Shawn Hyden was named Western Illinois’ head women’s tennis coach on Aug. 12, 2019.
Hyden comes from Earlham College, where he spent three years as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach.
During his tenure at Earlham, he led the women’s tennis program to back-to-back Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018 – the first postseason berths in program history. Hyden also guided the men’s tennis team to four consecutive appearances in the HCAC Tournament where they finished runners-up for the third straight season. He also led the men's side to a program record 20 victories.
He coached the HCAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Year Vitalii Stadnyk (2017), back-to-back HCAC Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Year Brandon Giordanelli (2018) and Aitor Zerdilas-Herrera (2019). Earlham men’s tennis also earned 12 All-HCAC under Hyden’s direction, while the women’s program received four All-HCAC honors.
Prior to Earlham, Hyden headed the men’s and women’s tennis programs at Arcadia University starting in 2014 and coached six all-conference student-athletes there. In 2016 the Arcadia men’s team broke the single-season record with 11 wins and earned a berth in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Commonwealth Tournament championship match.
Hyden came to Arcadia from Mount Union College, spending three seasons as an assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach for his alma mater. The Purple Raiders finished in the top half of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) each season (2011-14). The women's program went 40-16, and advanced to the OAC semifinals in each of his three seasons and totaled 10 all-conference selections. The men's program ended 38-20 and advanced to the OAC semifinals in 2013 with four all-conference selections.
A United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) certified tennis professional, Hyden graduated from Mount Union in 2006 with a degree in political science. He was a four-year member of the men's tennis team and served as team captain during his senior year. Hyden later earned a master's of applied politics from the University of Akron in 2009.
