Murray State University Athletics
Keasling Decides to Retire After 25 Years of Collegiate Coaching
5/20/2011 11:19:52 AM | Women's Tennis
After 30 years of coaching tennis and basketball at the collegiate and high school levels, Murray State Women's Tennis Coach Connie Keasling will be retiring in December 2011. Keasling coached the Racer women's tennis program for 22 total seasons, making her the coach with the longest active tenure and the fourth longest tenure of coaches at Murray State.
Photo Gallery of Keasling's 25 Years at Murray State
“Coach Keasling is a class act who has had tremendous success here and she will be missed,” said Director of Athletics Allen Ward.
In her 25 years of collegiate coaching, Keasling has produced:
- 16 Top-3 conference finishes
- 12 appearances in conference finals
- 7 conference championships
- 7 coach of the year honors
- 10 years (2001-2010) where every player that graduated participated in an NCAA tournament and earned a championship and graduation ring
- 5 Ohio Valley Conference Championships
- 4 NCAA appearances (more than any other OVC school)
“What an amazing journey I have had the opportunity to travel,” commented Keasling. “I have always wanted to be a coach, but when I started I never knew the special student-athletes I would get to coach, the amazing people I would meet, and the places that I would get to travel.”
The Greenville, Tenn., native will leave the program with a record of 335-218 (.606), the most wins by a MSU women's tennis coach by over 125, and the third-best winning percentage of a coach with more than one year of experience with the Racers.
Keasling has led her teams to five of the school's six Ohio Valley Conference Championships and all four NCAA appearances. Her teams have finished in the top-3 in the league 16 of her 23 seasons (.700) and have complied a 142-55 (.721) record against OVC teams and a 28-14 (.667) record in the tournament.
“Not only did she win championships,” added Ward. “But her players graduated, which epitomizes her time here!”
Keasling's student-athletes have brought many honors and recognitions to the university. In her 23 seasons the Racers have had:
- 4 OVC Players of the Year
- 52 All-OVC Selections
- 2 ITA National Hard Court Doubles Championships
- 42 OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll members
- 28 ITA Scholar-Athlete Awards
- 17 United State Achievement Academy Collegiate All-American Scholar-Athletes
- 5 OVC Medals of Honor
- 5 All-Academic ITA Team Awards
- 3 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports-Scholar Awards
- 1 CoSIDA Academic All-America
- 1 OVC Scholar-Athlete Award
- 1 OVC Team Academic Achievement Award
- 1 Murray State Vernon Holland Memorial Award
- 1 Sports' Writer's Sports Illustrated Award
- 1 Murray State Female Athlete of the Year
- Two-straight years of NCAA APR Recognition
Keasling's teams are also known for their sportsmanship on the court, as the teams have earned four OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards (most recently 2010-11) and an ITA National Team Sportsmanship honor (2006-07).
Including her three years at Midway College as the women's tennis coach, Keasling has been a head coach at the collegiate level for 26 seasons. The tenure is believed to be one of the top five among active coaches for 2010-11 in the NCAA Division I ranks.
“There have been so many incredible people that I have met through my coach career,” Keasling said. “I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the memories that I will cherish.”
The Greenville High School Hall of Fame inductee has been a coach of either tennis or basketball since 1980 when she took her first job as a graduate assistant for both women's tennis and women's basketball at Eastern Kentucky. After a season she moved on to Midway College as their head women's tennis and women's basketball coach for three seasons.
While at Midway, both the tennis and basketball teams enjoyed great success. She led the women's basketball team to two AIAW D-III Kentucky Small College Basketball Championships and two Southeast Regional tournament appearances. Her success earned her two KWIC D-III Coach of the Year honors.
She then came to Murray State for the first time and worked as the head coach for women's tennis and the assistant women's basketball coach from 1985-87.
Keasling then moved into the high school ranks for the next five years. During her time away from collegiate coaching, she was the head coach for Bristol (Tenn.) High School from 1987-92. Keasling then returned to the Racers for her final coaching position as the head coach in 1993.
Keasling earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from East Tennessee State in 1980. While at ETSU, she was a four-year letterwinner in tennis and a two-time letterwinner in basketball. She advanced to the NCAA Region II tennis tournament as a collegiate senior.
She then moved on to Eastern Kentucky, where she earned a master's of science in physical education in 1981.
