The Howard Payne University athletic department announced Tuesday the hiring of veteran coach Mark Hathorn as head coach of the Yellow Jacket women’s and men’s tennis programs.

Mark Hathorn has 17 years of successful head coaching experience at the collegiate level and five as a head coach at the high school level in Texas.

“We are fortunate to have Coach Hathorn leading our tennis program,” said Hunter Sims director of athletics. “His core values and successful experience make him a great fit to lead student-athletes and strive for competitive excellence here at HPU,”

Coach Hathorn spent his past five years coaching at Abilene Wylie High School where he posted 137-7 record and was named the 2021 5A Texas Coach of the Year. While at Wylie, he led two teams to the State Finals and had eight individual state qualifiers from 2018 to 2023.

“I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to lead the tennis program at Howard Payne University,” said Mark Hathorn. HPU tennis has a great tradition that goes way back and I had some great matches and great friendships with a lot of their coaches while coaching at McMurry.”

Coach Hathorn spent most of his coaching career as the head coach at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas where he accumulated over 400 career coaching wins over 17 seasons.

He was named the American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year four times and All-Century Coach at McMurry.

Hathorn added, “I want to thank AD Hunter Sims and President Hines for trusting me to lead this program. I will work the only way I know how to and that is to give it all I have every day and recruit the best student-athletes that will represent Howard Payne tennis with class and strive to glorify God in everything we do.”

Hathorm also has experience as an assistant director of athletics at McMurry serving as a game day administrator and other capacities.

He has been a United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Pro since 1984, a United States Tennis Association (USTA) lifetime member, a Texas Tennis Coaches Association (TTCA) member, and a Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) member.

Hathorn is a 1984 graduate of Abilene Christian University where he was an All-Lone Star Conference level player in singles and doubles.