Michelle "Missy" Jeffrey
Michelle "Missy" Jeffrey was the men’s head tennis coach at Southern Illinois University for the past 5 years. A native of Denton, Texas, Jeffrey has been intensely involved with the sport of tennis for many years. In junior tennis, she was ranked in the Texas top 20 five years in a row, earning a ranking as high as #12 and was ranked in the top 150 in the United States.
Missy was a Saluki tennis standout from 1987-91, is SIU’s all-time fourth winningest singles player for the Salukis. She won 100 of her 156 matches during a four-year career at SIU, ultimately playing at the No. 1 singles position. She has a passion for the sport.
She was not only a player, but has almost 13 years of experience in coaching and teaching the sport since graduating from SIU with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1991. She began her coaching career as an assistant for Saluki women’s tennis coach Judy Auld from 1991-93. Missy has also coached Carbondale Community High School’s boys (1999-00) and girls (1992-93, 98-00) teams.
Missy currently has the highest certification of three professional ratings in the USPTR, which is the largest international tennis teaching organization.
Judy posted a 405-332 record in 30 seasons as Coach of the SIU women's tennis team. She capped off her career last spring by recording her 400th win en route to an 11-12 record in 2004. Among her many remarkable achievements as a coach, she posted six, 20-win seasons, produced 32 league champions in singles and doubles, and contributed 44 all-conference honorees. Under Judy, the Salukis won Gateway Conference Championships in 1983 and 1985. In 1988, she was named the Gateway Coach-of-the-Year after guiding her team to a second place league finish.
