Bio

Jim Lavender was named the head men's and women's tennis coach in the summer of 2025.

Lavender has amassed over 30 years of coaching experience between the professional, collegiate, and junior levels. He began coaching collegiately in 1995, assisting at Barton, where over five years, the program developed four All-Americans, 20 Academic All-Americans, and won four conference championships.

In 1998, Lavender was recruited by world renown coach, Craig O’Shannessy, to direct a tennis academy in Wodonga, Australia, where he coached a top 100 ranked player in Vanessa Webb.

When he returned to the States in 2000, Lavender opened his first company, Competitive Edge L.L.C. The company ran for 17 years where he led development of players throughout North America.

Lavender served as head coach at Mars Hill in 2008-09, leading the men’s program to their first South Atlantic Conference Championship in program history and a top 40 ranking in the country. Most recently, Lavender served as a volunteer assistant coach at LSU, where his daughter, Elyse, led the team to being ranked as high as 12^th in the country.

Lavender holds certifications as a WTA registered coach, United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Elite Pro, European Professional Tennis Coach Association (RPT) Level 1 Coach, National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Trainer, and American Sports & Fitness Association (ASFA) Golf Functional Specialist.