Andy Krueger is the new coach for the Mankato East girls tennis team this season and, as far as he’s concerned, he’s taking over a new program as well.

Although girls tennis has been around at East since the late 1970s, Krueger says he’s starting from scratch. Beginning with himself and the rest of his new coaching staff, Krueger is hoping to revamp the program all the way down a what he hopes will be a solid, summer feeder program that will benefit both high schools in town.

With only one varsity starter back from last season, it’s hard not to use the term rebuilding when talking about the Cougars. But that’s a term Krueger doesn’t like so he won’t use it.

“I prefer to look at it as more of a change-over season,” Krueger said. “We’re starting from square one and change-over is a familiar tennis term so that’s what I’m using.”

Krueger, 30, is a native of Winona. His Winona High School team won Big Nine Conference championships during his freshman and senior years and he graduated in 1995.

Krueger went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Winona State in 1999 and then spent six years working for Volkswagen in Illinois.

At that point, he decided he wanted to get into teaching so he spent the 2005-’06 school year getting his teaching certificate at the University of Minnesota. He was hired as a teacher at Mankato East last year where he also served as the junior high tennis coach for the East girls program in the fall and as the junior high coach for the Mankato West boys program last spring.

Krueger teaches business and finance classes at East and says his six years with Volkswagen was excellent hands-on business experience. He held a number of different jobs while with the car company, doing everything from taking customer service calls to serving as a consultant and advisor for one Volkswagen’s on-site divisions.

“I certainly think I was better equipped to teach business at 29 than I would have been at 22,” he said. “I learned a lot at Volkswagen and I’ve learned a lot about personal finances the last few years, too. I think that’s good firsthand knowledge I can pass on to my students.”

Krueger, who has been playing tennis year-round since he was in eighth grade, applied for the head coaching position when it was posted last year and was told in mid-May that he had gotten the job. His two assistants for this year are current Minnesota State University players Ryan Fredrickson (JV coach) and Mitch Johnson (junior high coach).

“Ryan and Mitch are both excellent coaches who know how to develop players,” Krueger said. “They know how to impart what they’ve learned. Of the three of us, I may be the weakest link.”

East’s lone returning starter this year is Carey Hoffman. Krueger says the other nine varsity spots are wide open and has already begun challenge matches to see where each of his players falls.

“We open the season Friday at Waseca and I probably won’t know my starting lineup until Thursday night,” he said. “But I think we’ll do better than some people think we will. I’d like us to be above .500 this year; that’s a realistic goal.”