1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska Women's Tennis Coach German Dalmagro: October 27th, 11:00am

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

Nebraska Women's Tennis Coach German DalmagroAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I know the coffee tasted better. The sun shone brighter yesterday after a Husker win at home. We're going to add to as you folks know about me, we constantly effort to add to and bring different voices, different faces, different theories, more smart people in the room and folks who can kind of give us all a better idea of how this thing works and why it matters. Let's add to the lineup. And we've been talking about this for a minute. And I'm so

glad we finally got together to make it happen. Hermando Magro, women's tennis head coach, Kaiser. Good morning. Good morning. And thank you for doing this. Good morning. Thank you for having me. I know it's been a while since last time I was here. And I'm happy to be back. And yeah, I know, excited to share a little more about our program, but yeah, thank you for all you do, you know, for all last Huskers here in town. So I appreciate you. Well, it's, it's pretty interesting to me that in a place like Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska, where the fans want to feel closer and more connected to the programs. and here you are. You have a master's degree in this thing called athletics, right?

Like the learning process for you to get here, whether it be love of the sport as a player, development as a coach, then finding your way to link in Nebraska. So I'll ask you the first part. How did you end up at the University of Nebraska? Why are you in Nebraska Husker? You know, speaking of Masters,

I feel like I'm still in the classroom, Like I'm always learning, you know, always learning. Neville, never stopped learning. You know, but yeah, you know, I was born in Argentina, actually, and I came to the U.S. for college tennis, and I love the environment. I love the just camaraderie, the team work. You know, tennis is pretty individual sport, but once you get into college, it becomes a very team sport, and I love that aspect.

So I kind of wanted to be involved in developing and helping and giving back to the sport that gave me so much. And Piazzo started coaching. And then I was an assistant coach at University of Kansas when the previous coach here gave me a call and asked me if I wanted to be his assistant. And I didn't really hesitate it. And I took it on and loved my time here. And then I left for a few years. But I left with the idea thinking that it's like, you know, I wanted to be a head coach.

And I say I would love to be. I left thinking that, you know, I wanted to be back in Lincoln. I just think it's a great city, it's a great school, a really family-friendly environment, a place where I feel like, you know, my wife and I have three kids and, you know, I really enjoy being part of the community. And I felt like this is a place where, you know, where we can grow, but also a place where I think we can be successful.

And I think tennis is, you know, not as popular, you know, in this part of the country, being an outdoor sport, a little more of a location type of sport, and Florida, Texas, California, you know, that is very popular. Not as much here, but I felt like just the school, the resources that we have and I think just the community in general, I think we can make it at tennis school. And I think that's kind of what has been my goal is developing

and working and creating a good culture, but also created in a place where, you know, no matter where you're from, can come and this can become, you know, your home. I'm going to ask you to do a thing. I generally ask coaches to give a scouting reporter themselves as players. So if you were going to tell folks about Hermann the tennis play, how would you describe yourself?

I was a very competitive player. I sometimes hate it losing more than I like winning, to be honest. I'm lefty, I'm left-handed. I have a one-handed backhand, and I serve a volley. just about all my life. So I really enjoy the coming to the net and finishing up at the net. And I was a very strategic player. I always like to kind of play the puzzles and play the angles and play the anticipation and all that.

I think I was pretty good at that. I was never the biggest, strongest player. But I was, I said I was skilled. I have good hands at the net. And I was able to close the angles and move forward. And I think the one thing that I felt I had the advantage of a lot of players is like my competitiveness. I was just always very competitive and always find ways to win it. You know, always find ways to win.

