Full Great Women Great Danes Interview Transcript
UAlbany's Great Women Great Danes is a new series that will be published during Women's History Month. The series will feature Great Danes, past and present, and celebrate the women of UAlbany.
Q: Can you tell me about your time as a student-athlete at Purdue?
A: Being that I'm from Fort Lauderdale, Purdue was definitely a big change in my life. I wanted to be a veterinarian and golf was sort of secondary and I had already taken all of my visits for colleges before Purdue even came into the mix. I got a VHS tape from Purdue and I really loved it when I saw they had the number two vet program, so I decided that would be the school. And driving there, I thought to myself, maybe I made a mistake because it was in the middle of Indiana, in the middle of corn fields but what I quickly realized was that the experience was made best because of my teammates. My coach was there for just four years - for my four years … and, I think we just made the best of it. I learned a lot from my college experience and translated into how I coach, too.
Q: From just a quick read of your bio, it seems like you were a pretty well-decorated athlete there, were you at the top of your team? Also, your team won five titles while you were there … Can you tell me a little bit more about the success that you guys had?
A: Yeah. When I was a freshman, I was really just learning. [We] had some really good seniors on the team and they were the ones that really built the team at the start. Then when I became a sophomore, they had graduated, so I stepped into the role of being the number one player pretty much most weeks. And then [I became] very instrumental in the recruiting end of things, bringing in the next players. I won [the conference title] twice - I won my sophomore year and my senior year … that was pretty cool. I had some runner up finishes … you know, a few shot rounds of even par back in my day and you were winning a lot of golf tournaments. That has definitely changed now - under par by many is what it takes. But yeah, I don't know if I was … there are so many better players now at Purdue than when I was there. But I like to tell Coach that I feel a little bit responsible for the success that they've had since I've left.
Q: Once you graduated, you started playing professionally. Can you talk a little bit about that time in your career?
A: After college, I turned professional in August, and my first tournament was actually in Syracuse [New York] and I got paired with the Syracuse local, Sally Dee. So, that was a great introduction into the professional world because she had a lot of people out there watching her and she was pretty intimidating. It was kind of like, ‘Welcome to the big leagues.’ I finished, I believe, tied for 19th in my first event, which I felt was pretty good. Overall, I spent seven years playing professionally … I played on the LPGA and played on the Futures tour. I played in two US opens. I mean, I've played all around the globe. I've met tons of players. I was fortunate enough to win back in 2003, I think it was, down in Tampa [Florida]. It takes a lot of work and … I always said the easiest part was playing golf when you're a professional because of everything else that has to go with it. Between booking your trips and driving or flying and doing laundry and everything else in between … when I got out to the golf course, it always seemed like that was the easy part for me.
Q: What would you say for current athletes who are looking to go pro; was it worth it? Do you think it's something that most people would think about long-term?
A: To any of my players that have any inkling that they want to turn professional, I would say absolutely yes. There's a switch that flips from when you play college golf to professional golf. I don't know the rhyme or reason but it happens for most players. When you start having to pay your own bills and making money, your golf game improves greatly from your college days. So, if they have any desire to do it, it was the best time of my life. I would say give yourself three to five years, try to make it happen. Then if you aren’t able to do it, you know, then you can proceed with whatever career path that you want … but I would never say don't do it.
Q: So, then you started coaching. You said you wanted to be a veterinarian initially when you went to college. What made you make that switch?
A: Well, organic chemistry. My junior year, uh, maybe my sophomore year of college, we missed pretty much every Friday, so my professor was giving me zeros for all of my labs in organic chemistry, and he wasn't letting me make them up. So essentially, I would've failed the class and at that point I decided it wasn't gonna work for me, and switched to restaurant hotel management with an emphasis in country clubs. I've used golf in my life for the last 30 years, and whether it's been running a golf course, coaching high school golf, or coaching college golf now, it's been in my life for a long, long time.
