After building successful programs at both Sam Houston and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Scott Shankles was named Lamar University head men’s tennis coach on June 30, 2010. During his 11 seasons in the Golden Triangle, Shankles has transformed LU from a conference also-ran into a program that has seen its greatest run of success in program history which consisted of three-straight NCAA tournament appearances. He has also brought three conference regular season titles to Beaumont (two Southland crowns and one WAC).
In addition to his many coaching accolades on the court, Shankles successfully guided the Cardinals in their one-year transition to the Western Athletic Conference in 2021-22. In their lone season in the WAC, the Cardinals posted a 17-win campaign that saw them cruise to a perfect 6-0 record in league play and win the regular-season title and earn the top overall seed in the conference tournament.
Along the way, Shankles was named WAC Coach of the Year and had 10 players named All-WAC singles or doubles, including four first-team selections to go along with the conference player and freshman of the year.
The 2022 season, which saw LU record two win streaks of at least seven matches, brought back many similarities to the Cardinals run of success in the Southland from 2016-18. The 2017 season marked the second-straight year that LU won 17 matches during the regular season, posting a 4-1 conference mark to earn a share of the regular-season title. Big Red proved itself as the league’s top team by dominating league co-champion, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, in the championship match, 4-1.
The Cardinals landed 10 names on the All-SLC squad that year, which included six first-team selections. The Red and White also placed four names on the Academic All-Southland squad, including three first-team selections, and Michael Feucht repeated as the Southland’s Student-Athlete of the Year.
From 2016-17, the Cards won 34 matches, two Southland tournament titles and made two NCAA Championship appearances. During that two-year stretch, the Cardinals dominated the All-Southland Conference teams. Big Red had 21 all-conference selections – including 14 first-team honors – a player of the year selection and a coach of the year honor. In addition to their success on the court, the Cardinals had seven players named to the Academic All-Southland squad – including six first-team selections – and former standout Michael Feucht ended his career by winning the Southland’s Student-Athlete of the Year award in each of his final three seasons.
The success of 2017 came on the heels of a historic 2016 campaign. In just his sixth season with the program, Shankles put the men’s program back on the map. After a midseason upset of No. 47 Iowa, the Cardinals jumped into the national rankings, but that wasn’t the highpoint of 2016. The Cardinals followed that up with a late-season win over No. 28 Rice to climb as high as 54th nationally. Big Red closed out the 2016 regular season with a shutout win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to wrap up an undefeated Southland Conference season and lock up the top seed in the league championship tournament. It was the first time in 40 years that LU had brought a Southland regular-season title to Beaumont. Just a week later, the Cardinals added another chapter to the 2016 campaign winning the conference tournament and receiving the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
Following the season, Shankles’ team was recognized for its hard work on the court. All six of the team’s regular starters were recognized on the All-SLC squad, including four first-team selections in singles and doubles, to go along with the 2016 Southland Player of the Year, Michael Feucht. The Augsburg, Germany native, became the first Cardinal since 2008 to bring home the league’s top individual honor. For his efforts, Shankles was named the 2016 SLC Coach of the Year, becoming the first LU men’s coach to receive the award since Ron Wesbrooks in 1982.
The Cardinals dominated the league’s weekly individual honors throughout the 2016 campaign as well. LU received six player of the week awards during the year as Feucht, Nikita Lis and Benny Schweizer were each recognized.
The 2016 campaign also marked the second consecutive year that LU had a doubles team land in the national rankings. The duo of Feucht and Lis garnered national attention during the fall, but it was Feucht who teamed up with Schweizer during the spring to earn a spot in the polls after defeating the top-10 duo from Oklahoma State. The team of Feucht and Schweizer climbed as high as 41st nationally.
It was assumed there would not be an encore in 2018. The Cardinals graduated four seniors – all were multiple All-SLC selections, including a former league player of the year – and they were replaced by four freshmen. The Red and White entered the 2018 campaign as one of the youngest teams in America, but by season’s end all that changed. Shankles turned inexperienced youth into a cohesive group that rolled through the SLC tournament knocking off the top-two seeds to return to the NCAA Championships for a third consecutive season.