So, yeah. If that is the case, most coaches tend to recruit better at the players like them. Because you want to coach what you know. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So you find yourself identity. identifying those young ladies who would try you know and sometimes you know I like to say that because it's an individual sport you know we we need to be adaptable you know we need to be adaptable you know

we need to be adaptable to all styles of play can't just say hey this is what I am what I like to coach because there's so many different personalities different styles of games and different ways to compete but I I try to identify players that no matter what the style is you know that they have that competitiveness in them. You know, they have that fire in them. They have that little belief in them that will, they would just hustle. They will work hard. And no matter what tools they have in the box, you know, they would just be competitiveness

first, you know. And then they will kind of say, okay, what are I have in my toolbox, you know? I think it's, you know, tennis is a sport that you make a lot of mistakes and you can still win. You know, it's one of those few sports that you can actually win just a handful more points that you're opponent and you can make a lot of mistakes and still win. So I think that being competitive

and being able to like, hey, no hold long to mistakes too long and just to be in the present, I think it takes you farther than you think. So trying to find that is important. You know, that's why we try to watch our recruits, you know, play just multiple times to make sure that

no matter who they play, no matter how they're feeling, you know, they're still finding ways to compete. That's what it takes. Is the digital recruiting more important now? Because you may not be able to get in front of everybody because your young ladies are all over the world.

So how do you handle the recruiting side for that? Yeah, it's tough, you know, because it's really hard to be everywhere. You know, so we try to look at video, but sometimes we get videos on or only the highlights, you know, and that's that doesn't tell the whole

story. I always ask recruits to give me the videos of the uncut, you know, like, give me all of it. Give me the mistakes. Give me the losses. Give me how you handle between points, you know, like, give me all of it because I think we're going to get all of it, you know, when they get to us. So sometimes they send me a video when, you know, my only show about 20 minutes of highlights. And, you know, and then I asked us all, what's the rest, you know? But because we, yeah, we want to see it all because we get them all.

And then as, as you know, it's like sometimes it's really hard to break bad habits or all habits or bad attitudes or, you know, it's really hard to break that or to create new habits. So I want to see it all. So I know what we get in, you know, we get them here. You just said a thing that's so unique. How do, which is more difficult, the bad attitude or the bad habit to break? Because the habit is learned behavior. and then the attitude is accepted behavior. So how do you handle that as a Division I coach?

It is tough, to be honest. It's, I would say the bad attitude might be a little harder to change. Creating new habits. It's just a matter of consistency and just like, you know, like being always, and always being on them to try to work on that new habit, you know, to replace the all habit.

Because I think it's harder to fix the all habit, you know, than just like creating. a new habit and then trying to that become the norm. So we try to create new habits depending what it is. But the attitude is hard because they, you know, if they behave one way for, you know, 10, 12, 15 years, you know, maybe they play tennis for, you know, 10, 12 years before they get to us, right? So they started six, seven, eight years old.

So it's hard to create that. So we'll try to watch them when they're losing, watching what they're practicing, you know, watch them kind of talk to their coaches and families and just. get you know then because, you know, a good attitude goes a long ways, especially in a team environment, you know. Through so much of it, right? And you, you, the average fan, and no matter what sport it is, I think the common thing about coaches and athletes,

especially in this day and age, is finding the common ground, right? Absolutely. Yeah, the coach, you kind of want them to come to your side of the bridge, you know, and you want them to come willingly, but you know that the final few steps is going to be brutal. but recruiting for you is not a regional thing. This is international now. It is.

How many of your players are international players versus American players? I mean, right now we have eight, and then we're going to add a cup in the spring, but we have eight, only two are from the U.S. We have one from Georgia, one from Texas, and the rest are international. And we're, for the next class, you know, we're going very heavy, the top Americans. you know we're trying to recruit him early and and see if we can if we can land a few we have have quite a few visits already you know we just had a visit you know this past weekend and and hey hey bach you see the smile on his face when he when he's starting to bring that up that that's when

you know you're under something that when you have a good visit yeah yeah it was really good visit and you know we obviously can't talk too much too many names or anything but yeah she'll be she'll be a great addition and you know she'll be somebody that could be the second U.S. born recurrent school history. So it will go a long ways. But we're going hard on early on these recruits and trying to get you know us, you know, our culture and just our resources.

