By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

Last week, Athletic Director Steve Cisson announced in a press release that Jodi Robbins is resigning as the tennis coach for Morgan County High School. Greg Thompson is going to fill her spot as head coach for the tennis team in the coming year.
Robbins has been working with the tennis team at MCHS for several years but is resigning this season because she is anticipating the arrival of her second child, which is due in March (the tennis season usually starts in January and ends in May).
During 2007-2008 Robbins was the assistant tennis coach at MCHS and has since been the head coach for both the girls and boys teams. During her tenure as head coach, she led her team to numerous region titles, including region championships in 2011 and 2012 for both teams. Additionally, the boys team made it to the Elite 8 round last year. Since the teams have lost relatively few seniors to graduation this past year, Robbins says the team will be a, “force to be reckoned with this season.” 
Greg Thompson, who works at the Morgan County Crossroads School, is new to coaching tennis, but he is no stranger to coaching both high school and middle school sports. During his tenure in the Morgan County School System, he has coached baseball, girls basketball, and Track at the high school and golf at the middle school.
Thompson is ready to take on another sport. “My feeling is, if you are a coach, and that’s what you’ve done all your life, you can coach anything.” He acknowledges that he has a lot to learn, but that Coach Robbins’ previous work with the team and her willingness to aid him in the transition are going to, “…make (his) job as the new coach much easier…”
Coach Thompson says that the most exciting part of taking on the head coaching role at the high school will be getting the chance to work again with children that he taught on their first days in school.
“I taught most of the players when they were  6-8 years old at the primary school (I was the PE teacher there for five years). It has been neat to see them grow up and I remember them walking into the gym at the primary school scared to death on the first day of school. Now I get to work with them as high school tennis players, with some of them months away from graduation. I just think that's pretty special.”
Athletic Director Steve Cisson says that Coach Thompson, “will be a good fit in continuing our tennis program at the competitive level that has been established…. We are fortunate to have a person on staff in our school system that can do a good job.”
Coach Thompson is currently revising the schedule for the beginning of the tennis teams’ 2013 season. The first practice date allowed is Jan. 14, and the first possible date for a match is Feb. 4. An update on the exact dates will be reported as the beginning of the season nears.

Printed in the September 6. 2012 edition.