Q: What was the choice like, did it kind of just fall in your lap? You said you were working at a golf course. Were you working there while you were coaching high school?
A: Yep. In 2004, I had an opportunity to either continue playing professional golf or to help open a brand new golf facility in my hometown of Plantation, Florida. My [teacher] from when I was a little kid was in charge … was spearheading this - their new golf course. They wanted me to come and kind of put my name on the project and bring in the members. So, that sounded like a good opportunity. It allowed me to stay home and make a regular paycheck and be with my husband, and that's what I thought I wanted to do. Being able to take over the golf course project was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Then all the time I did that, I had coached high school golf for 13 years at my alma mater, St. Thomas Aquinas, in Fort Lauderdale.
Q: Did you know that your coaching run still is the longest streak in school history for a golf coach?
A: Really? Yeah. Okay. Nope. I did not know that.
Q: Oh yeah, so you took them to 12-straight high school state championships and you had an impressive record - 131-16-2 - during your time there. It seems like you helped those girls out a little bit.
A: Yeah, it was fun. I would say, I had five or six players in my time that were really, really good and got Division I scholarships and then a couple that went on to play professionally. So, it was a lot of fun. High school is an opportunity to just give these ladies something to do - whether they were good or they weren't good, if they wanted to play, I had them on the team. There were years I would have 17 players on a high school team just to give them an opportunity. And, if they didn't like it then that was okay. But, I would always just try to play them in at least one match … and sometimes, we would do JV matches because you never know what people are looking for. And I give them credit - if they wanted to come out and do it, then absolutely, we'll find something for you to play in. My dad was a coach my whole life. He coached my brothers in football and he coached baseball and he was very well known in Plantation and when he passed away, the line for his funeral was just out the door around the corner of all of his former players. And I think that's when I said to myself that I wanted to really get into coaching and do it seriously - because the amount of lives that he touched was exactly what I thought I would potentially want to do in my time. That's … that's really to me, what is most important - not about the record of winning or losing, it's just about touching people's lives … and for college players, just making them ready to go out in the real world. If they wanna play professional golf, I mean, they've got the right coach because I've been there, I've done that. I know what roads they need to take and how to get there. And I'm more than willing to help follow my former players in any way I can.
Q: So, you wanted to make the switch from high school to college?
A: Well, I don't know if I wanted to. It just sort of fell in my lap. I was sitting at my desk at the golf course one day and my former coach from Purdue, one who I didn't even play for, but who I kept in touch with, asked me if I wanted to get into college coaching. And I said, yeah, maybe - I'd never not really given it much thought … I had a good job and I wasn't really looking to leave it. And he said, well, if you want it, I have a job for you. And I said, well, where is it? And he said, the University of Michigan. And I said…Okay, well that's a pretty good first job. So I said to my husband, I'm probably not gonna take the job - I'm gonna go do the interview and see what it's all about. And then I came home and I was like, you know, it was great. I loved it. It's obviously the University of Michigan. I had lived for three years - sixth, seventh, and eighth grade in Royal Oak, Michigan, which is about 45 minutes away from the school. I had been to football games in the big house and I had been to a lot of other sporting events, so I was a bit of a Michigan fan already. So my husband and I made a decision that I would go ahead and move and take the opportunity. I spent two years at Michigan. It's pretty amazing because you start at the top and it gave me the opportunity to see how good things can be. Then when I got the opportunity here, I knew where I needed to take the program.
Q: Before getting the job here, did you want to become a head coach? Did you reach out for this position?
A: Yeah, I wanted to. They made some coaching changes at Michigan. The head coach was let go and I had no head coaching experience so I did not get that job. I spent the summer kind of looking around at some other opportunities and yeah, obviously, the end goal was to be a head coach. They had reached out to me about this job - a firm or somebody, I don't remember exactly who. I had spent some time in Albany back from my professional playing days so I knew a few people here … I knew a little bit of the lay of the land. When I came for the interview, it seemed like a pretty good fit …so, that's how I ended up getting this job. I do have to say, my first week was interesting because it was right before school started and I was calling one of my players by the wrong name pretty much the whole week. And then, we had traveled to our first tournament at Dartmouth and I didn't know where I was going and I didn't have any clothes and I was driving a school van that probably shouldn’t have been on a road. It was very interesting coming from Michigan to here and to figure out how and what I needed to do to make the program successful.
