When Mary Beth Gunn arrived at Southeast Missouri State University in 2016, she took over a program that finished 2-20 overall and had not posted a winning record in nine seasons.

Fast forward to 2024, when Gunn was named head coach of University of the Pacific women’s tennis program after leading Southeast Missouri State to five combined championships over the last four seasons and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2022 and 2023.

“Our goal at Pacific is to compete and win championships, and through this process we identified a coach who has proven she can set and reach those standards,” said Athletics Director Adam Tschuor. “Coach Gunn’s track record speaks for itself. Coach Gunn will not only improve the level of play on the court but will also be a great mentor to our women’s tennis student-athletes.”

Gunn’s success was an historic turnaround at Southeast Missouri. In only her second year in 2017, she posted a 13-8 record, including 5-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference, and continued to transform the program into a championship contender. Gunn coached the Redhawks to their first-ever conference title in 2021 with a program-best 7-0 mark in league play.

“When I arrived, my priority was creating a new culture,” Gunn said. “Winning was not as important to me the first year. I wanted us to do things the right way. I wanted to lay down the groundwork so we were successful in the future. We needed to set a new foundation in order to get to the next level.”

Gunn’s teams went undefeated in the conference three times in the last four seasons. The team had 17 wins in 2023, which tied the most in program history, and the Redhawks won both the regular season and conference tournament title in the same year for the first time.

In total, Gunn guided the Redhawks to regular season titles in 2021, 2023 and 2024, and conference tournament championships in 2022 and 2023. The team is coming off a championship year after tallying a perfect 6-0 record in league play and was undefeated at home.

“I was selling a vision at Southeast Missouri; that was my recruiting pitch. The student-athletes I recruited were taking a chance on me, but I assured them that they’d be part of a family and wouldn’t be by themselves,” Gunn said. “I wanted to be more than just a tennis coach and help guide them in their every day lives. Nearly all the student-athletes that played for me were coming from a different country and were far away from home.”

Gunn said Pacific has several assets that can help the women’s tennis program get back to a championship level. Pacific women’s tennis has not won a championship since the 2000 Big West regular-season title.

“The Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center is a tremendous recruiting tool; student-athletes want to train somewhere that is high level,” Gunn said. “We’ll be able to showcase our facility and our university to student-athletes all over the world at Pacific, and that was a huge draw for me.”

The Tigers are coming off a strong 14-8 season, finished 4-2 in the West Coast Conference and made the conference tournament for the first time since rejoining the league in 2013. Pacific made a postseason appearance in the National Tennis Invitational and finished ranked No. 8 in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northwest Regional rankings.

“This is a great opportunity at Pacific. The West Coast Conference is a high-level league, and the state of California is a big draw for tennis across the country,” Gunn said. “I have high standards and high expectations, and winning will come if we do things the right way on a daily basis.”

Prior to joining the Redhawks, Gunn was head coach at Western Illinois and served stints as the assistant coach at Limestone College (2014-15) and University of Tennessee, Martin (2009-13).

Gunn earned her bachelor's degree in English and history (2008) and master's degree in education (2011) from UT Martin. She was a standout player at UT Martin, earning All-OVC honors with the Skyhawks in 2007.