Bio

An experienced head coach with a proven track record of success, Mark Klysner has spent close to 20 years in charge of a collegiate program, including the last 15 years as head coach on the Division I stage.  

Klysner will bring this wealth of experience to Cookeville after being named the 18^th head coach Tennessee Tech men’s tennis history prior to the 2025-26 season. 

Klysner enters his TTU tenure on the heels of a 12-year run as the head coach at Illinois State where he became the program’s all-time winningest coach with 119 victories throughout his duration in Normal, which also included guiding the Redbirds through a seamless transition into the Summit League before the 2018 spring season.

After winning a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament match in each of ISU’s final four years in the conference, Klysner led the Redbirds to three consecutive winning campaigns in the club’s first three years in the Summit League. 

Klysner coached two Summit League Players of the Year behind banner seasons from Igor Kolaric in 2018 and Nam Pham in 2022. The 2024 Illinois State squad captured 14 victories, the most in a single season under Klysner’s direction.

His squads also competed in the classroom, capturing the highest team GPA award in all but two semesters during his ISU tenure.

Prior to his dozen-year tenure in Normal, Klysner spent three seasons from 2010-13 as the head men’s coach at Youngstown State, where he also served as the head women’s coach during his final two years there. Both Penguin programs soared to new heights in the spring of 2013 in Klysner’s last year in charge. The women’s team picked up 15 victories for the most since the 1999 season, while the YSU men’s 13 nods were the most in a single season since 1991. The Penguin women also secured a spot in the Horizon League Tournament championship match in 2013 for just the second time in school history.

Klysner has also had Division I stops as an assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs at Fairleigh Dickinson from 2009-10 and Austin Peay from 2008-09. During his one year at FDU, the Knights’ women’s squad won the Northeast Conference regular-season title, while the men’s program finished second in the league.

Klysner’s first head-coaching role took place at Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash., where he guided both the men’s and women’s programs from 2005-08. His first collegiate stint was as assistant for both the men’s and women’s teams at South Carolina at Aiken in 1999-2000.

As a former standout student-athlete at South Carolina, Klysner was his team’s No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles player and would earn top-50 nationally rankings in both singles and doubles.

As a professional, Klysner has competed in tournaments all over the world and has claimed tourney titles on the Canadian circuit. Among his professional highlights, Klysner topped former world No. 1, Andy Roddick.

Born in Hillerod, Denmark, he and his family moved to Winnipeg, Canda, where Klysner became a member of the Canadian Junior National Team and won over 30 tournaments throughout Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Klysner is married to his wife Kristen and has three sons, Jordan (24), Hayden (16) and Sullivan (13).