Louisiana State University (LSU) Women's Golf

Bahnsen contributed her share of great stars in her years as head coach: It was 2011 and 2012 that the Lady Tigers brought home third place hardware from the NCAA team championships. The Tigers have advanced to that championship round 13 times, 12 under Coach Bahnsen. Now in the 2015-16 season, the Lady Tigers have a group of returnees and some talent newcomers that are trying to blend together to advance again to NCAA play despite some injuries to players like returning All-American . To Coach Bahnsen, it seems like only yesterday when Buddy Alexander, who was handling both the mens and womens golf teams at LSU, elected to hand her the keys to the LSU womens golf program prior to the 1984-85 season. The enthusiasm and competitive spirit that Bahnsen showed people like Alexander as a player is the same enthusiasm and competitive spirit that is evident as a coach. She has had the drive, the determination and the willingness to succeed ever since those playing days. Bahnsen knows what it takes to get to the pinnacle of womens collegiate golf the NCAA Womens Championship Tournament. She will ask her team to work hard and respond to the challenge, but it was be nothing less than she ever asked of herself as a player. Now the message is being spread farther thanks to those who have worked and played for her. Two former assistants Marci Kornegay (South Florida) and Golda Borst (Kentucky) are now head coaches. Ashley (Winn) Tonore, who played for Bahnsen in 1995-98, served for several years as the Director of Golf and head womens coach at ULM. Former player has also joined the coaching fraternity in her seventh year as an assistant and her fifth at LSU. Over the years Bahnsen has come up with a simple philosophy that she started using as a player. Its so simple, but so amazingly effective when put into play. She wants her team to play each shot as a separate event. If something bad happens, forget it and move on. Dont let it carry on for four or five holes. Most of all have fun. Bahnsens love and desire for a program she has devoted over half her life to is what also gives her a smiling satisfaction about a program she has virtually helped design from scratch. She is more energized than ever to make the program a continuing contender in the national spotlight. How many programs are there in any sports in Division I intercollegiate athletics where the programs first recruit goes on to become the head coach of the program and stays long enough to not the dean of league coaches in the sport, but also one of the longest tenured coaches in school history She is one of the most respected individuals in the game today, not just in the SEC but all college golf circles. 23 All-Americans 50 All-SEC 39 Team Tournament Titles 32 Individual Tournament Titles 11 Top 3 Finishes in the SEC Championships 21 appearances in the NCAA Regionals 12 appearances in the NCAA Championships 7 top 10 finishes in the NCAA Championships (2 thirds) 94 SEC Academic Honor Roll Selections 31 Womens Golf Coaches Association Academic Scholars In 2010, Bahnsens golf team was recognized as just one of three teams at LSU to earn an NCAA Public Recognition Award for exceptional work in this classroom. The awards are given annually to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport with their Academic Progress Rate (APR). She knows that nothing on the LPGA or the Symetra tours is guaranteed for any golfer. She knows what it is like to have a husband, a family and the need to divide time between the coaching job and the family time. Her values on balancing both are what makes her a special person and a coach that players want to play for. Every year has brought new challenges and every time Bahnsen has answered that call. Every year, the desire to succeed is that much greater and that is what seems to continue to light the fire of the lady who knows LSU golf inside and outside, backwards and forwards. Bahnsen came to LSU with credentials that were excellent, lettering in golf at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile, Ala. She led the school to two state titles and in 1979 won the state individual championship and the National High School Tournament. Her mother was an LPGA teaching professional, a four-time Alabama state womens champion, and a Mobile Sports Hall of Fame inductee. This past year mother and daugher were united again as was honored as an inductee into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame. Bahnsen is married to LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director David Bo Bahnsen. They have two children, son Darren (27, an LSU graduate, a former member of state championship golf and basketball teams at University High in Baton Rouge) and daughter, Devin, 24. Oct. 11, 1960 David Bo Bahnsen, LSU Sr. Associate AD Darren 27, Devin 24 McGill Toolen, Mobile, Ala. BA, LSU, 1984 1979 -- High School All-American; National High School Champion 1980-83 -- Four-year letter winner at LSU, first golf signee; AIAW Tournament participant, 1980-81; NCAA Tournament participant, 1982 1986 -- SEC Coach of the Year; NGCA South Region Coach of the Year; Team finished ninth at the NCAA Division I Championships 1992 -- Team won Southeastern Conference Championship Tournament 1994 -- Member, La. Team, SE Women's Amateur Championships 1995 -- Member, La. Team, SEC Women's Amateur Championships; SEC Coach of the Year; Winning Co-Coach, East-West All-Star NCAA Match 1996 -- Team finished eighth at the NCAA Division I Championships 1997 -- NGCA South Region Coach of the Year 1998 -- Team finished fifth at the NCAA Division I Championships 1999 -- Team finished 10th at the NCAA Division I Championships 2000 -- Team finished 10th at the NCAA Division I Championships 2001 -- Team finished 12th at the NCAA Division I Championships 2006 -- Team finished 23rd at the NCAA Division I Championships; LSWA Louisiana Women's Golf Coach of the Year 2007 -- LSWA Louisiana Women's Golf Coach of the Year 2008 -- Team finished 15th at the NCAA Division I Championships; LSWA Louisiana Women's Golf Coach of the Year; Inducted into NGCA Hall of Fame 2009 -- Team finished 12th at the NCAA Division I Championships 2011 -- Team finished 3rd at the NCAA Division I Championships; LSWA Louisiana Women's Golf Coach of the Year 2012 -- Team finished 3rd at the NCAA Division 1 Championships; LSWA Louisiana Women's Golf Coach of the Year. 2015 Team finished 20th at the NCAA Division I Championships; Inducted Mobile Sports Hall of Fame; LSWA Louisiana Womens Golf Coach of the Year.

Rather, a two-time First-Team All-Louisiana golfer, had three top 10 finishes in her 2008 senior season. That year, she also chipped in for the only birdie in a sudden death playoff for the eighth and final qualifying spot at the NCAA East Regional that got LSU to the NCAA Womens Championships. LSU finished in 15th place in the NCAA Championships that season. Over the course of her career, Rather played in all but three tournaments. She posted three top 10s and six top 20 performances and her 128 career rounds played is among the most rounds played in a career by an LSU womens golfer. She averaged 78.84 strokes during her four-year career. She was also a four-time member of the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll. At Ole Miss, she showed the type of coach she would be, helping guide the Rebels back to postseason play and win a tournament for the first time since 2004 as the womens golf team earned the Chancellors Cup for the womens varsity team at Ole Miss with the highest grade point average. Since returning to LSU, she has helped the program with practice routines, helped put together the annual LSU Tiger Golf Classic and been on the course for tournaments both at home and on the road. With Rather around, there is another important voice for LSU traveling the world recruiting. During tournaments, Rather can be seen at various spots on the course, offering help and encouragement to the Lady Tigers when needed. Rather was named LSUs recipient on the SEC Community Service Team while in college and has been heavily involved her entire LSU career with the schools Life Skills Program and service projects throughout the community. She graduated from LSU in July 2007 with an honors degree in communications and her masters in sports management from LSU in 2008. March 2, 1985 Tupelo, Miss. LSU BA, Communications, 2007 MA, Sports Management, 2008