Cool off with this year's Spring Break Edition!
Read more here to make every moment last.
 

USF fills two vacancies

USF found replacements for two of its programs this week with the promotion of assistant men’s tennis coach Ashley Fisher (right) and the hiring of Tiffany Prats (left) from Marshall.  SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/COURTESY OF MARSHALL UNIVERSITY & USF ATHLETICS

USF quickly found answers to who would coach the women’s golf team and men’s tennis team this week, hiring Tiffany Prats and promoting Ashley Fisher.

Following the resignation of former men’s tennis coach Matt Hill and the firing of former women’s golf coach Marci Kornegay last week, USF added Prats from Marshall University to replace Kornegay and promoted Fisher to replace Hill. 

Fisher joined the Bulls coaching staff as an assistant in January and aided the men’s tennis team on its way to a third-consecutive AAC title. 

“Ashley has world-class tennis experience and was a valuable part of one of our most successful men’s tennis seasons in program history last year,” athletic director Mark Harlan said in a release. “After a national search, it was clear the best person to lead our program forward was right here. Ashley’s combination of high-level coaching and playing experience and rapport with our student-athletes will make him a tremendous leader for our program.”

During his 14-year career, Fisher won four ATP World Tour doubles titles and was ranked as high as No. 19 in doubles in the world. 

Fisher’s biggest accomplishments include reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Open in 2006 and both the quarterfinals of both  Wimbledon in 2004 and the Australian Open in 2006.

Since playing professionally, Fisher has coached professional players on the ATP World Tour and locally as a touring tennis professional at the Vinoy Golf and Tennis Club.

Fisher’s experience and success as a doubles player could likely be useful to doubles standouts Sasha Gozun and Vadym Kalyuzhnyy, two seniors who played together in the NCAA Doubles Championships last season. 

Going forward, Fisher will face the tall task of living up to expectations set by his predecessor, which include winning the conference title three years in a row, maintaining a top-25 national ranking and featuring several nationally ranked players. 

Unlike Fisher, Prats will face the challenge of rebuilding the women’s golf program from the ground up. 

The women’s golf team, which has failed to make the postseason since 2012, will look to change its fortunes under Prats, who led the Thundering Herd to program-best marks in team and individual scoring average at Marshall over the past two seasons. 

Prior to her first head-coaching job at Marshall, Prats was an assistant at San Diego State for the 2010-11 season and at Maryland from 2011-14. 

As far as her playing career goes, Prats golfed on the University of Miami’s women’s team from 2003-06, serving as team captain and member of the student-athlete council for two of those years. 

She followed up her successful collegiate career with two years in professional golf before becoming a coach in 2010.  

Prats and the USF women’s golf team will return all but two seniors who graduated this past year.