SPRINGFIELD, Ohio—Wittenberg athletics has announced the hiring of Tyler Johnston as the school's ninth head Men's and Women's Tennis coach. Johnston arrives in Springfield after spending the past two seasons at Wright State University. He served as the volunteer assistant for both the men's and women's programs in 2015-16 season before being elevated to a full-time assistant in 2016-17.
"Tyler is an extremely energetic and passionate coach and is a great fit for our position. He was an accomplished player, was a successful head coach, and comes to us most recently working under a great head coach and respected program at Wright State. I could not be more pleased for our student-athletes to have someone who will provide them not only strong technical coaching, but will also be able to motivate and inspire them to be better students and people," said Director of Athletics Dr. Gary Williams.
Johnston, a Wilmington, Ohio native, brings an impressive resume to the Wittenberg Tennis program. Before becoming the assistant at Wright State, Johnston was the head coach at Vincennes University, a NJCAA member institution. In his lone season, Johnston lead the 2014-15 Trailblazers to an 8-6 overall season record, with one student-athlete finishing second in the nation in singles under his guidance. Johnston also recruited and coached two ITA All-Americans in his tenure at Vincennes.
"I am truly grateful for the opportunity that Dr. Williams and the rest of the Wittenberg community has presented me with. Wittenberg University is a special place where the bar is set high in the classroom and on the court, I am beyond excited to get to work. Wittenberg has all of the resources and facilities to be a real competitor in our sport, and it is truly an honor to lead both programs," said Johnston.
"I would like to personally thank President Frandsen, Dr. Williams, and the rest of the search committee for their time and effort throughout the process."
As a player, Johnston spent his first two years of college in the NJCAA, where he was nationally ranked in the top 20 in the country in both singles and doubles. A 2014 graduate of Ohio Dominican University, Johnston twice captained and played number-one singles and number-one doubles for the highly-touted Division II Panthers. Johnston was also one of the key contributors to Ohio Dominican's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, the 2014 Ohio Dominican University "Male Pride of The Panther" award recipient, and an ITA Academic Award Winner.
The all-time record for singles wins at Wilmington High School, Johnston was twice named the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Player of the Year and selected as the Dayton Area Co-Player of The Year in 2009, while later becoming an inductee into the Wilmington High School Sports Hall of Fame.