RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University head tennis coach Rob Oertel was recently named to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) All-Time Men’s Tennis team. Oertel will be honored at the WIAC Centennial Banquet to be held on August 4 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis.

Oertel, who is beginning his 12th season as both the men’s and women’s tennis coach at EKU, was a member of the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devil team that won four consecutive conference titles during the mid-1980s.

(NOTE: When Oertel played at UW-Stout, the conference was the Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC), a men’s league. When the WSUC and the women’s conference, the WWIAC, merged in 1997, the league became known as the WIAC)

Oertel was one of many keys to the Blue Devils’ domination of WSUC tennis during the mid-1980s. Oertel captured the WSUC No. 1 singles title in 1985, the No. 3 title in 1984 and the No. 1 doubles championship in 1986.

Oertel was named an NCAA Division III All-American in both singles and doubles in 1986. The Blue Devils won the conference championship in each of Oertel’s four years, and Oertel was the team captain in 1985 and 1986. Oertel was inducted into the UW-Stout Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

Oertel, a native of West Allis, Wis., launched his collegiate coaching career with UW-Stout in 1989. He then moved on to Indiana State and Denver before landing at Eastern Kentucky in 2002.

The last few seasons have been memorable ones for the Colonels as the EKU men qualified for three straight NCAA championships (2010-12) while the women advanced to the NCAAs in 2009 and 2012.

Oertel has coached 37 All-OVC players, five OVC Players of the Year, two OVC Freshmen of the Year and one OVC Sportsmanship Award winner while in charge of the Eastern program. He has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Coach of the Year four times (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011) and the Women’s Coach of the Year once (2012).

More information on the activities and events associated with the WIAC Centennial can be accessed via the WIAC website at www.wiacsports.com.