Dann Nelson is in his second year as the head men's tennis coach at Southern Illinois, after posting the best record (11-10) and best conference finish (sixth) since Southern's 1999 season. The 2006 Salukis finished the fall 52-13 in singles and 27-8 in doubles.

2005-06 was a banner year for the Salukis during which several players entered the SIU record books. Senior Bojan Ilievski posted nine singles' wins during the fall season to tie for fourth all-time at SIU. Freshman Andrei Bubnov and junior Sergio Sanchez also made the fall singles' win list at six and seven, respectively.

In his first season at SIU, Nelson coached the No. 28 nationally-ranked doubles duo of Sanchez and Felipe Villasenor. The tandum reached the quarterfinals of the ITA fall regional and defeated the No. 6 doubles duo in the country when they beat Arkansas' Rohan Gajjar and Adrains Zguns.

In his second season with the Salukis, Nelson's team improved to 12-8 and finished fifth in the MVC. The season marked the fifth winning season in the last 25 years for the Salukis. Two of those winning records belong to teams coached by Nelson, who posted the Salukis' first back-to-back winning seasons since 1969-1970.

Prior to Nelson's move to SIU, he led Western Illinois' men's tennis team from 2003-2005. In the season prior to Nelson's arrival at Western, the Leathernecks had not won a dual match and had not won a conference dual match in two years.

Nelson quickly turned things around, guiding Western to a second-place regular-season Mid-Continent Conference finish in 2004. His team posted a 5-1 conference record and a 9-4 overall record; Western's best finish in eight years.

From 2001 to 2003, Nelson served as head coach at Westminster College, an NCAA Division III school in Fulton, Mo. In 2003, Westminster posted a 13-2 record to earn a conference title, and Nelson was named Coach of the Year in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The 2002 and 2003 season were very successful for Nelson's team. Westminster earned team titles in both seasons and posted a 19-7 record for the two combined years. Westminster also earned two conference titles and had ten athletes selected to the All-Conference team during that time period. In 2002 the team earned the school's first regional ranking in its history and the doubles team of John Hall and Ryan Carney earned a perfect 13-0 record. Carney was also successful in 2003, posting a 12-0 singles record and earning Student Athlete of the Year honors.

From 1997 to 2001 Nelson served as an assistant teaching professional at the Edmond Racquet Club in Edmond, Okla. As the Assistant Director of

Junior Development, Nelson worked with several nationally-ranked players as well as numerous state champions. Several of Nelson's students went on to play Division I tennis.

Nelson began his coaching career in 1997 as an assistant at NAIA Oklahoma Christian University, his alma mater, where he also earned All-America honors as a player. While playing for Oklahoma Christian, Nelson amassed a 44-5 doubles record spanning the 1995 and 1996 seasons. He also participated in the NAIA Championships in 1995 and 1996. During Nelson's senior season, Oklahoma Christian earned the Sooner Athletic Conference title, the Region V Team title and achieved a No. 4 national ranking. Nelson served as a Volunteer Assistant at Central Oklahoma, an NCAA Division II school, while working on his Master's Degree.

Nelson graduated from Oklahoma Christian in 1997, with a bachelor's degree in social studies. He earned a master's degree in education from Central Oklahoma in 2001.

Nelson and his wife, Casey, have two girls, Khana (3) and Nanaiya (9 months) and reside in Carbondale, Ill.