For years, maybe decades, Mike Filbrun was often unrecognizable. Some tennis coaches like to bark, some like to overcoach, some like to stand at the fence and be seen. Filbrun has been quite the opposite, so much, in fact, he often didn’t stand anywhere near players, fans, bus drivers, or anyone else. Preferring to stand on the opposite side of the tennis complex, Filbrun would quietly observe, arms crossed, just watching play unfold and picking his spots where he would call a player over.
At summer camps, he was often passive to camp counselors and assistant coaches, letting them teach while adding detail as needed. Perhaps interjecting a stroke technique or stance adjustment. But it wasn’t as if Filbrun was just coasting along, collecting checks and sectional titles. Filbrun is one of the best tennis minds in the state of Indiana, and he now won’t be able to hide on the other side of the fence among his peers.
Filbrun is one of six coaches who will be inducted into the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame, solidifying his legendary status among the coaching elite. In all, the IHSTeCA Hall of Fame will have just 149 members with Filbrun’s class that also includes Mike Bostic, Jarrod Epkey, Jack Froman, Marcy Hendricks and Jeff Rodefeld.
“The tennis part, we’ve been strong for so many years,” said Filbrun, casually positioned at his neatly kept desk in his Fairfield math classroom. “We have two years of a really solid class, then are lucky enough to have another class coming up. And it just kept happening. We’ve had so many good players, but on top of that we also had so many good parents.
“So many coaches who talk about how they really enjoy coaching, but they have parents who are pains in the neck. They can’t deal with it. I can say we’ve had almost no parent issues over the years. I’ve had so many supportive parents, and that makes a huge difference. And I have to mention having some awesome assistant coaches over the years. That’s been a big deal. Coaching with my own dad for 26 seasons, one of the great lessons in life was getting to do that with him.”
Filbrun in all has coached 55 seasons of high school tennis - beginning in 1995 with Fairfield boys tennis and then adding Fairfield girls tennis in 1998. With just a stepaway from the girls program last year, Filbrun has amassed all of his high school coaching experience with Fairfield, 792 wins the eye-popping number - 453 with the boys and 339 with the girls.
Filbrun will be inducted this coming February 7th at the Plum Creek Country Club in Carmel, where he’ll probably* give a rare public speech, perhaps just long enough so the committee sees he’s there, and give way to the next speaker. Filbrun’s personal decision to not make himself the story has been one of his hallmarks for 30 years of coaching. He’s been at Fairfield the entire time, and is only the second Fairfield tennis coach elected to the HOF, Al McDowell being the other.
“I can assure you I will not be looking forward to speaking in front of that large group of people,” joked Filbrun, who openly notes his introversion and avoidance of the spotlight are parts of his overall character. “I do have a lot of people that I want to thank, and I will thank them. But I won’t have a super long-winded speech.”
Filbrun has carried on a tennis empire at Fairfield, which the boys and girls tennis programs have won more postseason championships than any other Fairfield program. The boys have won 59 titles among Northeast Corner Conference, sectional and regional crowns, Filbrun responsible for 35 of them, including all of Fairfield’s boys tennis IHSAA state tournament trophies. The girls are the clubhouse leaders at Fairfield in team success, with a whopping 63 conference and state tournament trophies, and Filbrun was around for 51 of them, including every one of the IHSAA state tournaments, which include two semi-state crowns. The next closest, respectfully, are volleyball with 48 and boys basketball with 26.
“When you’ve been around for this long, eventually things accumulate,” offered Filbrun. “The seasons accumulate, the number of wins accumulate. I don’t have some kind of secret recipe of how it’s supposed to be done. I’ve ridden a ton of coat tails. These players don’t become amazing just by playing during the season. They are playing year-round. That speaks to all of the people associated with them. Assist coaches. Club coaches. Parents. Private instructors. All of it. This isn’t a ‘me’ award, this really shows to all of the people as part of my journey.”