Pandemic brings Mimnagh-Fleming back to Griz tennis

When Peter Mimnagh-Fleming graduated from the University of Montana in 2017 he retired as a Grizzly legend, tallying 72 career singles wins as the last remaining player from UM's 2014 Big Sky Championship Team.

Since then, he swapped the busy life of a student-athlete for the hustle and bustle of the big city, hanging up his racquet to start a career as a CPA at the multinational accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York City.

Now he's back in Missoula and back on the courts as a volunteer assistant coach with the Montana men's tennis team, and all it took was a global pandemic to get him here.

In the spring of 2020, life was cruising along smoothly for the Irish lad who came to America to pursue competitive tennis and a college degree.

After leaving Missoula, he worked his way into a good job at a world-renowned company with the West Village apartment and social life to match, with his girlfriend – Missoula native Anastacia Stokstad – moving back east with him.

But like it would for millions, if not billions, of people around the globe, the pair's lives got turned upside down on March 15 when the Big Apple started its descent into becoming America's epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic.

"That weekend, on Sunday, we got an email that someone tested positive in the office, so we were told to work from home on Monday," recalled Mimnagh-Fleming.

"Then Monday turned to Tuesday, and Tuesday to Wednesday, and every day there were more positives. So, my girlfriend and I just decided we'd go back to Montana."

With COVID cases relatively low in Big Sky Country compared to America's eastern seaboard at the time, the pair returned to Missoula to live with Stokstad's family and begin their work from home life while they waited for their respective employers to return them to the office.

Seven months later, they're still waiting.

"The plan was to come back for a couple of weeks because no one really knew what was going on. Then that turned into a month, and that turned into two months," said Mimnagh-Fleming.

"Then our apartment leases were both up in the summer, so when we found out we'd be working from home for a while, we made the move permanent. We've been so lucky to come back here to family and friends."

The other thing he's come back to? Grizzly tennis.

"During the summer (head coach Jason) J. Brown and I were hitting most days. Once I found out I'd be staying here through next May or June, he asked me if I wanted to get involved again, and I jumped at it," said Mimnagh-Fleming, who found himself with free afternoons while working an east-coast schedule in the Mountain time zone.

"I'm lucky to have J. Brown and the tennis team here to keep me busy. I missed tennis. I didn't play much in New York, so it's been great to be back and be around college tennis again.

For Brown, the chance to bring back an alum who experienced so much success during his time at UM and knows first-hand what it takes to win a conference championship was a no-brainer.

"As soon as he found out his job was going remote, I immediately asked if he would join us," said Brown.

"That's a huge tenet of our program - a cornerstone of what we're trying to do is making sure everyone is aware of the ties to the past and the people who built the foundation of what's going on now.

"There might not be a better example than Peter. He was the last guy to get a Big Sky championship ring, had a great career here, and he did it all. I couldn't have picked anyone better to come back and help."

In a typical year, the Grizzlies use the fall as a development period, competing in tournaments around the West as individuals preparing for the spring championship duals season. But in this season without fall sports, Montana has stayed local and turned up the heat on intrasquad matches.

Brown says the addition of Mimnagh-Fleming has brought a trustworthy set of eyes to help him evaluate and train Montana's young but talented team that was off to a hot start in the spring of 2020 before the pandemic shut their promising season down.

"It's great to have someone so important to the program still be involved," said Brown.

"Peter was amazing because he won in a lot of different ways, and he figured out, as he moved from playing six as a freshman to one in his last year here, he had to develop some new things to win.

"He was a great competitor and still plays at a high enough level to push the guys on the court and show them there is more than one way to win a match. He knows you won't always play your best, so he brings this great attitude of figuring it out today, and the guys have responded."

For Mimnagh-Fleming, the opportunity represents his first foray into the coaching world, and it's so far, so good for the former All-Big Sky performer.

"It's been great coming out every day to practice and helping out however I can. I'm really enjoying it. It's been good. Different. I never thought I'd see myself as a coach, but the lads are all working really hard, and J. Brown has a good structure and plan in place, so it's easy to follow his lead," says Mimnagh-Fleming.

As a volunteer assistant under Brown, he'll help lead team practices, serve as a hitting partner, and impart the little lessons he gathered about the game over his career, amongst other coaching duties.

But the one thing he says he's guaranteed to do is bring high expectations and a fiery competitiveness that he thinks will lead his former team back to a Big Sky championship.

"I think the goal has to be winning the Big Sky for sure," said Mimnagh-Fleming.

"These guys are really talented, and I think there is a lot of hunger here for success, and we've got some new freshmen that have great attitudes and are ready to play. I know it's been tough with no fall matches, but they've been playing really competitive matches against each other. I'm excited to see what they can do."

University of Montana Athletics

Pandemic brings Mimnagh-Fleming back to Griz tennis

Related News

Players Mentioned

Peter Mimnagh-Fleming

Related Videos