Because, I mean, we have quite a few visits that this recruit is the first time ever, you know, in the state of Nebraska. And they know nothing about Nebraska, you know. And then when once they get here, here they realize that this place is much better than what they heard or what they expected. And I think that's the hardest thing is sometimes getting those top recruits to visit us. You know, most of the times they don't even want to respond to you, you know, and then get along to

get them to on campus. And we have gotten actually quite a few visits that are, you know, that are really good recruits. So, you know, we're working hard. I know it takes time, takes process. You know, it's sometimes slower than I want to. But we've been getting good responses. And I think were, you know, we're heading in the right direction. Well, I think, you know, and I've said publicly to make the ticket an extra vehicle. Another toy in the utility belt for Nebraska recruiting is to be able to invite these young folks into this. And for them to see you having these conversations and we can share it on the internet and let folks know that this thing exists. Ramald de Migro, women's tennis here at Husker, for the Huskers.

and the recruiting process being an international one, but American players now have access to the Internet and they now have access to, hey, what are you doing over there? But then the local and the state and the region, what's it going to take to turn this into a space where women's tennis is vital and vibrant and good? No, that's a great question. I think it takes, to be honest, it takes a generation.

You know, it doesn't just take, you know, a flip at the switch and you just say, hey, we're, you know, because I think we have good coaches in town. You know, we have good people that have the right intentions that know tennis. You know, all the pros that are working, you know, in town and Genesis, woods, country club or wilderness ridge and all the tennis pros that we have in all the clubs, they know tennis, they've been around, you know, and they're good. So I think it's just a matter of like young athletes taking on tennis and sticking to tennis and, you know, going to travel to play national tournaments and competing, you know,

not just locally originally, but, you know, the best place in the country are playing everywhere in the country, you know, sometimes in the world, sometimes the ones from here, maybe they just play more closer to local originals. So they don't, you know, we have some that travel, but it takes. It takes a commitment, not just from those individuals, but I think it's just, you know, and I talk to the coaches here in town and they're great people, great coaches. And I think they're, you know, they have the knowledge, they have the resources, and sometimes it's just getting that volume of athletes playing the sport and then from then

developing and then traveling and playing all over the country. you know and i think it's it's a commitment you know it takes uh takes a little effort and and i mean i'm hopeful that it will continue to grow i mean i want nothing more than you know the tennis being you know uh keep growing you know nice to be able to recruit in the backyard uh to save you some money and some time how many hours a week do you find yourself looking at recruiting tape gosh uh i would say every single day i'm always looking, either at tape or tournaments or sending texts or receiving emails, replying emails, or switching out to coaches and circling back to players that we, you know, they didn't respond

to us or talk to us once and I'm looking at their results, you know, and then how they did. If they did well, then, you know, sending them a message, say, hey, good job this weekend and let's talk again. I mean, I would say seven days a week. I'm always doing something on recruiting. Sometimes I send a text at 5 a.m. you know, to a, I wake up early. So I sent a text to a 5 a end to a recruits that is overseas. You know, maybe I just saw the results. I don't, I don't think I have not spent one day that I'm not recurring. It's a, it's a constant work. And, you know, that's what it takes. I feel like, you know, where we are, we, you know, we got to throw a hundred darts, you know, to about each recruit, right? And then some schools that throw one dart, then they land

the recruit they won. You know, here we have to hustle a little more. And I'm fine by hustling, you know. So, but it takes work. And I think it's sometimes, it might take one or two that sign with you that everybody else that look at how. You know, she's going there. And then right now we have one on campus.