Q: So now this is your 10th season - you're a three time MAAC Coach of the year, you've won three MAAC titles and you've had multiple NCAA tournament appearances. And I would say that you are consistently at the top of the conference. How do you think that you have affected your student-athletes, and what does that mean to you?
A: Well, I mean, again, it all just goes back to the relationships. I think what means the most is when the players come back and see me … we meet up for lunch or they come back and hang out in my office or they come to practices. I mean, that's what really is the best. In our new simulator room, we've got three conference championship posters on the wall, and we're hungry to get the fourth and we've been trying really hard. 2020 might’ve, could have been that year … unfortunately, we'll never know. Ever since then, these players are hungry and they want to win. The roster is very global. For me, bringing in these players of all different cultures, it's super important to build a family feel and get the culture before we can even think about winning. A lot of them … they're very, very different. My 10 years here have taught me a lot and, you know, it's an easy place to work. I enjoy having the players that I've had with all the different cultures. I was able to hire my second assistant with RJ [Montez] earlier this year and then of course my first assistant Matt [Ragovin], I had known since he was 14. So, you know, the feeling that I do try to create is a family feeling. And that's always first and foremost what I try to instill in the players from the get-go.
Q: Last year you did bring Dottie Pepper to come talk to the team. Two-part question - How do you know her and is that something that you typically do?
A: When I was playing professionally, Dottie and I played together. We didn't really know each other … our paths hadn't crossed very much. In the 2002 US Women's Open, which was at Prairie Dunes out in Kansas, I was the first alternate for the event. [As an alternate], you have an option to fly out to the golf tournament and you have to pay all of your fees because when you play in a US Open, they pay for your accommodations - they give you a rental car, etc. - but when you're the alternate, they don't give you anything. So, I flew out there on a Monday and I wasn't able to play any practice rounds. Fast forward to Thursday morning, the first morning of the golf tournament and I'm supposed to wait by the first tee to see if any players withdraw from the event. I saw the USGA official walking towards me and she said that Dottie Pepper had withdrawn. So, I was gonna be playing in Dottie's spot. At the time Dottie was very, very popular and she had one of the prime tee times to where the TV cameras were always gonna be around. So not only did I have to tee off in Dottie Pepper's spot with all these people around the first tee looking for Dottie Pepper, when they announced me in her spot, you could just hear the murmurs in the crowds of the wives yelling at their husbands that this was the wrong group or the wrong tee. This isn't Dottie Pepper's group, because nobody actually knew that Dottie Pepper had withdrawn and I was playing in her spot. Fast forward to a few years later at the 2006 US Open, which was in Newport, Rhode Island, Dottie was now a commentator and I'm standing on the driving range and she came up to me and said, so you're the one who played in my spot? And I said, yep. And she said, finally we get to meet. Ever since then, you know, we've kept up a friendship; I've had her cell phone number. And, she just lives up the road in Saratoga Springs so it was a great opportunity to reach out to her and have her come down and speak to the team, just about her career and her passion. She's a very fiery golfer - probably unlike any others. And now she's doing some commentating and just to get an insight into the homework that she still has to do on her end before she can even perform her job now. It was pretty cool to have her come out and meet the team. I think it's a pretty big honor because I don't know that a lot of college coaches could say that they had Dottie Pepper or a lot of other LPGA players come out and speak to their teams. Secondly, on Fridays it's called No Club Friday; I started it 10 years ago. When we're indoors, it gets a little bit monotonous being inside four walls. The day I think that my team would say is the favorite day of the week is Friday. We do a lot of different things - I have a lot of guest speakers. Last Friday, we had Mark Benson. Prior to that, I had my friend Michelle Ellis, who was an LPGA player. She was a past president of the LPGA, we've had numerous people like Greg Gattuso and I'm waiting to get Scotty Marr in here … Just different people, with different insights and different outlooks. You never know what one person can say that will really hit home. And in addition, on Fridays, we work on our mental talks. We watch videos … I mean, you never know what to expect. There's days where there's been lots of tears and then there's been days where there's been lots of laughs and smiles. But it's where our crew of seven players and two coaches come together and we really get to know each other. That's where I think the bond that we build begins on No Club Friday.
