Mark Riley, who was previously head mens tennis coach at Division I University of Pennsylvania, will return to his alma mater as mens tennis coach and tournament director for the USTA Boys 18s & 16s National Champion.

Riley, a 1982 graduate of Kalamazoo College, will serve as assistant director of the Nationals in 2007, succeeding Timon Corwin, who has joined USTA High Performance as Senior Director of Junior and Collegiate Competition.

\"Playing for Coach (George) Acker is a big part of my life,\" said Riley recalling his two years on the Hornet tennis team. \"When this opportunity came along, I could not turn it down.\"

At Penn, Riley led the Quakers to consecutive Ivy League championships the past two years, so the decision to leave that program was difficult.

\"At Penn, we did some things that had not been done for a long time, an Ivy League championship for the first in 35 years, an ECAC championship for the first time in school history, so it is hard to leave. But when I told my players that I was leaving them to come to Kalamazoo, they all understood, because what Kalamazoo means to tennis and what tennis means to Kalamazoo.\"

With just a few days of on-the-job training, Riley has not formulated any plans regarding the tournament.

\"I think you always have to improve, because if you don\'t improve, you\'re going backwards,\" said Riley. \"But I think my job right now is to work with Timon, use his expertise, visit with different committee chairs and listen a lot.\"

Source: Colette Lewis (Tournament Office)