Limestone University Men's Tennis

Ferguson enters the 2016-17 season as his fourth season at the helm of the Limestone College mens and womens tennis program after three very successful seasons thus far.   For the womens program they have seen back-to-back-to-back winning season which included the 2015 Conference Carolinas Championship; the first in the history of the program. The Saints completed a perfect 11-0 season that saw a program-record five named All-Conference and Alexandra Boulbin was named the programs first Conference Player of the Year. 13 have been named All-Conference in total over Fergusons first three seasons.   He also helped the womens team make history when they defeated perennial conference champion Erskine College which snapped the Flying Fleets 63-match win streak against conference foes. The victory was also the programs first ever over the Fleet.   For the men, they also posted back-to-back winning seasons under Ferguson which saw him guide the team to a runner-up in both conference regular season and tournament in 2015. 11 Saints have been named All-Conference over the last three seasons which included a program-record five tabbed with the honor in the 2015 season. Tom Wagemans (2015) and Guillermo Ortega (2016) were also named Conference Freshman of the Year. A 26-year collegiate coaching veteran, Alan Ferguson brings a wealth of coaching expertise to the Saints, including 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, six of which came at the Division I level.   Ferguson joined Limestone following nine highly successful years as an assistant coach at nearby Division I Furman University. In that role from 2005-13, he was instrumental in the programs rise to prominence with three Southern Conference Regular Season and Tournament titles in 2006, 2008 and 2009. The Paladins also made NCAA Tournament appearances in each of those seasons. In 2007 they finished third in the league after knocking off No. 33 Kentucky and No. 45 Georgia Tech within a two-week time frame.   Prior to his time in Greenville, S.C. he served as an assistant coach at Division I Arkansas. Joining that program in 1999, Ferguson not only helped the Lady Razorbacks run a string of NCAA Tournament berths to six over his first three seasons, he played a key role in developing the first All-Americans in program history. In 1999 he helped Chin Bee Khoo and Maria Pavlidou become the first Arkansas womens tennis players to accomplish that feat. That same season he was named Southwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year.   A native of North Little Rock, Ark., Ferguson cut his teeth in the coaching profession in nearby Spartanburg, S.C. at, then Division II USC-Spartanburg. He was the head coach of both the mens and womens program from 1989-97, taking them to new heights almost immediately. Inheriting an 11-9 mens club he quickly built to an 18-4 mark just two years later before going 19-4 in 1992 and leading the Rifles to NCAA Division II Nationals.   As a result of that tremendous turnaround and the first ever postseason berth in program history, Ferguson was named Division II South Region Coach of the Year. That same year he took over the womens team and led them to a perfect 12-0 record to finish No. 10 in the nation and earn Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year honors.   On the mens side he would go on to lead the program to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 1995 (16-7) and 1996 (16-6) before finishing with a 117-55 overall record in 1997. The 1996 season would be the teams second trip to nationals and mark the sixth in a seven season span that the team ended the season nationally ranked.   That stretch included No. 23 in 1990, No. 11 in 1991, No. 5 in 1992, No. 10 in 1993 and No. 12 in both 1995 and 1996. He also guided the team to five NCAA Tournament victories in those three appearances. On the womens side he posted a career 40-47 record with the undefeated season in 1992 and the first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in 1995. Ferguson is married to the former Stephanie Dacus of Greenville, S.C.