Malik Tabet, the 2010 Ohio Valley Conference co-Coach of the Year, completed
an impressive turnaround of Austin Peay State University's tennis programs with
the women's team winning the 2010 OVC Tournament Championship.
A year after a tournament title for the Lady Govs, Tabet led a Govs team with five sophomores and three freshmen to the OVC Championship match. The Govs would have an unprecedented three players - freshman Jasmin Ademovic, along with sophomores Sean Bailey and Henrique Norbiato - named first-team All-OVC while Ademovic became Tabet's second-straight OVC Freshman of the Year.
During the Lady Govs 2010 title run under Tabet's guidance, then-sophomore Vanja Tomic was named 2010 OVC Player
of the Year and freshman Carolin Weikard being named 2010 OVC Freshman of the Year.
Not only was it the first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance for the Lady Govs,
they did it by winning 12 straight matches. It was a 16-game improvement and
the best regular-season finish (second-place) since the late 1980s.
The Govs, meanwhile, had two All-OVC selections - first-team pick Henrique
Norbiato and second-team selection Sean Bailey. After getting off to a rough
start, the men closed with three straight wins to earn the OVC Tournament's
fifth-seed. It was the first tourney appearance for the Govs since 2005.
A former two-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Tabet was
named Austin Peay State University's head tennis coach in August 2009.
The previous spring, the French national completed his fifth full season as
Indiana State's women's coach and first as men's coach.
In a five-year period, he led the Sycamore women to three Missouri Valley
regular-season championships (2005, 2006, 2008) and an NCAA tournament
appearance in 2008 following the Sycamores' MVC tourney championship. His
women's tennis was ranked as high as 59th in country by the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association (ITA) in 2007 and 68th the following season.
One of his players, Jennifer Migan, received an to the 2008 NCAA Individual
Tournament and was ranked as high as No. 48 nationally and propelled his No. 1
doubles team to as high as No. 20 nationally.
Overall, Indiana State players won 12 singles championship and six double
titles at MVC Individuals (fall) with a total of 12 players earning All-MVC
honors.
Tabet was named Missouri Valley Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2008 while
earning ITA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2007.
Tabet took over the Indiana State University women's program in January 2004
after the retirement of Mary Ann Stadler. Before joining the Sycamores, Tabet
served as an assistant coach of the women's tennis team at the University of
Arkansas in 2003.
He also had experience as the men's associate head coach at the University
of New Orleans from 2001-03. While with the Privateers, UNO jumped from seventh
to third in just one season before earning a second-place finish in the Sun
Belt Conference during his second year in charge. Along the way, the Privateers
earned a national ranking (No. 62) for the first time in school history. UNO's
No. 1 singles player was ranked in the top 50 nationally, while the No. 1
doubles team climbed into the nation's top 40.
As a college athlete Tabet played a significant role in propelling the
University of Mobile (Ala.) to the 1997 NAIA National Championship. Ranked as
high as fifth in the nation in singles, and 12th in doubles for the Rams during
1997, Mobile finished the 1998 season second in the NAIA national tourney, the
same season Tabet was ranked as high as 10th in singles, and eighth in doubles.
In 1997 and 1998 the University of Mobile won the Gulf Coast Athletic
Conference Championship with Tabet earning NAIA All-American each year.
After transferring to the University of West Florida his senior season,
Tabet helped the Argonauts earn the 1999 Gulf South Conference Championship and
a third-place finish at the 1999 NCAA Division II National Tournament. He was
named a Division II All-American after attaining rakings in singles (No. 12)
and doubles (No. 18) play.
After a successful college playing career, Tabet moved into coaching,
landing the head position for both the West Georgia men and women's tennis
teams from 2000-01. In addition to his coaching duties, Tabet served as the
program's primary fundraiser, generating revenue through clinics and pro-am
tournaments. While at West Georgia, Tabet led the women's team to the Division
II Gulf South Regional.
Tabet also enjoyed a standout career as an international player, competing
for the Algerian National Team from 1991-95, as well as the Algerian Davis Cup
team. He won more than 90 tournaments in France. Tabet won the 1995 Sham
International Tennis Open in Damascus Syria before taking top honors at the
1995 Gillette International Tennis Open in Rosas, Spain. In 1996 and 1997, he
was champion of the French Rhone-Alps Region and qualified for the French
National Championship, held at Rolland Garros, in Paris.
A 1999 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Mobile, Tabet earned a
bachelor's degree in foreign languages and holds a master's in applied
linguistics from the University of New Orleans, where he worked in the foreign
language department as a French instructor. Tabet also earned a baccalaureate
in accounting from CUEFA in Grenoble, France.
