Mocs Move on From Long Time Women’s Golf Coach Colette Murray

(gomocs.com)-The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga announces a change in leadership for its women’s golf program.

“We are very grateful for Colette’s impactful tenure with our women’s golf program,” Vice Chancellor for Athletics Mark Wharton acknowledge. “She built a successful program from the ground up. The foundation has been laid to build upon at the regional and national level. We wish her the best moving forward.”

Murray re-started the women’s golf program upon her arrival in 2006. It had been dormant since the mid-80’s, but she took to the task with her charges taking wins in the first three tournaments in competition in 2007. The first year saw future UTC Hall of Famer Emma de Groot ’11 earn an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament competing in Athens, Ga., and claiming a top 20 finish.

That was the first building block. The Mocs ended 2009 as runners-up in the SoCon as the team claimed the first NCAA Tourney berth. The collection of freshmen and sophomores made it to the NCAA Finals in Baltimore, Md., through the East Regionals in Columbus marking an amazing beginning.

The first SoCon title came the next season. Followed by the next and the next as the Mocs won all five league crowns to date from 2010-14. There have been seven individual champions under Murray’s watch with the most recent coming in 2022 with Dorota Zalewska ’23 earning the win in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The crowning achievement came in 2023. Zalewska earned her second individual bid to regionals and blitzed the field at the NCAA Raleigh site. Her program record 12-under 204 was the sixth NCAA DI Regional win in school history joining cross country runners Nic Crider (1998), Shannon Wommack (2005) and men’s golfer Stephan Jaeger (2012) as well as the 1998 men’s cross country and 2012 men’s golf teams.

Over the course of Murray’s 19-year tenure, the Mocs had an .804 winning percentage in conference events. The program also maintained an average national ranking of 77 and average GPA of 3.6 in that timeframe.

Katie Woodruff is taking the reins as the interim head coach. Assistant Coach Carolina Hortian remains on staff after beginning her coaching career this summer after playing collegiately at Chattanooga and Coastal Carolina.

“We appreciate Katie’s willingness to step in on an interim basis,” Wharton added. “It is fortunate to have someone tied into our golfing community with such an impressive collegiate resume as a coach and player which should bring confidence to the team in our belief in their potential this season and moving forward.”

Woodruff has extensive collegiate coaching experience with stops at Pepperdine (2017-19) and USC (2020-22). She helped the Waves to one West Coast Conference title (2019) and three trips to the NCAA Tournament. The 2017 edition finished third at regionals to advance to the finals for the first time in five seasons.

The transition to the Women of Troy saw unbridled success. No. 1 rankings as a team and individually along with nine wins including the 2021 Pac 12 Championships, seven All-America selections and continued national prominence earning regionals and finals berths every season. She coached 2023 U.S. Open winner Allisen Corpuz for three seasons at USC.

Woodruff played collegiately at UCF, Florida and Louisville. She was the 2012 CUSA Freshman of the year and through her career with the Knights, Gators and Cardinals, she never missed a tournament. She earned nine top 10s with the Cardinals as well as top 20s in the 2015 and 2016 ACC Championships and NCAA South Bend Regionals. Her 73.97 stroke average as a senior was the sixth best in U of L history.

As an amateur, Woodruff won First Coast Women’s Amateur titles in both 2014 and 2015. In 2015, she placed 15th in stroke play at the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship and tied for 10th at the North & South Amateur Championship, advancing to match play in both.

In 2014, she led the state of Florida’s team to a first-place finish at the Southeast Challenge, and she also competed at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She recently reached the round of 32 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur this month in California.