golf (6) and one each from the men’s and women’s tennis programs round out the spring sports.
Runners Ian Hunter, Mya Haggerty and Tessa Sheets and Troy Viola (baseball) earned 4.0 cumulative GPAs.
Elsewhere, Kelly Cook Jr. and Curt Eckstein from the track & field team have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Mike Carmin covers Purdue sports for the Journal & Courier. Email mcarmin@gannett.com and follow on Twitter and Instagram @carmin_jc. Information from purduesports.com was used in this article.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue men's tennis: Pawel Gajdzik's 13-year run ends as head coach
