Dudas to take over succesful Tiger program

Whenever a head coach hands his team over to a replacement, there are mixed emotions. With the recent naming of Zoltan Dudas to take over for Michel Sebastiani, who is retiring after 25 years at the helm, the men's and women's fencing teams are feeling their excitement for the new leadership overwhelm their regret at seeing their mentor depart.

Hungarian native Dudas, who was an assistant coach at the University of Notre Dame, is eager to begin building his program and will officially take the reins of the Princeton fencing team July 1.

Senior Associate Director of Athletics Michael Cross said the committee choosing the new fencing coach felt that Dudas clearly emerged as the best candidate for the job.

"There was a very strong feeling that he absolutely had the ability to do the job," Cross said.

Looking at Dudas' record as an assistant, it is easy to see why. In terms of fencing, he has an astounding record of producing excellent fencers. One of his students won a bronze medal at the World Championships, and he often assists the U.S. national coaches at international tournaments. He also has a stellar record in his career as a collegiate coach. Over the past five years, Notre Dame has won two national titles and produced 29 All-Americans in the two weapons Dudas specializes in, epee and foil.

Not yet 40 years old, Dudas has been fencing since he was eight and began coaching when he was only 19.

The best fencer at his club, he was asked to serve as coach when the club was suddenly left without any coaches. For most seniors in high school, applying to college is the only challenge they face.

Dudas was responsible for the fencing education of his fellow students, furthering his own fencing career and going to school at the same time.

Dudas was a talented fencer, but the talent pool in Hungary was so deep at the time that he was never able to become a member of the Hungarian national team.

Recognizing this, and embracing his teaching skills, Dudas decided it was too hard to be a fencer and a coach and ended his career as a competitive fencer.

"I'm never sad that I lost anything," Dudas said. "I've gotten so much back from my students that I don't feel like I missed anything."

He went on to college in his native country and became a physical education teacher. Here he proved his ability to motivate a team in any sport to victory, leading the Szechenyi Istvan High School handball team to win the National Handball Championship in 1999.

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After his victory, Dudas was introduced to an American fencing coach seeking a Hungarian coach for his daughter. Dudas took the offer and became an assistant at the man's club in Cleveland, Ohio, and worked with the man's daughter twice a day. The hard work paid off and she won a bronze medal at the World Championships.

Dudas followed his protege to Notre Dame where he became an assistant coach. As a coach at Notre Dame, he learned several lessons that he will bring with him to Princeton. Dudas will also bring a new school of thought to the program, one the team is very excited about.

"I'm excited because I know he's going to make a really strong program because he's coming from a really good school," freshman epee Jasjit Bhinder said.

Senior epee Ben Solomon, a three time All-American, worked with Dudas in his hometown of Cleveland and believes that Dudas will be able to do a lot to improve Princeton's program.

"He's trained in the Hungarian school, which emphasizes technique and tactics," Solomon said. "The Hungarians are always great team fencers and I think [Dudas] will be able to teach that to our kids."

It is that team aspect of fencing that Dudas will need to focus on most next season. He inherits a program that is rich in talented epee and foil fencers, but lacking in saber talent and winning potential as a team.

"In [the collegiate] system, you have to have a balanced team," Dudas said. "It does not matter if you have a decent foil and a very strong epee if you don't have anything in saber."

Dudas is therefore focusing his efforts on finding an ambitious and well-prepared saber coach to lift that element of the program. He also wants the team to put in extremely hard work on both their individual fencing and overall team attitude.

Solomon believes Dudas took the job because he knew that Princeton was a place where he could get in the hunt for a national championship, and with Harvard winning the NCAAs this year, Ivy League fencing is showing its potential to dominate the field.

Dudas is a highly respected coach in the field, and his plans for the Tiger fencers are ambitious but achievable.If all goes according to plan, look for another NCAA championship dominated by the Ivy League.

But this time it won't be the Crimson atop the podium; it will be the proud fencers of the Orange and Black.