Wake Forest Athletics
Dianne Dailey Receives LPGA Coach Of The Year Award
12/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Dec. 3, 2001
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) Division has announced the 2001 recipients of its prestigious annual national awards, all of which are presented by Spalding: Dianne Dailey, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., Coach of the Year, Nancy Henderson, LPGA International, Daytona Beach, Fla., Professional of the Year, and Kathy Murphy, Arizona State University (ASU) Karsten Course, Tempe, Ariz., Teacher of the Year. The LPGA T&CP Division's Executive Committee selects the national award winners from the pool of sectional award winners voted on by the members of the LPGA T&CP Division's five regional sections.
Dailey is the head women's golf coach at Wake Forest University, a position she has held since retiring from full-time competition on the LPGA Tour in 1988. Over the past 13 years, her team has earned 19 victories and made nine NCAA Championship appearances, finishing third in 1995, which stands as the second-highest finish for an ACC school in women's golf. Under her direction, the women's golf team has been ranked in the top-20 over the past nine years and won two ACC Championships (1994-95). She has coached two members to ACC Player of the Year honors (Stephanie Neill and current LPGA Tour standout Laura Diaz) and two to ACC Rookie of the Year honors (Alexandra Armas and Marta Prieto). Last season, the Demon Deacons finished the year ranked 15th nationally and second in the ACC. Four of her eight players posted sub-80 scoring averages and six of eight made the Dean's List.
Dailey also currently coaches two SBC Futures Tour players, Neill and Selena Wilkes.
In addition to her coaching duties, Dailey has served as Wake Forest University associate athletic director since 1996 until 1999. Prior to taking on that position, she was the women's athletic director from 1988-96 and senior woman administrator from 1988-99. She has developed a series of clinics, which began in October, for high school coaches, and is associate director of the College Golf Foundation, a board member of National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) and a member of the United States Golf Association (USGA) Collegiate Affairs Committee. In January, Dailey was inducted into the NGCA Hall of Fame.
Prior to becoming the women's golf coach at Wake Forest University, Dailey competed on the LPGA Tour from 1979-88, where she recorded nine top-10 finishes. She was president of the LPGA Tournament Division in 1986 and served on the LPGA Board of Directors from 1985-86.
"This is the first time I have ever won a national award, and I am thrilled," said Dailey, who joined the LPGA T&CP Division in 1991 and achieved Class A status in 1992. "There are so many good coaches who are LPGA members, and it's getting better and better as the years go on. So many LPGA professionals are out there working with junior golfers, shaping and molding their games-it really makes my coaching job easier! I'm fortunate to get them after they've been taught by such strong role models."
The LPGA Coach of the Year Award presented by Spalding, established in 1980, is awarded annually to a woman golf professional who is actively engaged in teaching and/or coaching golf at the college, university or high school level.
For a complete release go to www.lpga.com.
