McKAY UP CLOSE

PERSONAL

Hometown: Littleton, Colorado
Education: Colorado State (BS in Equine Science); Texas A&M (MAgr in Equine Behavior)
Children: Tanner and Tayden

COACHING CAREER

1998-99: Texas A&M (graduate assistant)
1999-00: Texas A&M (co-head coach)
2000-: Texas A&M (head coach)
Record: 158-100

COACHING HONORS

2012 Big 12 Coach of the Year
2017 NCEA Coach of the Year
2024 SEC Co-Coach of the Year
2024 Inducted into the NCEA Hall of Fame

COACHING NOTABLES

65 NCEA All-America Honorees
12 Team and Discipline National Championships
3 NCEA Overall Team National Championships
2018 NCEA Reining National Champions

The only head coach in program history, Tana McKay is in her 27th season at the helm of the 12-time national champion Texas A&M equestrian team.

During her time in Aggieland, she has taken the team from club sport status -- overseen by the animal science department -- to arguably the most decorated athletic-department-sponsored equestrian program in the country. The Aggies have won nine western riding team national championships in addition to capturing the overall NCEA National Championship title in 2012 and 2017 and the first-ever overall Varsity Equestrian National Championship in 2002. The Aggies won the first ever NCEA Reining National Championship during the 2018 NCEA Championships.

McKay guided A&M to four consecutive western national titles from 2009-12, and her squads won four of the five western crowns awarded in the history of the Varsity Equestrian National Championships. Under her watch, Aggie riders also took home four individual national titles in the three seasons they were contested (2008-10).

A&M captured the program's first conference title in April 2011, the first year the Big 12 sponsored the sport, before joining the SEC in the fall of 2012.

McKay’s Reining squad won the first ever NCEA Reining National Championship in 2018 as the No. 5 seed, defeating SMU, South Carolina and Auburn.

In 2017, the Aggies became the first team at the NCEA Championship to win four meets en route to the championship and dominated the tournament by outscoring their opponents, 54-8.

As the reining coach, one of McKay's riders, Maggie Gratny, took home the school's first individual reining national championship in April of 2011. The western team secured its ninth national championship in 2012, alongside the Aggies' second overall national championship.

Her leadership is not limited to the western discipline, as the well-rounded and highly-successful Texas A&M program earned reserve overall national champion honors at four of the five VENC competitions and the team grabbed the overall title in its first year in the NCEA.

McKay arrived in Bryan-College Station in the fall of 1998 to begin work on a master's degree in agriculture with an emphasis in equine behavior. She guided the Aggies as a graduate assistant during that season. A year later, the Texas A&M athletic department picked up the team as a fully-funded varsity athletic sport and McKay was named co-head coach.

Following a highly successful inaugural season which saw the western team place fifth nationally and take home three individual national titles, McKay was named the program's first full-time head coach on June 29, 2000.

A vocal advocate for the advancement of collegiate equestrian, McKay has been very active in its development as a varsity sport. She was the chair of the competition committee from 2005-2007 and has had an active role in organizing the rules and format for NCAA competition. In 2010, McKay served as the chairwoman of the Varsity Equestrian Executive Committee.

A native of Littleton, Colorado, McKay is a member of both the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) and the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) and still competes in NRHA shows. While attending Colorado State University, she rode both English and western and qualified for nationals in both disciplines. Upon earning her degree in equine science, she helped coach the Rams' club team and worked for AQHA horse trainers in California and Colorado.

As head of one of the nation's premier equestrian programs, McKay has seen quite a few of her athletes go on to collegiate coaching jobs in the sport.

She is the proud mother of twin boys, Tanner and Tayden.

*Last updated 7/11/2025