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2012-13 Media Guide
Saluki Men’s Tennis
NELSON’s Career Numbers
Year
School
Record
Highlights
2001-02 Westminster (Mo.) 6-5
SLIAC Champions
2002-03 Westminster (Mo.) 13-2
SLIAC Champions
2003-04 Western Illinois
9-4
Summit League Semifinals
2004-05 Western Illinois
9-10
T-5th in Summit League
2005-06 Southern Illinois
11-10-1 T-6th in MVC
2006-07 Southern Illinois
12-8
5th in MVC
2007-08 Southern Illinois
11-13 MVC Semifinals
2008-09 Southern Illinois
18-7
NCAA Tournament
MVC Champions
2009-10 Southern Illinois
7-13
MVC Semifinals
2010-11 Southern Illinois
11-8
MVC Semifinals
2011-12 Southern Illinois
9-13
T-3rd in MVC
Record at SIU: 79-72-1
Overall record: 116-93-1 (as head coach)
In his first season at SIU, 2005-06, Nelson coached the No.
28 nationally-ranked doubles duo of Sanchez and Felipe
Villasenor. The tandem reached the quarterfinals of the
ITA fall regional and defeated the No. 6 doubles duo in
the country, Arkansas’ Rohan Gajjar and Adrains Zguns.
Nelson led the team to its first winning season in seven
years, as the Dawgs finished 11-10 in the spring.
His first year was a record-packed season. Senior Bojan
Ilievski posted nine singles’wins during the fall season to tie
for fourth all-time at SIU. Freshman Andrei Bubnov and
junior Sergio Sanchez also made the fall singles’ win list at
six and seven, respectively.The 2006 Salukis finished the fall
52-13 in singles and 27-8 in doubles, compiling the best
team record and conference finish (sixth) since Southern’s
1999 season.
Prior to Nelson’s move to SIU, he led Western Illinois’
men’s tennis team from 2003-2005. In the season prior to
Nelson’s arrival at Western, the Leathernecks had not won
a dual match and had not won a conference dual match in
two years.
Nelson quickly turned things around, guiding WIU to a
second-place regular-season Mid-Continent Conference
finish in 2004. His team posted a 5-1 conference record
and a 9-4 overall record, its best finish in eight years.
From 2001 to 2003, Nelson served as head coach at
Westminster College, an NCAA Division III school in
Fulton, Mo. In 2003, Westminster posted a 13-2 record to
earn a conference title, and Nelson was named Coach of the
Year in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
The 2002 and 2003 seasons were very successful for Nelson’s
teams. Westminster won the SLIAC both years and posted
a 19-7 combined record. Westminster also had ten athletes
selected to the All-Conference teams during that time
period. In 2002, the team earned the school’s first regional
ranking in its history and the doubles team of John Hall and
Ryan Carney finished with a perfect 13-0 record. Carney
posted an undefeated 17-0 singles record in 2003 en route
to being named the SLIAC Athlete of the Year.
From 1997 to 2001, Nelson served as a teching professional
at the Edmond Racquet Club in Edmond, Okla. As the
Associate Director of Junior Development, Nelson worked
with several nationally-ranked players as well as numerous
state champions. Several of Nelson’s students went on to
play Division I tennis.
Nelson began his coaching career in 1997 as an assistant
at NAIA Oklahoma Christian University, his alma mater,
where he also earned All-America honors as a player.While
playing for Oklahoma Christian, Nelson amassed a 44-5
doubles record spanning the 1995 and 1996 seasons. He
also participated in the NAIA Championships in 1995 and
1996. During Nelson’s senior season, Oklahoma Christian
earned the Sooner Athletic Conference title, the Region V
team title and achieved a No. 4 national ranking.
Nelson served as aVolunteer Assistant at Central Oklahoma,
an NCAADivision II school, while working on his Master’s
Degree. Nelson graduated from Oklahoma Christian in
1997, with a bachelor’s degree in social studies. He earned
a master’s degree in education from Central Oklahoma in
2001.
Nelson and his wife, Casey, have two girls, Khana (9) and
Nanaiya (6) and reside in Carbondale, Ill.
Dann Nelson