Wichita State’s Colin Foster builds a strong tennis program with family backing

Wichita State’s women’s tennis players come from all over the world to find a place with the Foster family.

Colin Foster took over the women’s program in 2009 and has won eight straight Missouri Valley Conference titles and pushed the Shockers into the top 30 of the national rankings. On Saturday, WSU plays in its eighth straight NCAA regional, facing Arkansas at 9 a.m. in Stillwater, Okla.

The eight MVC titles won under Foster and one with former coach Chris Young represent the longest streak of dominance in conference women’s sports history, passing Missouri State’s streak of eight in swimming and diving from 2008-15.

As is typical in NCAA Division I tennis, WSU’s roster is filled with athletes from other countries. The team depends on family, which reveals both a reason for its success and one of the factors that keeps Foster at WSU through the success that attracts interest from other schools.

“We all come from different countries, so we really need to bond with each other and spend a lot of time together,” said Giulia Guidetti, a junior from Italy. “It’s like a family, so it’s a good atmosphere.”

The atmosphere starts with the husband-wife coaching team of Colin and assistant Kewa Foster.

“We treat our girls how we would want our kids to be treated,” Kewa Foster said.

Son Isaac, 3, is a regular at practice and matches. Joseph was born in November.

“You feel like you’re loved and welcomed, no matter who you were or what kind of personality you had,” former Shocker Abby Stevens said. “We got to watch Isaac grow up and that was such as great experience. He’s like our little mascot. It’s a little bright spot in everyone’s life when he comes out on the court giggling and laughing. It creates that family that I know the girls that aren’t from around Wichita so appreciate.”

Foster’s approach helped the Shockers rise above the MVC, which lacks any national profile, to continue what Young, now at Oklahoma State, started in 2004. The 2015 Shockers peaked at No. 23 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings and finished the season at No. 41. The 2016 team passed those marks, ascending to No. 13 and finishing the season No. 30, a program high.

Young’s 2007 team defeated South Carolina 4-3 to win the lone NCAA match in MVC history. The Shockers played competitively the past three seasons, losing 4-2 to No. 18 Oklahoma in 2014 and 4-3 to No. 24 Georgia Tech (2015) and No. 37 TCU (2016).

The move to the American Athletic Conference should help WSU play a tougher schedule and open a chance for an at-large NCAA bid.

“What we’ve done in the Valley has been pretty special,” Colin Foster said in April. “At the same time, we’re ready for a new challenge.”

Athletic director Darron Boatright annually prepares for the challenge of finding a new coach. Last summer, Oklahoma and another school from a Power 5 conference talked with Foster.

“He has built a wonderfully successful program,” Boatright said. “The longer any coach stays and continues to have success … it becomes increasingly harder to go and start fresh somewhere else. (Volleyball coach) Chris Lamb is a good example of this. (Track and field coach) Steve Rainbolt is a good example.”

When Foster came to WSU after three seasons as an assistant at TCU he didn’t necessarily plan to stay for a long time. He was warned, however, that his mind might change.

“People told me when I moved here that it’s a city that really grows on you,” he said. “And it has.”

WSU helped with arrangements other schools might not offer.

It allowed him to hire his wife, which makes coaching, recruiting and organizing a tennis program while raising two sons easier. A year ago, WSU gave him a five-year contract extension, a length somewhat rare in college tennis.

“If Kewa can’t travel on a certain road trip, I’m not worried that my administration is going to freak out that the assistant coach didn’t go to Evansville and (SIU),” Colin Foster said.

Kewa Foster started as an assistant in 2010 when WSU upgraded the position from graduate assistant to full-time.

“It’s a family commitment,” Boatright said. “To those of us in the inner workings of athletics on a daily basis, we know it’s already a team effort, even if a spouse is employed somewhere else or works at home. To be able to share that experience with someone who’s qualified to be an assistant coach … why not?”

WSU allows him the time and freedom to involve himself in Wichita’s tennis community. He coached Wichitan Katie Swan at the Junior U.S. Open last summer. He plays in a weekly doubles match.

“The longer we’ve been here the more we appreciate what a great place this is to be,” he said. “Power 5 job X – every place has its pros and cons. The whole package here stacks up with a lot of Power 5 jobs. We can be competitive and successful and comfortable.”

The Fosters live on a cul de sac where Colin can hit balls in the street with neighborhood children. The community pool is nearby and there’s another neighborhood Fourth of July celebration coming.

“That’s been huge for us — things you don’t realize until you have kids,” Kewa Foster said. “You realize how family-friendly this place is. If we ever do decide to leave, we would really have to think hard about it, because it is such a good place. We know what we have is good.”

Foster’s coaching mentor Mat Iandolo, women’s coach at Utah, doesn’t expect a departure unless it’s for an elite job.

“If this were football and basketball, sports where that AD is completely attached in his professional success to that hire, he would be hired already,” Iandolo said. “You’ve got one more move left in you. You better be dang sure that move is to a school where you can get that school perennially in the top 10. You don’t want to make two moves.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Colin Foster builds a strong tennis program with family backing."