Q: That's amazing. I literally have no other words to say … just amazing.
A: It's fun. It really … I mean, it is my favorite day of the week. Just be able to have them all in the room because we don't get an opportunity … we don't travel with the whole team outside of spring break, which we're about to go on. There's always a disconnect because some players are left home and then other players get to experience tournaments. So, it's always good in the wintertime to just have everybody together for those multiple days where we can really get to know each other and we get vulnerable and we talk about a lot of stuff and they ask a lot of questions, so it really is pretty special.
Q: How have the women around you help you to become the coach and person you are today?
A: My mom was definitely influential. My dad is the one that played sports, coached sports, so I definitely got his genes. But my mom was the bus driver. I mean, she drove me to every sport that I played and she was a scorekeeper for, usually, my dad coaching. So, first and foremost, my mom as my hero, as like my role model - she's the most gentle, kindest person ever. Just to be able to have her do all that stuff when I was a kid was amazing. Then there's been a lot of coaches that maybe recruited me back in my day that are still coaching. Or other coaches that I've learned from through the years that have helped as well. I mean there have been a lot of females on my journey. Then when I got on tour, I would say, my friend Michelle Ellis that I talked about, that I had to speak with the team, she was super influential with me. She caddied for me in one LPGA Q-School and we traveled together. I always say I have a lot of different facets of my life. My past life was my professional golf life that a lot of people in Albany don't know about. They know me as a coach here and then, I have my life in Florida … that's where they knew my professional golf life. So, you can almost split my life into two different facets and there've been a lot of influential ladies over that time.
Q: What does it mean and how does it feel that young women and girls might look up to you because of your success as a coach and as a professional?
A: It's an honor. I mean, definitely. I don't know that I'm doing anything better or different than a lot of other coaches. But like I said, when the players come back and spend some time with me or the team, I guess that's when I feel like I've done something good. That's all I want when I bring in the players - I'm bringing them in for the family, for the University at Albany Great Danes. Golf is a weird sport because it's individual, but we play as a team and I tell them it's always team first. Anything we do individually is great, but it's all about wearing the purple and gold and rooting for the Great Danes. I've done a lot of things; I know a lot of people that I think other people are way more excited about than I am. I always just do the right thing and good things are gonna happen. That's the motto I live by and I think my players know that I'll always have their backs in golf tournaments or whatever. I mean, they've seen it and I'm … it's always family first. No matter what.
Q: And finally, what does Women's History Month mean to you?
A: I think that this is a great thing. I mean, Women's History Month is influential. There's been such a change in athletics over the last however many decades to where it's nice now to see women getting the notoriety that maybe we didn't get before. There's so many different sports and so many different coaches that are making … that are influencing so many different lives. And just being a women's coach in a women's sport is amazing. I've been around golf for 30 years and I've always been in the minority. I've always been in a man's world … and whether I was a player or a coach or even just out in corporate outings, sometimes it's just me and 50 men. Golf is a sport that everybody loves, and when you're a female and you can play golf and you can play it till, you know, till you die. I think, just for me, what the sport of golf has done for me has been amazing, and for me to be able to touch other people's lives as a female coach, you know, in a women's sport is just phenomenal.
For more interviews from the Women's History Month #GreatWomenGreatDanes series, click here.
