John Blackburn has been named the men’s and women’s tennis coach effective Monday.

Blackburn is coming from Coker College in Hartsville, SC, where he spent four years as their head coach. He led the men’s team to a seventh place finish in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference, the team’s best finish in a decade.

The women’s team finished sixth last year and improved by three positions in the standings in each of the past three years.

Prior to coaching at Coker College, Blackburn coached at Palm Beach Atlantic University from 1999-2001. Both the men and women were ranked in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Top 20 twice in his three-year tenure as head coach. The women’s team qualified for the NAIA national tournament all three years he was there.

A search committee led by Rodger Jehlicka, associate director of athletics and supervisor of tennis, conducted the search for a new coach. The search committee also included Dr. Gail Richard, representing the Intercollegiate Athletics Board, Cindy Tozier, Director of Student Athlete Academic Services, and a student-athlete female tennis player.

Athletic Director Rich McDuffie said that Blackburn was selected due to his experience and success of coaching men’s and women’s teams at two different universities and noted his enthusiasm for the position and his vision for the future.

McDuffie said that expectations for the upcoming season are limited due to the late hiring of Blackburn, however, he feels that Blackburn will improve both teams over time.

“I anticipate he will evaluate current talent on the team and recruit new talent to improve our teams’ competitiveness in the Ohio Valley Conference,” said McDuffie.

Blackburn earned an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma Christian in 1996 and a master’s degree from Oklahoma State in 1999. He was an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at Oklahoma Christian University in 1996 and was the assistant women’s coach at Oklahoma State in 1997-1998.