Bill Riddle enters his eighth season as the men’s and women’s head tennis coach at the University of Tennessee Southern in 2025–26. In 2025, he led the men’s team to their first NAIA National Tournament appearance since 2010.
Riddle is a veteran coach with over 30 years of experience in college, junior, and club tennis. He is recognized as a High-Performance Tennis Specialist by the PTR, USPTA, and USTA. Over the course of his career, he has helped develop and coach numerous local, sectional, national, and international junior players through direct coaching, training blocks, and camp leadership.
He returned to collegiate coaching in 2019 and previously held collegiate coaching positions at Belmont University (men's and women's assistant), Fisk University (men's and women's head coach), and Cumberland University (men's and women's head coach). His college teams have consistently achieved success on and off the court at the national level. Riddle has coached six All-Americans and numerous players who earned national singles and doubles rankings.
Riddle is a two-time USPTA Southern Division College Coach of the Year and a two-time ITA/USTA College Coaches Community Service Award winner. He has also been named TranSouth Conference Coach of the Year and Regional Coach of the Year.
In addition to his coaching accolades, Riddle is well known in the tennis media and promotion world. He co-created and co-hosted the award-winning radio show “Tennis Talk” on WLAC in Nashville and served as an on-air TV commentator for the WTA Tour Dallas Women’s Pro Tournament on FOX Sports South and ESPN. He also created the social media series “Around the Court Around the World,” and helped produce the “Serve It Up” series for Citi Taste of Tennis. His media work with World TeamTennis includes player interviews and promotional content. In 2020, he received the Professional Tennis Registry International Media Excellence Award.
Riddle served for 21 years as Director of Tennis at Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and also oversaw the seasonal tennis program at Temple Hills Country Club. During his tenure, Bluegrass was recognized as a Top 50 Tennis Welcome Center and was awarded both the PTR Tennessee Facility of the Year and the USPTA Tennessee Facility of the Year.
As a globally recognized educator and clinician, Riddle has delivered keynote presentations and conducted coaching workshops at top international events, including the Grand Slam Coaches Conference at the Australian Open, the Wimbledon PTR Conference, the USTA Tennis Teachers Conference at the US Open, the USPTA World Conference, and coaching seminars across Australia, China, Norway, England, and beyond.
His honors include the USPTA Pride of Tennessee Award (2015), USPTA National Lessons for Life Award (2014), and the USTA Tennessee Tennis Professional of the Year (2011). He remains the only three-time USPTA Tennessee Pro of the Year and a two-time PTR Tennessee Pro of the Year.
Riddle has worked with tennis coaches and players in more than a dozen countries and organized tennis camps in Anguilla, St. Martin, and Jamaica for over 20 years. He was part of the production team for the Classic of Champions Legends event in Sweden in 2010 and 2011.
He currently serves on the HEAD/PENN National Advisory Team and is a brand ambassador for Adidas.
Riddle is also deeply committed to philanthropy. For 25 years, he has served as Co-Chairman and Tournament Director of the Music City Tennis Invitational, a premier charity tennis event benefiting Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital Child Development Center. The event has raised more than $2 million and has featured ATP/WTA tour players alongside music industry stars including Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum.
