At the beginning of the month East Central University inducted MSU’s Scott Linn, head tennis coach, the school’s hall of fame for his coaching excellence.

ECU, located in Ada, Oklahoma, was Linn’s alma mater. He was a highly decorated student-athlete in his time at the university. Linn was a four-year letter winner and a two-year captain for the Tigers. He graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications.

Linn never planned on being a coach. He went to school and got his degree to be a sports writer.

“I was going to be a sports writer. That was what I had planned on doing initially. Like most freshmen, you go to college, and it was statistically thirty years ago that most people were going to change their major at least once. I was a math computer science, and after I took calc 1, I realized I was not a math anymore and I didn’t want to sit in front of a computer all day. So, sports writing, I double majored in mass comm and physical education, and I was going to be a sports writer,” Linn said.

After graduating in 1995, Linn continued his education and received a master’s in human resource administration while holding a graduate assistant coach position for the tennis team at ECU.

“I had done so well as just being a member of the tennis program at East Central, that coach was like, ‘Hey Scott, do you want to stick around and be a graduate assistant?’ I could get my masters, and maybe I could do something else instead of sports writing,” Linn said. 

He decided to take the position and became the GA. Although being the GA had some perks, it only paid for tuition. Linn still had to find a way to make a living.

“I also had worked at the sports information office, just like sports media, or athletic media, and I worked in that office. Justin Tinder was the communications director at the time, and he took me to football and basketball games. I did statistics and all those good things and, well, that really opened the door for me to become a college coach,” Linn said.

After finishing his master’s, Linn got a job at Enterprise Car Rental. After working there for two months in the summer, Tinder contacted Linn with a job opportunity.

“Justin contacted me and was like, ‘Scott, the vice president at the University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma needs a tennis coach. I used to work with him at Northwestern Oklahoma. He needs a tennis coach, he really needs a dorm directory, but he wants to start men’s and women’s tennis, are you interested?’ I was like, ‘Absolutely! I want to be a tennis coach.’ So I really, most of my pay, almost all of it was dorm directing, I was the dorm director for the oldest active dormitory in the state of Oklahoma, but I also got a chance to be the tennis coach, so that kind of opened the door,” Linn said.

By being the GA at East Central, Linn was able to get into work study with Justin Tinder, and it allowed him to pay for his master’s degree. The work he did in sports information helped him secure his first coaching job.

Although he didn’t have a great first season at his job, Linn took the next season to recruit. He recruited well enough that the next season he went to Nationals in men’s and women’s. By taking those teams to Nationals, it opened up the door to his time spent at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Embry-Riddle was the model program for tennis. Linn took what he learned while coaching there and continues to apply it in his coaching several years later.

“They really had the model athletic program. They really emphasized student-person-player, so student academically, person was community service and what kinds of person do you have on the court, and then obviously player, how hard are you going to develop these athletes,” Linn said. 

Since then Linn has coached at several universities, including Indiana University, before finally settling in Wichita Falls and has been the head coach of the Mustangs for 14 years. 

At Midwestern State University, Linn has taken great pride in the players his team has produced. While winning a National title may be the end goal for most programs, Linn believes in making sure his players and team compete as and are a family. With many international students, Linn and his family take great pride in making sure the players know they are apart of the family, and will always have a place to go no matter the circumstances. 

“We have athletes from all over the world, that was something I missed at Indiana. The level is at a higher level of tennis. I didn’t feel like we bonded the way we have here,” Linn said. 

Linn said he has had many people who have encouraged him through his years as a coach for tennis.

“Hugh Warren at East Central University gave me a shot to be there, I will always be appreciative of that. Kyle Williams here at Midwestern State, a majority of my coaching career has been here. Kyle Williams has been great and the student athletes are amazing and you are only as good as the student athletes,” Linn said.

Linn said he also appreciated athletic trainer Gary Diehm, his wife Amy, son Austin, daughters Sydney and Alexis, assistant athletic director Trey Reed and many other people who have helped and supported him along the way.

“You are only good as the people you surround yourself with,” Linn said.

From all of his years in coaching, learning, and his studies, Linn has learned to put his everything into anything he does. He implements that with his coaching and into his student athletes.

“Whatever you do in life, do it the best you can and give everything. It will open up another door,” Linn said