EIU Names New Women's Tennis Coach

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois Director of Athletics Tom Michael has announced the hiring of Chris Tolson to lead the Panthers women’s tennis program.  Tolson comes to EIU following six seasons as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix.

Tolson was the first head coach at Arizona Christian building both programs from the ground up and guiding both teams into the NAIA Top 25 rankings at different times in his coaching career.  Last season Tolson led the men’s program to a 19-win season including advancing to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament.

Under his direction the Firestorm teams have won 134 combined matches earning ITA All-Academic Team honors the last four seasons and NAIA Scholar Team honors the last three years.  Since starting program he has produced 27 ITA nationally ranked players and been named the Coach of the Year two times.

The women’s program earned back-to-back GSAC Championships and trips to the NAIA National Tournament in 2015 and 2016.  Their 2015 conference title was the first for any Arizona Christian team as the women’s tennis squad was perfect in Golden State Athletic Conference play.  The 2015 team climbed to number seven in the national rankings with wins over NCAA Division I programs Valparaiso and UC Riverside.  The 2017 team would advance to the NAIA National Tournament losing in the opening round.

The men’s program is coming off of back-to-back conference championships and NAIA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018.

Prior to his time as the head coach at Arizona Christian, Tolson was the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Glendale (Ariz.) Community College from 2006-10, twice earning Coach of the Year honors.  His teams earned berths in the NJCAA National Tournament during each of his five seasons and was ranked as high as fifth in the nation.  His teams also posted the top team grade point average among all Glendale CC athletic teams.

Tolson’s first collegiate coaching job was for one season as the men’s coach at Gateway CC in Arizona in 2005 where he produced the first winning season in school history.  He was an assistant men’s and women’s coach at Maryvale (Ariz.) from 2001-03 where they won three regional championships.

A former collegiate player at Glendale CC, Tolson has 27 years of playing and coaching experience.  He finished seventh in the nation and was the NJCAA Men’s Region 1 Player of the Year.  He went on to play the Professional Challengers and Futures tournaments and finished third in the nation representing USTA Central AZ in USTA Men’s Team Tennis.