UCLA Sports Information UCLA women’s golf coach
Carrie Leary (left) gives senior Leilani
Bagby some advice on a shot earlier this year.
By Michelle Coppolella
Daily Bruin Contributor
After finishing four or five years of undergraduate study here
at UCLA, it’s nothing less than horrifying to step out into
the world and take the next step in life.
The truth is, most of us don’t even know what that next
step is. Although there are conceivably hundreds of different paths
to take, the majority of us will follow one of two.
Some will go to graduate school, choosing to further their
educations to ensure better jobs in the future.
Others will step directly into the work force, realizing that
they should have majored in English rather than physiological
science. They’ll bounce from job to job, if they can even
find one.
Therefore, to be under 30 years of age and content with your
occupation in life is not only rare, but commendable. At 29 years
of age, UCLA women’s golf Head Coach Carrie Leary is exactly
where she wants to be and having the time of her life doing it.
In only her second year as head coach, Leary has led the Bruin
women to their first NCAA Finals appearance in four years.
“Last week when the team qualified for Finals was
indescribable,” Leary said. “Being with the team and
seeing how important it was for them was the best feeling
I’ve ever had as a part of the program.”
And Leary is undoubtedly an essential part of the women’s
golf program. In 1999-2000, her first season at UCLA, she
transformed a golf team stuck in the sand traps into a team that
drives on the green. She led the Bruins to capture their first
tournament in nearly three years at the Rainbow Wahine Fall Classic
in Hawaii, improving their preseason ranking from No. 20 to No. 9.
Additionally, the team’s stroke average was improved by five
shots.
“It was a really good transition,” senior co-captain
Laura Moffat said. “She was really supportive and allowed you
to be your own person within the team. Everyone was different and
she didn’t treat everyone as a whole.”
To add to these impressive accomplishments, Leary captured her
second consecutive Rainbow Wahine Fall Classic this year, taking
the SDSU Fall Classic as well.
“When you’re at UCLA, there’s an atmosphere of
excellence, expectation and importance,” Leary said.
“It’s a demanding program that holds a lot of tradition
and I wanted to do well.”
It was this kind of attitude that lead Leary to reach such great
heights at Cal State Northridge, where she coached from 1996-1999.
Transforming the program completely, she improved the
Matador’s scoring average by 31 strokes, was named 1998-99
Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year, and led her team to finish
third in the Big Sky Conference in 1998.
Leary admits, however, that she felt much less pressure at
Northridge than she does now.
“It was quite different coaching at Cal State
Northridge,” Leary said. “At UCLA, the expectations are
much higher and the caliber of athlete you’re able to recruit
is at a higher level.”
But recruiting isn’t always essential in developing a
quality program, and Leary can identify with that as much as
anyone. She began her collegiate golf career at UCLA as a walk-on
player, starting in 11 of 12 tournaments and earning a scholarship
after her freshman year. As a member of the 1991 NCAA Championship
team, Leary provided the ideal coaching characteristic:
experience.
“Having been a player here, she understands what these
players go through and what’s expected of them,” UCLA
Sports Information Director Rich Bertolucci said.
“She’s very receptive to listening to the girls for
both personal and golf-related issues.”
Freshman Gina Umeck agrees and describes Leary not only as a
coach, but a friend and role model.
“She’s concerned with the individual and not with
the individual playing golf,” Umeck said. “She keeps
the golf team happy and healthy from academics to personal issues.
She does it all.”
But Leary wasn’t always on the road to being a coach.
After graduating with honors from UCLA in 1994 with a degree in
psychology, she played professionally on several LPGA mini tours,
competed in three U.S. Amateur Championships and served as an
alternate qualifier for the 1992 and 1994 Women’s Open
Championships. But a life in professional golf just didn’t
cut it for Leary.
“I played professionally for two years trying to make the
LPGA, but that was enough for me. It’s a hard life,”
Leary said.
She then joined the LPGA as an instructor and worked at various
country clubs in Valencia, doing something she had never realized
she loved so much: teaching others how to play golf. That’s
when the opportunity at Cal State Northridge knocked. Leary
answered with enthusiasm.
After a few years there, however, Leary looked to move on to a
more intense golf program, and her alma mater seemed perfect.
“In college I never really thought about coaching,”
Leary said. “But once I started doing so at Cal State
Northridge, I wanted to move up. UCLA was ideal because I played
for it and loved it so much.”
And the love she has for golf and UCLA still abounds today, as
she is transforming its women’s golf program and improves its
players on a daily basis.
“All teams are a reflection of their coach, and Coach
Leary has instilled a competitive fire in this team, much like the
fire that burns in her heart in this team,” Bertolucci said.
“She definitely has a vision and that vision is to lead this
program into national prominence.”