The Cardinals’ run from 2016 to 2018 was one of the best three-year periods in school history winning back-to-back Southland Conference regular-season titles, something not done since the 1975 and 1976 seasons, and advancing to three consecutive NCAA Championship tournaments.
The rise of the LU tennis program has not been a flash in the pan, but a steady growth since Shankles’ arrival. The 2018 season marked the Cards’ fifth consecutive trip to the Southland Championships. In 2015, the Cardinals equaled their win total from the previous season and improved the team’s overall win percentage (14-11/.560). The Cardinals advanced to the conference championship match but fell just short of the league’s automatic bid to the NCAAs. Although LU fell short as a team, the top-ranked doubles tandem of Lis and Feucht received an at-large bid to the NCAA Doubles Championships where they battled the nation’s top-ranked team from Georgia down to the wire. Feucht and Lis ended the 2015 regular season ranked 53rd nationally and seventh in the Texas region. The duo opened the 2015 fall season ranked among the nation’s top 25 (22nd) and received an invitation to compete in the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships.
Following the 2015 campaign, the Cardinals received eight spots on the All-Southland Conference teams, highlighted by Schweizer’s SLC Freshman of the Year honor. Among LU’s eight selections, four of them were first-team honors, including one doubles team. In addition to the all-conference honors, Schweizer was named the conference champion at No. 4 singles, while the duo of Lis and Jeandre Hoogenboezem were conference champions at No. 1 doubles. The team of Juuso Laitinen and Mikko Rajamaki garnered similar recognition at the No. 3 spot.
The 2014 season saw LU post a 14-13 overall record, which was the most wins for the program since 1987. LU ultimately finished as the runner-up in the Southland tournament, which was the best showing since 1995.
During his 12 seasons on campus, Shankles has produced 56 all-conference selections (46 All-Southland Conference players), including 34 first-team selections. Those numbers include 12 all-conference doubles teams, seven of which have received first-team honors. A two-time conference coach of the year (once in the Southland), Shankles has also produced three conference players of the year (two in the Southland) and two freshmen of the year (one Southland).
Shankles has also coached the Cardinals to 122 wins in his 12 seasons on campus. Shankles recorded his 100th win during the COVID shortened 2020 campaign. The milestone win came during the second match of a doubleheader against Alcorn State. The Cardinals cruised to a 6-0 decision to earn the victory.
Off the court, Shankles’ squads have also developed an outstanding reputation, becoming the first LU team to earn the ITA’s All-Academic designation in 2011 and then repeating the feat in 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2022. Seven different players were named ITA Scholar-Athletes last season.
The Houston native began his coaching career at UC Colorado Springs in 1999, first serving as an assistant for both the men’s and women’s teams before taking over the men’s program in 2000. His first season in charge was one to remember as he earned the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after running up an 11-8 record and taking the Mountain Lions to the NCAA Regional.
Following another year in Colorado Springs, Shankles returned to southeast Texas, serving as an assistant under current women’s coach David Wong in the fall of 2001.
Shankles made his Division I head coaching debut with Sam Houston State’s women’s team, guiding the Bearkats to an improved conference finish in each of his four seasons. Shankles left with 23 victories over his final two campaigns in Huntsville, a two-year total that was unmatched in the school’s Division I history. With 12 victories in 2006, he tied SHSU’s all-time mark for wins in a season.
Shankles also spent one season as a women’s tennis volunteer assistant at North Texas in 2009, helping the Mean Green to a 17-9 record.
A former standout for the University of Arkansas, Shankles was also an accomplished collegiate player. He led the Razorbacks in doubles victories in both 1991 and 1992, and his 15 wins in 1992 were the most by a Razorback since 1985. Over his three-year stint in Fayetteville, he helped the program to 40 wins.
Shankles is married to the former Kristie Henderson and has three children, Abby, Simon and Mae.
