Arizona women’s golf coach Laura Ianello receives 5-year extension

Ianello led Arizona women’s golf to its third national championship

The Arizona Wildcats have given women’s golf coach Laura Ianello a five-year extension that will keep her in Tucson through the 2023 season, it was announced Friday.

Ianello led the Wildcats to their third national championship in 2018.

“We could not ask for anyone better to lead our women’s golf program than Laura Ianello, and because of that we are both incredibly proud and excited to announce this five-year extension,” UA athletic director Dave Heeke said in a statement.

“The remarkable performance of this year’s national championship team exemplifies how fortunate we are to have Laura as our head coach. As both an outstanding player and coach for this program, Laura is dedicated to continuing the championship culture this program has developed over decades. We look forward to continued excellence from our women’s golf team on the course, in the classroom and in the community for many more years to come.”

Under Ianello, Arizona has reached the NCAA Regionals in each of her eight seasons with six trips to the NCAA Championships, including this year’s title, as well as a conference championship in 2015. In that time frame, the Wildcats have had nine All-Americans, 22 members of the All-Pac-12 team, 26 members of the Pac-12 All-Academic team, a Freshman of the Year and a Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Ianello played at Arizona from 1998-2003 and won a championship in 2000. She became an assistant at the UA in 2008 and was named the head coach in May of 2010.

“I am incredibly honored that athletic director Dave Heeke, senior associate athletic director Erika Barnes and President Robert Robbins have been so gracious with this extension to provide me an opportunity to continue coaching at such a special place,” Ianello said in a statement.

“Arizona has been great to me as both a student-athlete and coach, and there is nowhere else I’d rather be. The belief our administrative team has in me and my staff with coach Derek Radley is truly amazing. We are excited to return our national championship team, which had no seniors, to carry us into a bright future for Arizona golf. I am ecstatic to continue the championship tradition we have built at Arizona, graduating our student-athletes and seeing successful young women come out of our program.”

Ianello’s salary in 2017-18 was $84,738. The terms of her new contract have not been disclosed yet, but she will likely receive a raise.

The five golfers that led the Wildcats to a national championship — Haley Moore, Gigi Stoll, Bianca Pagdanganan, Yu-Sang Hou, and Sandra Noordas — are all underclassmen, so Arizona is expected to be a top team in the country in 2018-19.

However, Moore and Stoll are contemplating going pro, which would alter the team’s potential.

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts https://ift.tt/2yUn91s
via IFTTT