Kim Gidley is in her 14th season as head coach of the women's tennis team at the Air Force Academy. The first civilian head coach in the 31-year history of the program, Gidley became the winningest coach in the history of the program in 2003 with her 76th victory. She recorded her 100th career victory during the 2005-06 season against South Dakota State. She enters the `11-12 campaign with a 165-187 career record.
Gidley has led the Falcons to consecutive 16-win seasons and the 32 wins are the most in a two-year span since the 1999 and 200 seasons (34). She also led her team to a 12-match winning streak last season, the longest since Air Force moved to Division I status in 1996.
Even though she is a civilian coach, Gidley is familiar with military life. She grew up in a military family as her father, Jim, was a Lt. Col. in the Air Force and retired in 1977 after 22 years of service.
Prior to joining the Academy's staff, Gidley was an assistant coach at the University of Idaho in 1997-98.
Gidley is a 1989 graduate of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where she earned a bachelor's degree in education. At SIUE, Gidley helped the Cougars to the 1989 NCAA Division II national championship while earning All-American honors for the second consecutive year. She was ranked nationally as high as No. 3 in singles and No. 5 in doubles during the year.
The Abilene, Texas, native was also a standout in the classroom. She earned GTE Academic All-American honors and was SIUE's top scholar-athlete. She was also awarded an ITCA academic postgraduate scholarship.
In 2008, Gidley was inducted into SIUE's Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the 1988 and `89 championship teams.
Prior to attending SIUE, Gidley attended Abilene Christian University. She lettered in tennis and won her first All-American honor while leading the Wildcats to an NCAA Division II national runner-up finish. She was ranked No. 5 nationally in singles and No. 6 in doubles. Gidley was also invited to the 1984 Olympic Trials for tennis.
Following graduation, Gidley began her coaching career as the assistant women's coach at West Virginia University . While at WVU, she earned her master's degree in gifted education in 1991.
She then returned to her hometown to coach at her high school alma mater, Abilene High School. She was an assistant from 1990-93 and head coach from 1993-97.
Gidley's coaching experience and success is not limited to the high school and collegiate ranks. She has held several assistant and head professional positions at various country clubs and municipal tennis centers, while coaching some of the best junior players in the country.
Gidley worked with the No. 1 ranked male and female players from Kentucky, Texas and West Virginia. In addition, she has coached over 300 USTA sectionally ranked players and many nationally ranked juniors, including one former player with a world ranking and two former All-Americans.
Additionally, she twice served as a clinician at the Youth through Education and Sports program (Y.E.S.) held at the NCAA Tournament, coached the USTA Intermountain Boys & Girls 16s National Zonal Team from 2001-03 and coached the USTA Intermountain Girls 18s Federation Cup Team from 2002-07. Gidley also served on the NCAA Division I Central Region ranking committee. She currently sits on the Regional Advisory Committee for Division I women's tennis and the ITA Operating Committee.
Gidley belongs to several professional tennis organizations, including the United States Professional Tennis Association. She has been honored twice by the USPTA as the Intermountain College Coach of the Year, most recently in March of 2008. Among her other awards, she received the USTA/ITA National Community Outreach Award for 2009 as well as USAFA's Instructor of the Semester for lifetime sports. Recently, she was named the 2011 Clyde Rogers Award winner for outstanding contributions to the recreational tennis player by the Colorado Tennis Association.
