This spring is John Bell's ninth season leading the men's tennis program. A trademark of his tenure has been that each of his previous squads have shown obvious improvement over the course of the season. In Bell's rookie year as coach, he guided the team to a third-place finish at the Skyway Conference Tournament. The next year he led the team to an undefeated Skyway crown, a tie for the Region IV title and a 20th place finish at the NJCAA Finals. Bell's 2002 team went on to finish second in the Skyway.

Coach Bell is not a new face on the Sugar Grove campus, having coached successful men's and women's cross-country teams at WCC for the last 24 years. As a matter of fact, his teams have run to 16 Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) Cross Country titles including both the men's and women's crown in 2007.  Consequently, he has been named the ISCC's Cross-Country Coach of the Year eleven times and was inducted into the Skyway's Hall of Fame in 2005.

Coach Bell was the recipient of the Skyway Conference's first Men's Sports Coach of the Year Award after guiding the cross-country and tennis teams to conference crowns during the 2000-2001 school year. His runners eventually placed 11th in the nation that fall before his tennis squad went undefeated in Skyway play during the spring. They completed their league domination by sweeping all nine flights at the Skyway tournament, tying for the Region IV title and then placing 20th in the nation.

Bell graduated from Dominican High School in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin in 1962. Following his prep school days, he attended Quincy College where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1966. Bell then earned a master's degree in Business Administration from Northeast Missouri University in 1970.