A Texas state legend, Jeff Bramlett leads the men’s and women’s tennis programs at East Texas Baptist University. His family has a rich history in tennis and he was called upon to build both programs at ETBU. He enters his fifth season as the women's coach and guided them to the 2017 American Southwest Conference Tournament Championship which was the first-ever for the program.
2017-18
Coming off of a championship season, ETBU finished the season with six wins overall. For the first time in program history, the team defeated McM 6-3 at home. ETBU also shutout Howard Payne 5-0 in the ASC Tournament before falling to UTD 1-5. Jabree McClaine, Elisa Kendall, Kaleigh Smith and Mulika Seekhieo all earned All-ASC honors in singles play.
2016-17
ETBU produced their best season ever winning the ASC Tournament Championship, 5-3, over Texas Tyler. They then went to their first-ever NCAA Tournament where they upset #23 Whitman College, 5-3. This season also had the most wins in program history (19), the longest winning streak (13), and finished with a national ranking of 34th and 5th in the West Region. There were multiple individual awards as the team swept through the ASC East awards. Kate Bramlett also became the program's first CoSIDA Academic All-American (3rd team) and received a NCAA post graduate scholarship.
2015-16
The 2015-16 season was the break through season for the program winning 14 matches. ETBU advanced to their first-ever ASC Tournament championship match finishing as runners-up. Kayla Casey became ETBU's first women's tennis All-American and won the ITA Southwest Regional champion (singles) advancing to the ITA National Tournament in the fall. Casey then was invited to the NCAA Division III National Tournament for singles. Bramlett and Casey also were the ITA Southwest Regional runners-up.
The Legend of Bramlett
Bramlett’s coaching career was very successful in high school winning eight Texas 4A State Championships and coaching two boy’s individual and three boy’s doubles teams to state championships. He coached the Alamo Heights Independent School District to eight state championships in 10 years winning championships 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2002. In his time at Alamo Heights (1989-2005), he also had 16 boy’s and girl’s individual and doubles teams finish as state runners-up.
He continued his career at Granbury Independent School District (2006-2013) where 28 of his players have qualified for the Texas Regional Meet and two for the Texas State Meet. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 his team qualified for the regional meet.
Receiving several coaching honors, his biggest honor came in 1997 when he was named the National Coach of the Year by the National Federation of High School Coaches. In that same year he was also given the Texas 4A Tennis Coach of the Year award presented by the Texas Tennis Coaches Association. He has twice been named the regional coach of the year by the National Federation of High School Coaches in 2001 and 2002 and was also the 2008 District 8-4A coach of the year.
Family Tennis Tradition
Growing up with a tennis tradition, the Bramlett family was elected the Texas Tennis Family of the Year in 1981. Bramlett went on to play collegiate tennis at Texas Tech and Texas State University (formerly Southwest Texas State). He helped Texas State to the 1982 NAIA Team National Championship while also winning the NAIA double national championship. He started his career at Texas Tech playing there two years as the #1 singles/#1 doubles player before transferring to Texas State.
After his collegiate play he become a certified USPTA professional in 1983 and had a world ranking in doubles by 1984. In 1988, he was ranked as the top player in Texas in the men’s 25 and over singles and doubles. In 1993 he finished as ranked #2 in the Texas men’s open division. He held the #1 ranking in 1990 in the men's 30 and over doubles and reached the #1 ranking, again, in 1995 for the Texas men’s 35 and over doubles. In 2001, he continued his tennis dominance staying ranked as the top player in the Texas men’s 40 and over doubles.
He has been married for 30 years to his wife, Lori, and they have a son, James (graduate of Univ. of Texas), and a daughter, Kate, who is in PT school at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth. Kate also earned CoSIDA Academic All-American, the NCAA post graduate scholarship, ITA West Most Improved Senior award, and several other awards graduating in three years under her father. He has earned a bachelor of science in Education and a Master of business administration from Texas State University.
OVERALL RECORD FOR JEFF BRAMLETT (Women's Tennis)
| Year |
Overall |
ASC East |
ASC Tournament |
NCAA Tournament |
| 2014 |
4-11 |
3-7 |
NA |
NA |
| 2015 |
4-9 |
3-1 (E) - 2nd |
0-1 ! |
NA |
| 2016 |
14-5 |
3-1 (E) - 2nd |
2-1 ^ |
NA |
| 2017 |
19-5 |
3-1 (E) - 2nd |
3-0 # |
1-1 |
| 2018 |
6-10 |
4-1(E) - 2nd |
1-1 |
NA |
| Total |
47-40 |
14-11 |
6-3 |
1-1 |
(E) - ASC went back to divisions in 2015 - East Division
! - program's first-ever appearance in ASC Tournament
^ - ASC Tournament runners-up
# - ASC Tournament Champions
2015-16, 2016-17 Awards under Bramlett
ITA/NCAA Division III All-American
CoSIDA All-American
CoSIDA Academic All-District
ITA West Region Most Improved Senior Award
NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
All-ASC
- 2018: Jabree McClaine, Elisa Kendall, Kaleigh Smith, Mulika Seekhieo
- 2017: Kate Bramlett, Tiffany Stankiewicz, Mullika Seekhieo, Elisa Kendall, Kaleigh Smith, Kellie Cawthon
All-ASC East
- 2018: Jabree McClaine, Elisa Kendall, Mulika Seekhieo, Kaleigh Smith
- 2017: Kate Bramlett, Elisa Kendall, Kaleigh Smith, Mullika Seekhieo, Tiffany Stankiewicz, Kellie Cawthon
ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete
- 2017: Kate Bramlett
- 2016: Kayla Casey
ASC East Coach of the Year
ASC East Freshman of the Year
ASC East Most Valuable Player
- 2017: Kate Bramlett
- 2016: Kayla Casey
ASC East Newcomer of the Year
ASC East Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year
ASC Weekly Awards
- 2017
- Tiffany Stankiewicz - Feb. 7, Mar. 29
- Kate Bramlett - Feb. 14, Apr. 4
- Kaleigh Smith - Mar. 7, Apr. 26
- Elisa Kendall - Feb. 21
ITA Scholar-Athletes
- 2017: Kate Bramlett, Kellie Cawthon, Elisa Kendall, Jabree McClain, Ashley Schenck, Mullika Seekhieo
- 2016: Kate Bramlett, Kayla Casey, Kellie Cawthon, Liz Morton, Shavonne Nuall, Sierra Pizarro, Alex Rubio, Mullika Seekio, Tori Turner
ASC All-Academic
- 2017: Kate Bramlett, Kellie Cawthon, Jabree McClaine, Mullika Seekhieo, Tiffany Stankiewicz
- 2016: Kate Bramlett, Jabree McClaine, Liz Morton, Shavonne Nuall, Sierra Pizzaro, Tori Turner
