Steve Bailey has been a mainstay on the Jacksonville State University campus since he enrolled to the school in fall of 1971. He now enters his 33th season involved with the Gamecock tennis program.
2010-11 was his 27th season as the JSU women’s coach since the program came to campus in 1984-85 and has served as the men’s coach since 1978-79. Bailey took over the men’s program in 1978 after working as a graduate assistant for the team the previous year. He proceeded to build the program into a Gulf South Conference power, winning four consecutive titles from 1990-93. In 1995, the men had one of their best teams going 14-6. The Gamecocks were ranked ninth nationally in Division II for their efforts that that year.
Since taking over the duties as the women’s tennis coach in 1984 his teams have seen much success. JSU won the GSC title seven out of nine years from 1985-93. He coached 17 men and 33 women All-GSC performers, five of those men and women received All-American accolades and Bailey himself was named GSC Coach of the Year in the seven title seasons.
Since the move to Division I in 1995, JSU has steadily improved to be a true contender for conference championships. The women’s team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament fives times in the early stages of Jax State’s Division I years. JSU reached the semifinal round of the A-Sun Conference Championships in 1996.
JSU began play in the Ohio Valley Conference in 2004 and established itself as a championship contender in its couple of seasons in the league. In its first season in the OVC, the Gamecock men finished second in the conference standings, while the women’s squad turned in a fifth-place finish. Bailey earned his first of three OVC Coach of the Year honors on the men’s side in 2004. He shared the 2007 and 2009 award with Eastern Kentucky’s Rob Oertel in both seasons. Bailey guided the men’s program to its first Division I conference crown in 2005. Since 2005, the JSU men have finished in the top three in the OVC in four out of the last six seasons, including the OVC Regular Season crown and OVC Tournament Champions in 2007. In 2009, Jax State claimed the 2009 OVC Tournament Title and a trip to the NCAA Regional in Oxford, Miss.
On the women’s side, Bailey guided the Gamecock women to the 2010 OVC Regular Season crown after posting an undefeated, 9-0, mark in OVC play. Since 2006, JSU has won 38 conference matches and suffered just 18 setbacks, having won 68 percent of its matches under Bailey in OVC play. Bailey was named the league’s top coach by his peers on the women’s side in 2008 and 2010.
Under Bailey’s tutelage in the OVC, current senior Viciane Marani was named OVC Player of the Year in 2008, while having four players earn all conference accolades. Marani and Martina Dessbesell are multiple selection honorees. Bailey has mentored 14 All-OVC selections on the men’side since JSU entered the league in 2004.
Bailey has also coached the men’s golf team and women’s basketball team during his tenure at JSU. In 1981, his men’s golf team finished eighth in the nation. Bailey was on the Gamecock women’s bench from 1980-82 and went 26-26 in his two seasons.
