Oklahoma State Parts Ways with Women’s Tennis Coach Chris Young

On Wednesday, Oklahoma State announced that women’s tennis head coach Chris Young will not return for the upcoming season.

The move comes a week after the NCAA concluded an investigation that resulted in Level-I violations and the program being put on probation.

The case against Young began with concerns of tampering, specifically that Young contacted athletes before they entered the transfer portal. The investigation concluded that Young did this at least three times.

According to an agreement with the NCAA, the violations would have originally resulted in a Level II violation, but Young withheld information from the enforcement staff and directed a student-athlete to also withhold information from the NCAA.

Young took over the women’s program in 2003. He finished with an overall record of 291-120 during his time at OSU. 

He led the program to its first ITA Indoor National Championship during the 2023-24 season. In the outdoor season that followed, the Cowgirls finished 29-1 with their lone loss coming in the Super Regionals.

In 2016, Oklahoma State finished one win short of a national championship, then in 2017 the Cowgirls advanced to the Elite Eight.

The Cowgirls advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2025.

Oklahoma State announced that assistant coach Henner Nehles will serve as the program’s interim coach while a national search takes place.

The press release ends with the following statement: “The national search will focus on finding a head women’s tennis coach who possesses a strong commitment to NCAA compliance and who will earn the trust of our prospective and current student-athletes, their families, OSU alumni and fans.”