Wake Forest Athletics
Dianne Dailey to Retire as Women's Golf Coach
5/22/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWGolf)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest women's golf coach Dianne Dailey announced her retirement Tuesday (May 22) after leading the program for 30 years.
During Dailey's three decades of leading the program, the Demon Deacons won 30 team titles, 39 individual titles, won four ACC Championships and qualified for 15 NCAA Championships. She coached 28 All-Americans, 39 All-ACC selections, five ACC Players of the Year, four ACC Freshmen of the Year and 2018 NCAA Champion Jennifer Kupcho.
A 1971 graduate of Salem College, Dailey took over the Wake Forest program in the summer of 1988. She led the Demon Deacons to victory in the third event of her first season with the title at the Lady Seminole Invitational. Wake Forest would win at least one team title in 18 of her 30 seasons at the helm of the program, highlighted by a school-record five victories during the 1994-95 season.
"It has been an honor to be able to coach at Wake Forest for the past 30 years," said Dailey. "I can't believe I have been able to spend my entire coaching career at such an outstanding university. It has been a privilege to coach so many talented young ladies over the years and I am proud of what they have gone on to accomplish in their lives. To work at such a respected university like Wake Forest, where students receive a first-rate education in a supportive, caring atmosphere, has been a dream come true. I am grateful for all the opportunities I have had here and for the friendships made both in the department and in the community. It has been a wonderful, memorable and quick 30 years."
A four-time ACC Coach of the Year, Dailey led the Demon Deacons to conference championships in 1994, 1995, 2009 and 2010. Her four titles rank second in the history of ACC women's golf coaches. In 1993, Wake Forest made its first appearance at the NCAA Championships, finishing seventh. It was the first of four top-10 NCAA finishes for the Demon Deacons, highlighted by a third-place finish in 1995. Since the NCAA established the current system of regionals to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 1993, Dailey has led Wake Forest to a regional berth every year.
Dailey has coached a majority of the top players in Wake Forest history during her career. Stephanie Neill-Harner is the school's only two-time ACC Player of the Year (1994 & 1995) and three-time first-team All-American. She won a school-record 10 individual titles from 1992-95 and was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 2005-06. Laura Philo Diaz, a 2007-08 Wake Forest Hall of Famer, was the 1996 ACC Player of the Year and has two career victories on the LPGA Tour. Nuria Clau (2003) and Natalie Sheary (2009) were also named ACC Player of the Year, while Sheary was also the 2011 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Dailey concluded her career by coaching Kupcho, who won the program's first NCAA title on Monday. It was the seventh victory of the junior's career as she set the program single-season record with a 70.60 stroke average.
In 2001, Dailey was named the LPGA Coach of the Year and was also inducted into the National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame. She has served as the president of the NGCA as well as a chairman of the NCAA Golf Committee, heading up the NCAA Championships and setting policies for collegiate golf.
"We thank Dianne for her incredible career at Wake Forest," said Director of Athletics Ron Wellman. "For three decades, her passion built our women's golf program into one of the best in the nation. When you look back at the history of Demon Deacon women's golf; the ACC Championships, the NCAA Championship appearances, the team and individual victories; that is the legacy Dianne Dailey leaves. Wake Forest will be forever grateful to her for building the foundation of our women's golf program."
Dailey's 30-year tenure is the second-longest for a Wake Forest coach, trailing only Jesse Haddock's 32-year tenure leading the Demon Deacon men's golf program from 1960 to 1976 and 1978 to 1992. In 2010, she was honored as the Dianne Dailey Learning Center, a state-of-the-art training center for the men's and women's golf programs, was named for her.
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