Tim McLane is in his fifth season as head coach for the Northeastern State women's tennis program and his first leading the men's tennis program.
In 2025, the Northeastern State women made another trip to the MIAA postseason, earning wins in four conference matches across the season. Tegan Heaton had a ranked season with 11 victories and three ranked wins as a singles competitor and was an All-MIAA First Team selection. She was additionally named the Central Region's Most Improved Player by the Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation (ITA).
That spring, it was announced by Director of Athletics John Sisemore that McLane would be serve as the head coach of the revived men's tennis program, which marks NSU's first addition to the athletics lineup since 1996. McLane will lead the team after a 24-year absence, beginning play in the 2025-26 season.
In 2024, Northeastern State posted a winning season, finishing at 10-8 overall and earning an undefeated 6-0 mark in Tahlequah, booking another trip to the MIAA Women's Tennis Championship. For a second consecutive postseason, the RiverHawks knocked off Northwest Missouri, defeating the 20th-ranked, third-seeded Bearcats in the quarterfinals. Two players, Sandra Mari Marti and Tegan Heaton, received MIAA Postseason honors. Mari Marti was a Second Team selection in No. 3 singles, while she earned Second Team honors in No. 3 doubles with Tegan Heaton.
The 2023 season was a turn-around year for the RiverHawks and they were one game away from claiming a MIAA Tournament Championship. Northeastern State returned the the national rankings for the first time in three seasons and had a NCAA Tournament caliber team, finishing third in the MIAA standings and four wins against teams to qualified for the National Tournament. The RiverHawks claimed seven MIAA postseason honors and had the athletic departments highest grade point average for the second consecutive season.
After opening the 2022 season with three straight wins, injuries hampered the RiverHawks in McLane's second season, with three starters out of the lineup. Mid-season addition, Emilia Cosatto, was an early highlight for NSU, who earned a singles win over Wyoming in her career debut and was 5-2 in playing the two and three singles spot. McLane would graduate six from his roster with a department-high 3.73 team grade point average.
In his first season at the helm of the RiverHawks NSU finished fifth in the MIAA. He guided the RiverHawks to an 8-9 overall record and 4-5 in the conference. Northeastern State went 6-3 in road matches. Three RiverHawks were named to the All-MIAA Team.
McLane came to Tahlequah in December 2020 from USC Upstate (Spartanburg, S.C.), where he was the head coach for both men's and women's tennis programs for two seasons (2018-20). In a COVID-19 shortened season this past spring, McLane had two student-athletes named to the Big South Conference All-Academic Team. After taking over the tennis programs in July 2018, McLane guided the Spartans to a Big South Conference postseason berth for the men and reached the championship quarterfinals. McLane had two men's student-athletes named All-Big South and one of the league's All-Academic Team. On the women's team, he had one placed on the Big South All-Academic Team, and one student-athlete named All-Big South.
Prior to assuming the head coach position at USC Upstate, McLane was the program's top assistant for two seasons. Four USC Upstate tennis student-athletes received postseason honors from the ASUN during his time as an assistant coach. The tennis program had 15 student-athletes record grade-point averages over 3.0 during the 2017-18 academic year, including seven earning a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Before arriving at USC Upstate in 2017, McLane was an assistant men's tennis coach from 2014-16 at Mercer. While at Mercer, he was responsible for team practices and conditioning, travel scheduling, and serving as tournament director for fall tournaments. Under McLane's direction, he coached 2015 SoCon Freshman of the Year, along with two student-athletes earning Second Team All-SoCon honors in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The Bears were also honored as an ITA All-Academic Team in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
McLane began his coaching career in August 2009 at St. Stephen's Tennis Academy, where he was in charge of scheduling, coordinating, and coaching group and individual practices. McLane was also responsible for facility maintenance.
He graduated in 2009 from Monmouth University, where he played tennis for four years and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a minor in Information Technology. McLane continued his education earning his Master of Business Administration from Mercer in May 2016.
Coaching History
2025-Present: Northeastern State, head men's tennis coach
2021-Present: Northeastern State, head women's tennis coach
2018-20: USC Upstate, head men's and women's tennis coach
2017-18: USC Upstate, assistant men's and women's tennis coach
2014-16: Mercer, assistant men's tennis coach
