Video Links:
Induction Speech
Hall of Fame Video
Betsy Kuhle – Western Michigan (women’s tennis):
Betsy Kuhle led the Western Michigan women’s tennis program for 33 years as head coach from 1983-2015 and is the all-time winningest women’s tennis coach in the history of the MAC with 545 career wins.
Kuhle ranks second in the history of the NCAA Division I for wins in women’s tennis and is one of only two MAC women’s tennis coaches with 250-plus wins, next highest career mark is 276. Kuhle is one of only 15 MAC coaches across all sports (male & female) to reach 500 career wins, which ranks 10th all-time for career wins, third among females and is the longest tenured coach ever at Western Michigan.
Kuhle was named MAC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year eight times during her coaching career, won 11 MAC regular season championships, five MAC Tournament championships (tournament began in 1997) and guided Western Michigan to four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Kuhle coached three MAC Players of the Year (award began in 1998), five MAC Newcomer/Freshman of the Year recipients (award began in 1994), and five fellow Western Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame inductees. She coached 68 of Western Michigan’s 73 All-MAC recognitions in school history and 60 Academic All-MAC selections. She also coached four players with 200-plus career wins & four players with over 100-career singles wins.
During her career, Kuhle had 11 undefeated MAC seasons, including a run of four-straight from 2005-2008 (33-0 during that span). Western Michigan finished first or runner-up in the MAC in 24 of 33 seasons, had a 30-year streak of never finishing lower than third in the MAC (1983-2012), had seven seasons with 20-plus wins, including school record 23-win season and finished with a career winning percentage of .649 (545-295).
Kuhle was honored by the United States Tennis Association as a Blue Ribbon Tournament Director - involved with USTA summer events for 25-plus years. She served on the ITA Midwest Regional committee form 1992-95 and 2000-03, and also served on ITA Board of Directors. Kuhle was a 2006 inductee into the Western Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame.
Western Michigan was named ITA All-Academic Team for 20-straight years (1996-2015) (team cumulative GPA of at least 3.20). Since 1996, Broncos had 69 ITA Scholar Athletes (GPA of 3.50 or better).
A 1976 graduate of the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in finance, Kuhle played No. 1 singles for the Illini. She received a master’s degree in business administration from Western Michigan in December of 1987. A native of Decatur, Ill., Kuhle captured the 1994 ITA 35-and-over title and ranked as high as fourth in the Western Tennis Association’s rankings.
