Southern, who took over the Furman program in 1985 and directed it to 461 victories, 19 Southern Conference regular season championships, 16 Southern Conference tournament titles, and a .906 Southern Conference winning percentage (213-22), helped the Paladins put together a regular-season conference winning streak of 100 straight matches from 1998-2010, a feat that has never been replicated in any sport in the league.

“Obviously, Debbie Southern has been the face of Furman women’s tennis for 31 years and has been an amazing ambassador for the program and the University,” said athletics director Mike Buddie.  “She will be greatly missed, but we wish her well as she moves to her next chapter.”

“My decision to retire is bittersweet as I have loved my job for 31 years!” said Southern.  “I am truly grateful to Furman University for the opportunity to coach the women’s tennis program.  I remember when I was hired in 1985 someone asked me what I liked about Furman University and I replied, ‘The people here are so genuinely friendly’.  The heartwarming aspect of this is I still hear new employees or new recruits say the same thing today. Furman University will always hold a special place in my heart…forever.  Go ‘Dins!”

A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Southern, who was inducted into the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013 and the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004, was enshrined, along with her late father, Harold, and her mother, Mildred, into the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in November of 2012.  The Harold T. Southern family, also known as the First Family of Winston-Salem Tennis, provided a legacy endowment to the ITA Women’s Collegiate Hall of Fame, to enrich the program and secure its future.

Most recently, Southern led the Paladins back to the top of the Southern Conference in 2014 with a regular season championship, earning her 13th SoCon Coach of the Year citation.  Ansley Speaks, who was honored as the Southern Conference Women’s Tennis Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year, was named the Furman Female Athlete of the Year at the completion of the 2014 season.

Southern coached her players to many individual honors over the last few seasons.  In 2009, senior Laura Gioia became the first-ever Furman women’s tennis player to be recognized as an ITA All-American.  Gioia’s national rank of seventh early in the spring of 2009 is the highest ranking ever achieved by a Furman women’s tennis player.  Megan Dunigan is the only women’s tennis player to earn SoCon Player of the Year accolades four consecutive seasons (1999-2002) and was a member of the SoCon Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2009, one of only three women inducted that year.

During her career, Southern’s coaching philosophy and practice of recruiting top student-athletes paid off in the form of 72 Southern Conference singles and doubles championships, 148 conference academic honor roll citations, 168 all-conference selections, nine NCAA tournament appearances, a national sportsmanship award for former Lady Paladin Kathryn Jarvis, and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship for Megan Dunigan in 2002.

Southern served as assistant to the director of tennis at the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo. She also served as a member of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Committee and chair of the NCAA Southeast Regional Committee. As a member of the national committee, Southern helped pick the 64-team NCAA Tournament field and helped select individuals for the NCAA singles and doubles championships.

In 1993, the Southern Tennis Association (STA) selected Southern as coach of the girls’ 18 intersectional team, which faced the other U.S. regions at the USTA Girls 18-under Intersectional Championships in Fairfield, Calif. During the summers of 1997-99, she coached the boys and girls under-16 zonal teams in Winston-Salem, N.C. She served as chair of the Southern Conference women’s tennis committee from 1998 to present and previously from 1987-1994.

In 2000, Southern became the first person to earn the South Carolina Tennis Association Coach-of-the-Year award on two separate occasions (1991 & 2000). She was also honored as the recipient of the Furman University J. Lyles Alley Coach-of-the-Year Award in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2007, which is presented annually to the top coach in the Furman athletic department. 

In honor of Southern’s service to the Furman University tennis program, women’s court one at the Minor Mickel Tennis Center was dedicated in Southern’s name. Donations were made in Southern’s honor by friends, alumni, and former players.

A 1981 graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in secondary physical education, Southern enjoyed a fine playing career for the Lady Volunteer tennis program, winning the Tennessee state doubles title in 1978.  Upon graduation, she earned her Master of Education degree from Austin Peay, where she later returned to begin her head coaching career.  In May of 1994, Southern completed her Master of Business Administration degree at Clemson.

Furman assistant coach Christine Johnston will serve as interim head coach.