She's, you know, she's great. She was, you know, Colony Raid, you know, she's from Atlanta, Georgia. You know, she transferred from Tennessee to us. She's a sophomore now. She has three years with us. But she's, you know, on paper. She was top. 20 in the country. She's the

second highest American tennis player we ever had in history. So we're, it's starting to move the needle, you know, with all their, you know, top Americans as well. So people recognize and it's like, oh, why is she got there? She had offers from the best

schools in the country and, you know, we build a good relationship and then, you know, she really enjoyed her visit here and, you know, she's here now and loves it. And, you know, and we're hoping that that kind of creates a kind of like a domino effect. you know that keeps is that is that raising the standard from the top and that she's she's good enough to make practice better to make workouts better absolutely right because now you've got a north

right you can kind of draw people too yeah yeah we have some good players you know uh from all the countries too you know we have a really good team but i think it's just to to keep getting raising the standard and that's kind of what we want you know we don't want to you know big tennis really strong and we don't want to settle we want to keep getting better and i think you know starts with just developing, but also recruiting, you know, recruiting for the best players we can. When you mentioned the Big Ten conference, who are the programs that are the North Star? We, Bach and I kind of identify top third, middle third, bottom third. Who are the top, who's in the top third of programs in the Big Ten for Women's Tennis?

I'll say historically, USC, UCLA are always being good in tennis, you know, that already been in the Big Ten, Ohio State, and Michigan are top five in the country right now, along with USC, UCLA, they're in the top 10 or so. So we have Wisconsin this past year, they were really good. You know, their top 25, really good academic school. You know, in tennis is being good academically recruits, you know, as well. But I always said the top four schools that have been, you know, are Michigan, Ohio State, USC, UCLA. Washington is really good as well.

They were 16 in the country last year. But yeah, I mean, that's to compete with them. You know, we were last match on, lost 4-3 to add Washington last year, and they were a seed in the end of the tournament. They're a top 16 seed, and we lost 4-3 last much on. So we were competing really well against them. What's the bridge now? So what's the next step to get Nebraska women's tennis into that conversation?

some would say development, some would say talent, some would say a bunch of things. I'll ask you, head coach. What do you think the next thing is? Yeah, I think it's a combination. You know, I think we're doing a good job of developing our players, you know, and getting to maximize, you know,

kind of their potential resources. You know, I think some of our players are playing at a really good level. The rest is trying to maybe get the best players here. So maybe the starting point would be a little higher that kind of what, you know, what some others were, right? So then you can develop.

from them. So they become the best. And then just being able to believe, you know, like I believe that we belong there. Believe, believe that we belong playing against some of the best players, you know, because we've been very close, you know, again, you're close to a team that is, you know, top 12, top 15 in the country and you come down to the last two games, you know, and it's, it could be anybody's game. Maybe it's a little bit of leave and it's a little bit luck. You know, you can't put excuses. You just got to go and do it. You know, you got to go execute it. But, you know, we were, we had a much point last year to beat a team that was 18 in the country.

I had a team much point. Literally one point away, you know, and it's, but, you know, we didn't. So it's just a maybe belief, you know, keep obviously, you know, recruiting, you know, recruiting, you know, trying to get those players that can compete in and out every single weekend, you know, against those teams. And I think we're close. I think we're developing the right way. I think we're doing the right things. You know, we have a really good culture right now on our team.

Work ethic is good. I think the competitiveness is good. You know, it's like it's just making little steps, you know, and everybody is making those steps. And yeah, I think it's a little combination of all. It's a bunch of things. All of those things make up culture, but I'll ask you directly.

Ideally, in a perfect situation, you can wave your hand and create the perfect, women's tennis culture at Nebraska from your hands to theirs what is that what would that look at i think it's a team that uh if person is softless you know that they uh you know they want to pick each other up you know they want to they want to push each other and to to to help you know make each other better you know and i think uh uh we we've been talking a lot about that you know it's being like build softless and being a a team that you know we're gonna our goal is to push each other but try to make each other better.

You know, they really love each other, they support each other, you know, a team that is like, you know, we're accountable for each other. We're very competitive, you know, we're tough. You know, our goal is to be the fittest team in the Big Ten. You know, be a team that would not lose because, you know, we couldn't hang in there.

