| Dianne Dailey |
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Personal
Beginning her 21st season as Wake Forest's head women's golf coach, Dianne Dailey looks to guide the Demon Deacons to an impressive 17th straight NCAA appearance.
Since Coach Dailey took over in 1988, the Deacons have been to 16 NCAA Regionals and 11 NCAA Championships.
Over the years, Coach Dailey has compiled quite the resume while coaching at Wake Forest. She has coached nine players who have been named All-America 16 times, five players who have been named Academic All-American 10 times, three ACC Players of the Year and three ACC Rookies of the Year, including Natalie Sheary last season. Dailey's teams have notched 23 team victories, including two ACC Championships and two NCAA East Regional Championships. The Deacons have finished in the top 20 of the final national rankings in each of the last 16 years.
Under Dailey, Wake Forest squads have advanced to 11 NCAA Championships in the last 15 years. In addition to the team's success, Dailey has continued to develop some of the top individual players in the nation.
Last season Natalie Sheary was named honorable mention All-America by the National Golf Coaches Association to become the 11th Demon Deacon to garner All-America honors. Sheary was selected as an honorable mention All-America by Golfweek, was named All-ACC and was also named the ACC Freshman of the Year in her first season as a Demon Deacon.
With her win at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, Sheary became the first freshman to win an event since Marta Prieto won the ACC Championship in 1998.
Senior Nannette Hill was also named All-ACC in 2008 to give Dailey a total of 23 all-conference honorees under her tutelage.
In 2006 and 2007, Mandy Goins was named honorable mention All-America by the NGCA. Goins and Hill were each named All-ACC following the 2006 season.
In 2005, Ashley Hoagland was named NGCA First Team All-America, as well as First Team Academic All-America.
Hoagland also was named All-ACC both as a junior and a senior. Throughout her four years, Hoagland dropped her stroke average each season, finishing with a 73.54 average her senior year.
In 2003, Nuria Clau earned numerous awards, including ACC Player of the Year, All-ACC, first team Academic All-America and second team NGCA All-America. Clau earned All-ACC honors for the Deacs and NGCA All-America honors in 2002 as well.
In 1998, Alexandra Armas earned All-America honors for the second time in her career, marking the seventh-consecutive season that Dailey produced an All-American. In addition, Marta Prieto captured the ACC individual championship, becoming the fourth ACC champion in school history and the third under Dailey. Prieto also capped an outstanding 2000 NCAA Championship with a third-place finish, the highest finish ever for a Wake Forest women's golfer.
In 2001, Prieto finished off her career garnering second team All-America honors from the NCGA.
Dailey has built Wake Forest into a consistent powerhouse in women's golf over the past 20 years. She has placed the Deacons on the collegiate golf map thanks to continued success year in and year out. Wake Forest has finished in the top 10 of the NCAA Championship four times since 1993, including a third-place showing in 1995.
The third-place finish remains one of the highest ever for an ACC school in women's golf, and capped a remarkable run which saw Wake Forest capture back-to-back ACC and NCAA East Regional championships in 1994 and 1995.
As a result of her hard work and success, Dailey has been recognized by her peers as one of the nation's best coaches. In 2001, the National Golf Coaches Association inducted Dailey into the NGCA Hall of Fame. She is just one of four ACC coaches in the prestigious hall, the others being Dan Brooks (Duke), Dot Gunnells (North Carolina) and Lela Cannon (Miami).
Also in 2001, the LPGA named Dailey their Coach of the Year, an award given to a woman golf professional who is actively engaged in teaching and/or coaching golf at the college, university or high school level.
Dailey was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1995, District Coach of the Year by the NGCA in 1994, 1996 and 2000 and LPGA Southeast Coach of the Year in 1994, 1998 and 2001. In 1995, she was recognized by the NGCA with the Gladys Palmer Service Award for her service to the National Golf Coaches Association.
After serving 11 years as both the women's golf coach and the Senior Women's Administrator for the WFU athletic department, Dailey stepped out of the administrative role in September of 1999 to dedicate her full attention to the golf team.
