As a child growing up in southern Michigan, Christine Bader traveled three hours every summer to compete in the juniors tournament at Ball State University.
Even when she was a nationally ranked amateur player, she said she always loved coming to Ball State and could still recall some greatest junior victories coming on the Cardinals' home court.
"Every time I was at Ball State, it felt like you were at Ball State," she said. "I always loved the Ball State atmosphere."
Now, the 23-year-old Bader will return to campus as the youngest head coach at Ball State and in the Mid-American Conference.
Ball State announced Tuesday that Bader, who spent the last two seasons as the head coach at the University of Evansville, will be the Cardinals women's tennis head coach for the upcoming season.
Despite being more than 10-years younger than all but one of the MAC women's tennis coaches, Bader said she does not see her age being an issue entering her first year at Ball State.
"My past two years at Evansville I proved myself, but I know that at Ball State, I will re-prove myself and gain that trust," she said.
In Bader's two years as the Purple Aces head coach, the team went a combined 23-18 but failed to advance beyond the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament both years. The Purple Aces hired Bader — a two-time All-Big Ten Team selection and nationally ranked singles player at Michigan State University — less than two months after she graduated in 2008.
Bader said it was difficult to leave Evansville because the program was starting to move in the right direction.
"I spent two years at Evansville building relationships with the girls," she said. "I enjoyed my time at Evansville watching them grow. My philosophy as a coach is to always give them confidence."
Bader said one of the appeals to coaching at Ball State was the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center — the team's home facility located north of the Duck Pond on Ball State's campus.
Following the 2007 season, Ball State spent about $850,000 to renovate the 12-court complex and repair the cracks in the concrete playing surfaces.
"I was just blown away at how well the courts were kept and how updated everything was," she said.
The Cardinals finished last season 8-15 to finish in eighth place in the Mid-American Conference. Ball State has won one regular season conference match in the last two years.
One way Bader said she hopes to improve the program's success is working with Ball State men's tennis coach Bill Richards and learning what he has done to create a championship-winning program. Richards — the longest tenured head coach at Ball State — has won the most conference championships of any active Cardinals' head coach at 19.
"To build a program, it isn't going to happen over night," Bader said. "We are going to see success when the players have a belief in themselves, and the more they have that belief in themselves, the more successful we will be."
Bader will take over for interim head coach Amy Behrman. Behrman, a former local high school head coach, was hired in January after head coach Kathy Bull was relieved of her duties in October for NCAA violations that the university self-reported.
The NCAA is conducting an investigation into the possible six major infractions committed. One of the investigated violations includes Bull asking in a text message for players to falsify practice hours.
The NCAA investigation could result in the women's tennis program receiving penalties from the NCAA.
Bader said she was aware of the situation when she took the job, but isn't focusing on it.
"The past is the past, and I'm solely focused on the future," she said. "What ever happens, happens and we are going to be making the best of things."
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