You know, being a physical team, you know, being a team that is just competitive, that doesn't back down, you know, against anybody, you know. But above all, these just being, be good teammates, you know, being, you know, I think it's, we've been working hard and trying to recruit players that have those features, you know, that are selfless, that are competitive, but they want to be a part of a team, you know, want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. And I think it's, when you surround yourself with people like that, it's easier

for each one to be themselves, to be kind of like, hey, this is who I am, you know, so they already bring that to their team. And, you know, and I think that way they can thrive more. I think practices right now are fun. We work hard and, you know, sometimes we're running a lot. We're, you know, we're working hard, but you can see the smiles on the face that hey, I'm enjoying this suffering, you know. I'm enjoying this bottle. I'm enjoying this hard day. It's because I'm doing it with my teammates. You know, I'm doing with the people that I love, you know, and I love my team right now. I think we have great people, you know, that I really enjoy coming to work every day. It has to be fascinating. There's lots to cover. And

you and I have talked to. We said really wanted to get Hermann on a regular schedule here because one, he will give insight to just coaching coaching. It had to be coaching tennis or coaching women. It really is coaching. And the attitude, development, all the concepts. And then the business side of it. Because now business is a big part of collegiate athletics. How it affects coaches. And recent news, we'll talk about, you know, the movement of coaches and the movement of players in the transfer portal. But I'll say, I'll ask you this before we go to break.

I was told that by several coaches that the greatest recruiter are your players, that your players who have competed at national tournaments, international tournaments, they've gotten to know each other, they know who's tough, they know who plays the way they do, who works the way they do, are the best recruiters. What say you to that about athletes recruiting people to your program? I think it speaks volume because I actually told my recruits all the time. And I was like, hey, it's one thing what I tell you, you know,

but I think it's another thing what our players will tell you how we run things, how we talk to our players, you know, how we treat them, you know, because I always tell parents and recruits like, hey, you know, we're going to work hard. We're going to challenge you. You know, we're going to do it. But also, I'm going to treat you right. You know, it's like I don't go by wins and losses. you know, no matter

you win or lose a match, you know, I'm not going to treat you differently, you know. And I think that goes along ways with parents because there's plenty programs that they treat you differently whether you win or lose, you know. I always told them is like, hey, you're going to make mistakes and I'm going to support you, you know, as long as we have the right attitude, the right effort,

you know, we're trying to do the right things. It's like, you're going to be loved here no matter what, you know. And I think it's, but yeah, speaking of that, it's funny. You know, we actually got an email, a text for another recruit, not you long ago. that she was playing a tournament is from the South. And to get really good recruits

from the South to come here in tennis, it doesn't happen very often. But I got a text from this recruiter saying, hey, I was playing this pro tournament and one of your players was there. And then she was talking how much she loves Nebraska. You know, and how well she's like,

how she's how she's developing, how they treat her there, all the resources they have, and they just how much is thriving there. You know, she's like happy playing tennis. And it's like, and I'm looking for a good culture. I'm looking for a program where I can grow, you know, and a place where I'll be supported, you know, and I would have never known that, you know, and then she texts me basically saying like, hey, I'm interested in Nebraska. It's because what kind of what your player told me,

and she wasn't even selling Nebraska, she was just speaking about her own experience, you know, so that kind of, you know, bro, a little chills to my ball and you kind of say, hey, you know, this is, we're doing it for, you know, we're doing it for the right reasons and you can kind of tell, you know so it's it's always and i've i've made a point to run towards coaches who i thought were handling things in the right way um those are the coaches i want to add to this station on a regular basis because you can share the stories and the behind-the-scenes stuff we'll go to break when we come back i want to we were talking you just mentioned parents and i think it's twofold that the message of the parent to the player and then the engagement between the coach and the

parent because mom and dad out there if you're listening, you can just as much help your child get recruited and you can help your child get hurt and recruited. And we'll have that discussion about what those things are when we come back to one-on-one. Download our app by searching 93.7. The ticket in your app store. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 93-7 the Ticket in the Ticketfm.com.