Coaches and Staff

On par for excellence

National Women’s Golf Coach of the Year sets the standard for success on the course, in the classroom and in life

After two of her star players left to go pro, doubters grumbled that the UW’s top-ranked women’s golf team was doomed. But Coach Mary Lou Mulflur and her players didn’t flinch.

“I said, OK, it’s just us, guys,” Mary Lou recalls.

Mary Lou Mulflur coaches Brittany Tallman.

Refusing to let the naysayers get to them, the Dawgs went on to set a school record with six victories during the regular season then advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships — further than anyone predicted. All the while, they maintained a 3.45 GPA, one of the highest of any Husky team.

Calling 2014-15 the most gratifying season in her 32 years of coaching at UW, Mary Lou says it wasn’t because Golfweek named her National Women’s Golf Coach of the Year.

“To witness what these athletes did, it was incredible,” she says. “Their belief in themselves never, never wavered.”

It’s no fluke. Mary Lou and her assistant coach, Andrea VanderLende — hired six years ago thanks to the support of generous donors — don’t just look for the most talented players out there when they’re recruiting. They look for young women who value hard work, accountability and “never being too big to do the small things” — both on the course and in the classroom.

“We’ll tell them, this isn’t a free ride. It’s a full ride,” says Mary Lou, who has maintained a 100% graduation rate throughout her career. “It’s full of responsibility… and gratification and ups and downs and everything else.”

Donor support for endowed scholarships, travel to tournaments across the country and the world, a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility and much more have also played major roles in the team’s rise to national prominence.