Leaving Court

At an event like the 104th Ojai tournament, where tennis and tradition go hand-in-racket, Dick Gould fits right in.

The Stanford men’s coach, raised in Ventura near the home of the tournament, annually brings back a tradition of excellence marked by the 17 NCAA championships the Cardinal has won in Gould’s 38 years at the helm.

Gould, whose teams are 85-10 in NCAA tournament dual matches, will be making his final appearance at Ojai as coach of the Cardinal in the Pacific 10 individual championships, which will be played today through Sunday at Libbey Park.

He is retiring at the end of this season, and he and five retiring tournament volunteers will be feted at a dinner Saturday at the Aquinas Center in Ojai.

“Going to Ojai is like going back home for me,” said Gould, 66, a 1955 graduate of Ventura High.

Gould played Ojai, losing a semifinal of the high school boys’ doubles competition as a Ventura senior, and his family still has a home -- built in 1924 by his grandparents -- in town.

Gould played three seasons for Stanford and earned a master’s degree in education from the university in 1960. Seven years later, he took over the men’s tennis program and quickly built a reputation as a savvy recruiter, master motivator and team-builder who extolled the virtues of aggressiveness and the serve-and-volley game.

Gould’s meticulous and innovative coaching style led the Cardinal to recurring national championships, including four consecutive from 1995 to ‘98, three in a row from 1988 to ‘90, and back-to-back titles in 1973-74, 1977-78 and 1980-81.

His 17 national championships equal the titles won by North Carolina women’s soccer Coach Anson Dorrance and Arkansas track and field Coach John McDonnell and is second only to the 18 career NCAA titles won by UCLA men’s volleyball Coach Al Scates.

Gould has coached 10 NCAA singles champions, including 1978 champion John McEnroe and 1981 winner Tim Mayotte, as well as current touring pros Jared Palmer (the 1991 champion) and Alex Kim (2000). Among his six doubles champions is the world’s No. 1-ranked team, twins Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo, who keyed the U.S. Davis Cup team’s 4-1 quarterfinal victory over Sweden under the guidance of another former Gould protege, Davis Cup team captain Patrick McEnroe.

With little prompting, former players -- the Bryans included -- recall Gould’s attention to detail, citing the precisely organized 4-by-6 index cards that still serve as daily practice planners, and laugh about a collection of songs about Georgia that Gould arranged in hopes of inspiring his teams during the NCAA championships, often played in Athens, Ga.

“He’s set in his ways, and you respect it because of his success,” said Bob Bryan, who won NCAA singles and doubles titles in 1998. “It’s actually kind of comforting.”

Gould’s own game face is intent yet subdued. During matches, his manner is gentle and encouraging, his style afterward folksy and philosophical.

“He’s very realistic when you’re out on the court. That’s what made him so good,” said Alex O’Brien, an NCAA singles and doubles champion in 1992. “If you’re playing your best and you’re getting beaten, he’s not going to get mad at you.”

The losses have been few and far between. Gould has a 773-147 record -- an .840 winning percentage -- with the Cardinal.

Connections between Gould and many of his former players remain strong. John Whitlinger, NCAA singles champion in 1974, has been a Stanford assistant for 18 years and will take the reins of the program upon Gould’s retirement. Another former player, Dan Goldie, serves as Gould’s financial advisor.

The coach has up-to-date addresses and phone numbers for most of the approximately 1,700 players he has worked with -- and e-mail addresses for 700 of them. Michael Flanagan, who came to Stanford without a scholarship to play for Gould, invited his old coach to his wedding last weekend.

“He’s a very good people person and very perceptive about how to get the most out of them,” said Flanagan, a financier living in Dallas who eventually earned a scholarship and worked his way up to No. 1 in the lineup. “It was one of the best four years of my life, and I feel like my experience wasn’t uncommon.”

Gould once kicked a player off the team in midseason because the coach thought he had tanked a match against archrival Cal. That player, now a doctor, returned to the team the next year and remains friends with the coach.

Many tennis fans would like to see Stanford send Gould out a winner this season, but the Cardinal recently has experienced something of a drought -- relatively speaking. Stanford’s last team title was won in 2000, so no player on this year’s squad has been an NCAA champion.

The Cardinal, ranked No. 9 nationally, ended the regular season with a 5-2 upset of No. 3 USC on Saturday. NCAA regional matches will be May 14-16, and the 16-team championships will be May 22-25 at the University of Tulsa.

“We have that little extra incentive,” said Sam Warburg, Stanford’s No. 1 player. “Sure, we’d like to win it for Coach. But really, we want to win it for ourselves.”

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The Gould File

A closer look at Dick Gould’s career at Stanford:

* Overall record: 773-147 (.840), 38 seasons.

* NCAA team champions, 17: 1973, ‘74, ‘77, ‘78, ‘80, ‘81, ‘83, ‘86, ‘88, ‘89, ‘90, ‘92, ‘95, ‘96, ‘97, ‘98, 2000.

* NCAA championships record: 85 wins in 95 matches.

* NCAA singles champions, 10: 1973, ‘74, ‘77, ‘78, ‘81, ‘86, ‘91, ‘92, ‘98, 2000.

* NCAA doubles champions, six: 1972, ‘73, ‘74, ‘92, ‘98, ’99.

* NCAA coaching records: 17 championship teams and combined 33 NCAA champions (17 team, 10 singles, 6 doubles).

* ITA/Wilson Intercollegiate Coach of the Year: 1974, ‘94, ‘98, 2000.

* Pac-10 Coach of the Year: 1977, ‘78, ‘80, ‘83, ‘86, ‘88, ‘89, ‘98, 2003.

* Hall of Fames: Ventura County Athletic, 1990; NorCal Tennis, 1992; Stanford Athletic, 1994.

* Top players: Roscoe Tanner, John McEnroe, Tim Mayotte, Jim Grabb, Patrick McEnroe, Jeff Tarango, Alex O’Brien, Mike and Bob Bryan.

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First Serve

A closer look at the 104th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament:

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* When: Today through Sunday. Junior competition concludes Saturday and collegiate and open play conclude Sunday.

* Where: Division finals will be at Ojai’s Libbey Park, the tournament’s primary venue. Matches will be played at 147 courts in Ventura County, including some private courts at Ojai residences.

* Participants: About 1,125 players in 30 divisions of open, age-group, high school and collegiate competition, including the Pacific 10 Conference individual championships and NCAA Division III West regional championships.

* Tickets: $40 for a four-day pass, $25 for a two-day weekend pass. Daily prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students, seniors ages 65 and older, and children ages 5-12 on Thursday and Friday, $15 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and children Saturday and Sunday.

* For Fun: The No. 1 doubles team in the world, French Open champions Mike and Bob Bryan, will be at Lower Libbey Park tonight at 6. The twins headline a barbecue held in conjunction with the tournament. Cost: $7.