Women's Tennis
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- Kim.Gidley@afacademy.af.edu
- Phone:
- 719-333-2489
Longtime Air Force women’s tennis head coach Kim Gidley announced she would be stepping down from her station on May 5, 2023, for personal reasons.
The only coach to serve the women's tennis program since Air Force Athletics helped form the Mountain West Conference in 1998, Gidley's 350 career wins stand as the most in program history. Gidley departs the program with 14-straight season finishes at .500 or above, a streak which currently tops all 27 intercollegiate programs at USAFA. Air Force, under the guidance of Gidley, has earned nine Power Five wins, hosted four nationally ranked players and another four ranked doubles pairings.
Gidley’s teams had three 20-win seasons, which less than 12% of programs accomplish in a year. Entering 2022-23, women’s tennis boasted the longest active win streak of the 27 sports teams at the Air Force Academy, along with 13-consecutive winning seasons.
Gidley capped her Academy career with a 2022-23 season in which her Falcons – initially picked to finish last in preseason polls – knocked off both reigning regular-season and conference tournament champions on the way to the program's first-ever appearance in the title round of the Mountain West Championships. Air Force's 4-3 victory this spring over No. 49 San Diego State (Mar. 26) stands as the women's tennis' second all-time top-50 win.
The 2021-22 season saw the Falcons go 17-8 and set a program record with six Mountain West wins. Air Force also had its best season in the classroom, garnering a program-record six Academic All-Mountain West honors.
In 2020, Gidley notched a big career milestone with a road win at Colorado, where she earned her 300th career win against the in state Pac 12 rival. There have been many team accolades for Gidley, as she has led her team to the first ever National Ranking of any women’s service academy school – breaking in at no. 44; holds the best winning percentage in Air Force Academy 44 year history with (.88), and set a program record for the Division I era for most wins in a singles season with 22 and was the first ever Mountain West Championship by a women’s program at Air Force in 2019 by being named the West Division (Co-Champions). Gidley has also helped individuals garner success on the court with four individual ITA National Rankings; four doubles teams earning ITA National Rankings; no. 1 ranked doubles team in the Mountain Region twice; ITA Mountain Region Doubles Champions, and the winningest player in Air Force Academy Women’s Tennis 48 year history - TJ Fumagalli, earning the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Award, even though her play was cut short by the pandemic.
Although Gidley is a civilian coach, she is familiar with military life. Gidley’s 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 where she was Assistant Women’s Tennis Coach and was working on her PhD in Sports Psychology.
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. In 2008, Gidley was inducted into SIUE’s Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the 1988 and `89 National Championship teams.
The Abilene, Texas, native was also a standout in the classroom where she earned ITCA Academic All- American; the GTE Academic All-American (second team); SIUE’s top scholar-athlete and the SIUE’s Outstanding Student for Illinois AHPERD. Upon graduation, Gidley was also awarded an ITCA academic postgraduate scholarship.
Prior to attending SIUE, Gidley attended Abilene Christian University. She lettered in tennis and won her first All-America 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 a master’s degree in gifted education. Her first collegiate coaching experience resulted in the school’s only 20-win season in history, along with a player inducted into the West Virginia Hall Athletics of Fame.
She then returned to her hometown to coach at her high school alma mater, Abilene High School. She was an assistant from 1990-93 who helped lead the team to a 5A Texas state championship in 1993, and then became the head coach from `93-97.
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 has worked with the No. 1 ranked male and female players from Colorado, Kentucky, Texas, West Virginia, and Colorado. In addition, she has coached over 300 USTA sectionally-ranked players, and many nationally ranked juniors, including two former players with a world ranking and six 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, along with serving on the NCAA Division I Central Region ranking committee and Division I Regional Advisory Committee for women’s tennis and the ITA Operating Committee. While at USAFA, she has hosted numerous events to include: National Junior 14 Zonals, ITA Summer Circuit and other ITA events, as well as being the first leg of the Grand Slam for the Little Mo Internationals.
Active in the community, Gidley was the National Winner of the USTA/ITA Community Outreach Award for all collegiate programs and the Intermountain Tennis Association’s award recipient on three other occasions, along with the USTA Clyde Rogers Award from the Intermountain Section. Gidley belongs to several professional tennis organizations, including the United States Professional Tennis Association. She has been honored twice as the USPTA National College Coach of the Year; five times as the USPTA Intermountain College Coach of the Year; once as the Mountain Region - Wilson/ITA Coach of the Year, the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, and named USAFA’s Instructor of the Semester for lifetime sports twice and Aquatics once. Gidley considers her greatest accomplishments off the court in helping the Academy produce officers who are leaders of character. This is evident, as 17 of her players here at USAFA have earned regional/conference awards for their sportsmanship/leadership, with Hannah Dake winning the National ITA Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship/Leadership Award in 2013.
Kim Gidley Accolades
- 2020 & 2017 USPTA National College Coach of the Year (2x winner in career).
- 2020 USPTA Intermountain College Coach of the Year (5x winner in career).
- 2019 Mountain West Women's Tennis Coach of the Year.
- 2019 Top three finalist in the Nation for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Most Improved Division I Women’s Tennis Program
–2019 Top three finalist for Coach of the Year for the organization – Against All Enemies - from the 84 Men’s and Women’s teams from Air Force, Army, and Navy.
–2019 Top three finalist for Team of the Year for the organization – Against All Enemies - from the 84 Men’s and Women’s teams from Air Force, Army, and Navy.
–2019 Top three finalist for Female Player of the Year for TJ Fumagalli – Against All Enemies - from the 84 Men’s and Women’s teams from Air Force, Army, and Navy.
- 2012 Intercollegiate Tennis Mountain Region College Coach of the Year.
Air Force Team Accolades Under Kim Gidley
Conference Titles - 1 (2018-19) Mountain West Mountain Division Co-Champions
* First-ever MW Championship by a women's program at Air Force
Team Top 50 National Ranking – 1
Individual National Ranking – 4
Doubles National Ranking – 4
Regional No. 1 Ranking - 2
All-Conference Singles - 19
All-Conference Doubles - 16
Academic All-Conference – 55
MW Sportsmanship Award Winners – 3
MW Player of the Year - 1
ITA Scholar-Athletes – 14
The women’s tennis team is traditionally one of the most successful women’s programs at the Academy and has found great success off the court as well. Women’s tennis has had a top 10 percent APR nine years in a row. The lone program to do so.
Kim Gidley Season By Season Record
1999/20-10 (.667)
2000/14-9 (.560)
2001/13-16 (.448)
2002/15-12 (.556)
2003/15-13 (.536)
2004/13-14 (.481)
2005/8-18 (.308)
2006/9-18 (.333)
2007/10-16 (.385)
2008/6-21 (.222)
2009/10-17 (.370)
2010/16-12 (.571)
2011/16-10 (.615)
2012/17-8 (.680)
2013/13-11 (.542)
2014/17-9 (.654)
2015/18-9 (.667)
2016/13-12 (.520)
2017/20-10 (.667)
2018/14-7 (.667)
2019/22-3 (.880)
2020/10-4 (.714)
2021/12-7 (.632)
2022/17-8 (.680)
2023/12-12 (.500)
25 Years/350-292
