Iowa women’s tennis coach Daryl Greenan is not synonymous with iconic coaches, such as Phil Jackson — or even Kirk Ferentz for that matter.

He’s not permitted to stay home during away games and let his assistants do the coaching. He doesn’t have access to a private plane, and recruits don’t exactly fall in his lap.

Instead, he does things the old-fashioned way.

When recruiting, Greenan, who is entering his sixth season, gets in his car, sometimes with his wife and 3-year-old daughter, and makes a trip across the country — in some cases even out of it.

Sometimes recruiting outside the U.S. becomes stressful for the Ontario, Canada, native. But he knows it must be done to uncover hidden talent, such as Canadian Sonja Molnar, last season’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

“We try to recruit international people like Sonja,” he said. “She would have been a blue-chip recruit if she was American.”

Along with Molnar, senior Merel Beelen from Holland and senior Baylor University transfer Zuzana Chmelarova of Czech Republic are players hailing from outside the United States.

In the States, however, recruiting is a far more difficult task — especially in colder climates, where less-than-ideal weather translates to tiny talent pools. Then, Greenan has to travel far from Iowa.

“With tennis in particular, a lot of the top players are from the South and from California,” Greenan said.

Florida, Texas, Georgia, and California are among the states with warmer weather where prestigious tennis schools are located. Taking into account that a lot of students elect to stay in their home state, this makes getting the talent here more difficult.

“The top ones all get picked over in those areas,” Greenan said. “Some of them do well because they’re in that area.”

With so many challenges in the Midwest, his recruiting can be described as sweeping.

Each summer he makes three to four trips to the U.S. National events. He spends time on the clay courts in Memphis and on the hard courts in California.

He also went to the 2009 Midwest Closed in Indianapolis, and he chose to travel to Canada for the Canadian Nationals.

Playing Big Ten is the big draw, Greenan said, and he lets the conference take all the credit.

“There are a lot of players in the Midwest who know the prestige of the Big Ten, and that’s a huge selling point,” he said. “Some of the girls I met while I recruit know the value of the Big Ten and the level [of play].”

But the Big Ten name alone isn’t what sells the program to recruits. Instead, they buy into something different — Greenan.

“He’s more than a coach to us. Were with him all the time, so there’s a lot of trust between us,” junior Jessica Young said. “I think all of the other girls have the same feeling about it. We all trust him a lot, and we look up to him as a coach, and as a role model as well.”

When the season ends in the spring, Greenan’s job is far from over. His summer is filled with numerous tennis camps and recruiting trips.

Iowa assistant coach Mira Radu thinks his coaching and his personality is at the center of it all. Greenan might not have a personal plane, but he sure deserves one.

“I think his coaching ability and his perspective on coaching is really effective, I feel really fortunate to be his assistant coach,” she said. “He puts all his heart and soul into coaching and into his team.”