{"id":14374,"date":"2026-05-06T10:02:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/couch-harry-jaduns-departure-could-end-brief-but-brilliant-run-for-msu-mens-tennis-lansing-state-journal\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:02:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T10:02:39","slug":"couch-harry-jaduns-departure-could-end-brief-but-brilliant-run-for-msu-mens-tennis-lansing-state-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/couch-harry-jaduns-departure-could-end-brief-but-brilliant-run-for-msu-mens-tennis-lansing-state-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"Couch: Harry Jadun&#039;s departure could end brief but brilliant run for MSU men&#039;s tennis &#8211; Lansing State Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Three days after the end of the greatest Michigan State men\u2019s tennis season in modern times, the coach who orchestrated the program\u2019s rise is leaving, and the <a target=_blank href=https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/college-sports\/big-ten\/michigan data-autotag=8a226916-6479-43ff-8121-cef908f99ca0>Spartans<\/a>\u2019 top player eligible to return next season is in the transfer portal.<br \/>Harry Jadun, who grew up in East Lansing, played at MSU, was an assistant coach and then took over the program in 2022 with big dreams, is walking away after four seasons.<br \/>An MSU athletic department release said that Jadun had stepped down to pursue career opportunities outside of collegiate coaching. Jadun did not immediately return messages Tuesday.<br \/>In the same release, MSU announced that Jadun\u2019s assistant, Mike Flowers, would take over as the program\u2019s head coach.<br \/>Ahead of the announcements, MSU standout Matthew Forbes, a mammoth recruit who played No. 1 and 2 singles for the Spartans as a sophomore this past season, entered the transfer portal, a spokesperson confirmed. Forbes won the USTA Boys 18s national title and played in the U.S. Open main draw before ever playing for the Spartans. His win at No. 2 singles 10 days ago clinched a dramatic Big Ten tournament championship for MSU. The two Big Ten titles this season were the Spartans\u2019 first since 1967.<br \/>Jadun and Forbes both exit amid challenging times for college tennis \u2014 which has seen four Division I programs cut in the past two weeks \u2014 and for MSU men\u2019s tennis, despite three straight NCAA tournament appearances.<br \/>The top of the roster \u2014 including Forbes \u2014 was recruited and retained with the help of an NIL partnership with Charitable Gift America and its MSU collective, This is Sparta!. Those contracts, which were signed before the House settlement and revenue sharing went into effect last July 1, were expiring. MSU Athletics decided not to continue its relationship with Charitable Gift America \u2014 or any collective \u2014 in the revenue sharing era.<br \/>\u201cIt&#8217;s been huge,\u201d <a href=https:\/\/www.lansingstatejournal.com\/story\/sports\/columnists\/graham-couch\/2024\/08\/13\/matthew-forbes-is-u-s-open-bound-before-joining-surging-michigan-state-tennis\/74774610007\/>Jadun said in 2024 of the partnership with Charitable Gift America, after landing Forbes<\/a>. \u201cObviously, it&#8217;s part of the landscape. To be competitive, you\u2019ve got to be competitive in the NIL-sphere. So that&#8217;s really helped us. Is it the biggest factor? I don&#8217;t know. It&#8217;s a piece of the puzzle.\u201d<br \/>MSU is the only university to end its NIL alliance with Charitable Gift America, per CGA Board President Tom Deiters, who said 22 other schools still have athletes being paid through the organization.<br \/>It\u2019s unclear whether Jadun thought he could sustain and grow the program without the same NIL resources and at a time when college tennis budgets are being reevaluated and the heavy reliance on foreign players is being questioned.<br \/>\u201cI think in this landscape, college tennis has to find a niche and find a purpose for staying on campuses,\u201d <a href=https:\/\/www.lansingstatejournal.com\/story\/sports\/columnists\/graham-couch\/2026\/04\/30\/msu-mens-tennis-seizes-its-moment-with-ncaa-tournament-dreams-ahead\/89853832007\/>Jadun said just before last week\u2019s NCAA tournament<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think, hopefully, the community that we&#8217;ve built here, and the support that we have across the athletic department and the community gives us some staying power.<br \/>\u201cI think it\u2019s very sustainable (at MSU) in the sense of, like everybody&#8217;s competing on the same playing field, you would hope, honoring the new House settlement and the (NIL) clearinghouse and all that stuff,\u201d Jadun said. \u201cBut, at the end of the day, our name now carries a little bit more weight, with a couple Big Ten championships (this season) behind us.\u201d<br \/>In a statement released by the university Tuesday, Jadun said he was \u201cdeeply grateful\u201d to MSU and the Spartan Community.<br \/>\u201cThis University and the Spartan Tennis program has given myself and my family so much since my time growing up in East Lansing,\u201d Jadun said. \u201cAs an alum, student-athlete and coach, I have learned so many valuable lessons and developed relationships here at Michigan State that I will continue to cherish for the rest of my life.\u00a0This was not an easy decision, as this program means the world to me, but I am so excited for the future of Spartan Tennis and proud of what we have built together.\u201d<br \/>Flowers, who had a standout career playing at MSU from 2004-2007, was instrumental in bringing in Forbes, who he\u2019ll now have to replace, along with fellow stars Ozan Baris and Aristotelis Thanos, who are out of eligibility and expected to turn pro.<br \/>\u201cBeing named head coach for Michigan State men\u2019s tennis is an unbelievable opportunity,\u201d Flowers said in a statement. \u201cSpartan tennis has been a foundational part of my life, both personally and professionally, dating back to my days as a student-athlete. I look forward to providing that same opportunity to current and future Spartans.<br \/>MSU athletic director J Batt said in a statement that he was excited to elevate Flowers and appreciated what Jadun had done for the program.<br \/>\u201cWhile he\u2019s made the decision to step away from collegiate coaching to pursue a new career path and focus on his family, he\u2019s clearly a Spartan for life. We respect his decision and wish him well in his new journey.\u201d<br \/><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/%E2%88%9A=https:\/\/www.lansingstatejournal.com\/story\/sports\/columnists\/graham-couch\/2026\/03\/12\/michigan-state-prepares-to-launch-spartan-ventures-what-to-expect-msu-football-basketball\/89091662007\/\">Couch: A look at what&#8217;s in store for MSU Athletics as Spartan Ventures gets set to launch<\/a><br \/><em>Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMi9AFBVV95cUxPcGV5UUNzYTR3TWFBRnZ4VEk2REFHaVdVUXl2QWlQYm9Tc094SEVEbEkyZmU1OUJKLVFpLTFDc1U0akQyZ1J5OXM5NmFQWTJ3cXE3UWdMakFwUmlQakhtUlE4dlRRTzJZYlk5cHB4SlltUzh6T0dKMkJrWlJDYUU3Sk5ORy1TWnFLb0s2d3IydGlCT05uV3VZYXFvdFhlaDBYTklSbWpnbEtyTlRBUXNiQnRNYzdBd2dTdld6WlpaSGFlMWdEQmJPSmdWNUxNVFI4OEJFNllaS1BzblE3U0w3Y3pyX29SeHZJajV4OHJGWktiOXJx?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three days after the end of the greatest Michigan State men\u2019s tennis season in modern times, the coach who orchestrated the program\u2019s rise is leaving, and the Spartans\u2019 top player eligible to return next season is in the transfer portal.Harry Jadun, who grew up in East Lansing, played at MSU, was an assistant coach and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}