NAME: Mark Tennant
UNIVERSITY: Saskatchewan
CATEGORY: Coach
SPORT: Women’s volleyball
YEARS ACTIVE: 1971-1997
HIGHLIGHTS:
Three-time CIAU national champion
Seven Canada West women’s volleyball titles
Four-time CIAU Women’s Volleyball Coach of the Year
BIOGRAPHY:
Mark Tennant spent a quarter of a century as head coach of women’s volleyball at the University of Saskatchewan, where he guided the team to a historic national championship three-peat.
Saskatchewan struck gold in 1979, 1980 and 1981, becoming the first team in any CIAU sport to win the championship three years in a row. The team also took home silver from nationals twice, reaching the national championship tournament 10 times overall, and winning seven Canada West titles (1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1991, and 1992) during Tennant’s tenure.
Tennant won the CIAU Coach of the Year award four times (1979, 1980, 1984, 1991) and was also recognized as the University of Saskatchewan’s Coach of the Year twice. From his arrival at the U of S in 1971 through his final season in 1996-97, he posted a 227-139 all-time record.
Throughout his career, Tennant was involved in a variety of capacities with International University Sports Federation (FISU), the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB), and the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA). He worked on staging the 1999 Women’s Junior World Volleyball Championship and other international matches in Saskatoon and organized an ongoing exchange program between the University of Saskatchewan and university and professional teams from Japan.
Tennant is a member of the U of S Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, and the Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame.
The U SPORTS women’s volleyball rookie of the year award is named in his honour.