Mike Strydom enters his first season as Augustana's head men's and women's tennis coach in 2026-27 after joining the staff in summer 2026.
Strydom comes to Rock Island following six seasons as the head women's tennis coach at Coe College, where he rebuilt the Kohawks into one of the American Rivers Conference's top contenders. During his tenure, Coe compiled an 84-53 overall dual match record and a 37-11 mark in conference play while advancing to the NCAA Tournament during the 2024-25 season. Under Strydom's leadership, the Kohawks produced 18 All-American Rivers Conference selections, four conference Most Valuable Players and one Rookie of the Year while capturing the program's first conference tournament championship since 2018.
Strydom brings more than two decades of coaching and teaching experience spanning the collegiate, high school, club and academy levels. Before taking over the Kohawks, he served as an assistant coach and later head coach at Wartburg College before joining Saddlebrook Preparatory School and the Saddlebrook Tennis Academy in Florida as director of boarding. Prior to his time at Coe, Strydom was a teaching professional at Black Hawk Tennis Club in Waterloo, Iowa.
A native of South Africa, Strydom began his coaching career in 1998 as the teaching professional and director of tennis at Umtentweni Tennis Club. He later served as director of tennis at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in New York before returning to South Africa to coach the boys' and girls' tennis programs at Port Shepstone High School, where he guided the school to a program-record 15 victories in a season.
Strydom holds certifications from the International Tennis Federation, the United States Professional Tennis Association and the Professional Tennis Registry.