"It was difficult to manage both as well as I would have liked to, and I wanted the chance to develop a championship golf team at Wake Forest," Dailey said.
In previous seasons, Dailey served as chairman of the NCAA Golf Committee, heading up the NCAA Championship as well as setting policies for college golf. In addition to those duties, she has been the Associate Director of the College Golf Foundation and President of the NGCA.
A native of Frankfort, Ky., Dailey graduated from nearby Salem College in Winston-Salem in 1971 and gained her master's degree from NC State. After working as Assistant Academic Dean at Salem from 1976-79, she turned to her pro golf career and subsequently, Wake Forest.
Since taking over the women's golf program in July of 1988, Dailey has guided nine players to All-America recognition, including Laura D'Alessandro (1990), Stephanie Neill (1991-95), Alexandra Armas (1995, 1998), Laura Philo Diaz (1996, 1997), Marta Prieto (2001), Nuria Clau (2002, 2003) Ashley Hoagland (2005), Mandy Goins (2006, 2007), and Natalie Sheary (2008).
"Just to be a part of the Wake Forest golf tradition is an honor," Dailey said. "You can feel it right away when you step on campus and see the facilities. Golf is a major sport here, just like football and basketball. Trying to build a tradition with the women's team is a challenge I'm enjoying."
"This university has a lot to offer young people, not only from a golf standpoint, but academically," Dailey continued. "Wake Forest is recognized as one of the top private institutions in the nation. There's a family atmosphere here -- from the students, to the faculty, to the other administrators -- there's a closeness here that other universities cannot match."
All-Americans
Since its inception, the Wake Forest women's golf program has produced 11 All-America performers, starting with Charlotte Grant in 1980. In just 20 years, Dianne Dailey has produced nine of these players. Since 1990, the Demon Deacon program has produced at least one All-American in 14 of the past 18 seasons. Dailey and the Deacs have produced an All-American in six of the past seven seasons, including Hoagland in 2005, Goins in 2006, 2007 and most recently, Sheary in 2008.
ACC Honors
Dianne Dailey was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1995. Mary Beth McGirr was the first Wake Forest coach to win the award in 1986. Dailey has coached Deacon golfers to All-ACC recognition 23 times while Wake Forest golfers have earned 25 all-conference honors since the inception of the award in 1985. Wake Forest had three performers on the team twice - in 1995 and 1996.
In 1995, the ACC began to award Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards. Wake Forest players have picked up three Player of the Year honors and three Rookie of the Year awards. Stephanie Neill was the first recipient of the ACC Player of the Year honor in 1995, and teammate Laura Philo became the second in 1996. Alexandra Armas was the first ACC Rookie of the Year award winner, and Marta Prieto became the second ACC Rookie of the Year in 1998 after capturing the ACC title. Nuria Clau continued the strong tradition by earning ACC Player of the Year honors in 2003 and sophomore Natalie Sheary won Rookie of the Year in 2008.
ACC Team Championships
Wake Forest owns three Atlantic Coast Conference titles to date with the first coming in 1986. The Deacs won back-to-back ACC titles in 1994 and 1995. Coach Dailey's team has finished as the ACC runner-up eight out of the last nine seasons. ACC Individual Championships
Dailey has coached three individuals to an ACC Championship -- Neill in 1993, Philo in 1995 and Prieto in 1998. Neill, Wake Forest's second ACC individual champion, won the 1993 tournament with a score of 219. That tournament was held at Bryan Park, site of the eleventh annual Bryan National Collegiate this spring. In 1995, Philo shot a 54-hole total of 216 to win the conference crown. Prieto became Dailey's third and the Deacon's fourth ACC Champion when she won the title in 1998 as a freshman. Prieto carded a three-day score of 221.
NCAA History
Under Dailey's tutelage, Wake Forest made its first NCAA Championship appearance in 1993 and returned to the event for five straight seasons. Overall, the Demon Deacons have earned a berth in 16 consecutive NCAA Regionals and have advanced to 11 NCAA Championships. Until Duke's NCAA Championship title in 1999, the ACC's best finish in the national championship belonged to Wake Forest. That came in 1995, when the Demon Deacons placed third.
