WINFIELD, KS - After 24 years of coaching tennis at Southwestern College, John Paulin has decided to retire.

Paulin began coaching women's tennis at Southwestern in 1975.  He coached until 1990, then returned to coach the men and the women from 2000 until this past season.  Under his tutelage the SC women won nine Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) championships and finished second five times.   Paulin earned coach of the year honors ten times including 2009.  He was the Kansas Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Coach of the Year in 1978. 

Three of Paulin's teams (1981, 1983, 2007) qualified for the women's tennis national championships.  Paulin was the first NAIA District 10 women's tennis chair and held that position for ten years.  In 2006, Paulin was inducted into the Southwestern College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Despite all of his success on the court, Paulin has always preached academics before athletics at SC. 

"We really encouraged the kids to get their grades and vocational goals first, tennis was second," Paulin says.  "We had quite a few academic all-conference performers.  While recruiting, that is what I would tell their folks, school first, and then we would take what was left over."

Athletic Director Mike Kirkland has appreciated what Paulin has done at Southwestern.

"John's programs have always epitomized what we call now the champions of character," Kirkland says.  "Our tennis programs have always been strong in academics, campus involvement, and on court success.  We have been very fortunate to have someone that shows such loyalty to a sport for that duration of time and we appreciate all the success and effort that John has brought the college.  The mentoring he has given to so many student athletes for 24 years has been tremendous."

In 2007 Paulin received the NAIA Region IV Coach of Character award.  Region IV includes coaches from all sports in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska.

"That was a very high honor for John," Kirkland says.

Paulin is quick to give credit for the success his teams have had.

"Ken Kraus has been a tremendous help to me and our program," Paulin says.  "He was a student coach and has continued on with me.  We have worked together for at least 15 years."

When asked how he prepared his teams, especially at the national championships, Paulin simply says that he just gets his team to the courts and lets them play.

Paulin's career has been more than just tennis.  He has been a United Methodist minister since 1962 and was chaplain at Southwestern from 1974 until 1990.  He has served on numerous committees while in Winfield and at Southwestern.  He has been very proud to be a part of the "Elijah" for 22 years.  He chaired the most recent "Elijah" that performed to a standing room only crowd in March.  In 1984, an idea by Paulin led the group to Israel.

"We were in Israel in 1981 and I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn't it be great to bring the oratorio here?'" Paulin says.  "So he presented the idea to the oratorio board and they accepted it.  That was quite an undertaking."

Paulin's future plans include spending time with family, doing more church work, and mowing grass at Quail Ridge golf course where he has worked for six years. 

"I really enjoy mowing at the golf course and working for Kevin (Kamphaus)," Paulin says.

Paulin and his wife, Charmaine, have two children who have both graduated from Southwestern, Shawna in 1984 and Kristina in 1986. 

Southwestern College is a private institution granting undergraduate and graduate degrees and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.  More than 1,900 students attend classes at the main Winfield campus, at five professional studies sites in Kansas and Oklahoma, or online around the world.