Dowling Named Finalist for WGCA National Coach of the Year
5/18/2021 8:37:00 PM | Women's Golf
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- University of Michigan women's golf head coach Jan Dowling was named one of 20 finalists for the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division I Jackie Steinmann National Coach of the Year it was announced Tuesday (May 18).
Recognized as the highest annual coaching honor in women's collegiate golf, the Steinmann National Coach of the Year is awarded annually to the top coach in Division I, II, III and NAIA women's golf. The recipient of the 2021 Division I award will be announced following medal play at the NCAA Finals on Monday (May 24).
Dowling and her Wolverines will make the program's fourth trip to the NCAA Finals from Friday through Sunday (May 21-23) at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. In U-M's last three team regional appearances (2016, '17, '21) the Wolverines have advanced to the NCAA Finals -- giving the Maize and Blue trips to nationals in three of the last five events.
U-M heads to the finals with top-five team finishes in all six of its events this season. In the 2021 postseason, Dowling has led the Wolverines to a program-best-tying runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championships with a U-M conference-tournament record 585 (-6). The Wolverines ended the Columbus Regional tied for fifth -- a Michigan postseason best -- with a program-record 54-hole total of 885.
Three Wolverines earned All-Big Ten selections -- Monet Chun (first team), Ashley Lau (first), Hailey Borja (second team) -- for the first time since 2005. Chun also became Michigan's second Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first in 25 years (Katy Loy, 1996), and the first U-M freshman to earn All-Big Ten first team honors.
WGCA Coach of the Year Watch List
• Kalen Anderson, South Carolina• Amy Bond, Florida State
• Golda Borst, Kentucky
• Dan Brooks, Duke
• Diana Cantu, Maryland
• Jan Dowling, Michigan
• Jay Goble, Baylor
• Kory Henkes, Mississippi
• Lindsay Kuhle, Denver
• Missy Farr-Kaye, Arizona State
• Kim Lewellen, Wake Forest
• Melissa Luellen, Auburn
• Derek Radley, Oregon
• Carol Robertson, Virginia Tech
• Greg Robertson, Oklahoma State
• Garrett Runion, LSU
• Justin Silverstein, USC
• Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, Michigan State
• Lisa Strom, Kent State
• Anne Walker, Stanford
