Kathy Niepagen

Kathy Niepagen, the 2000 Division III national women's golf "Coach of the Year", has been women's golf coach at Illinois Wesleyan since January 1997 and has been an aggressive and vital component of the University's athletic program.

Her teams have won six straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championships (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and, since 1997, 36 IWU players have earned all-conference honors, including Alessandra Bollero, Kristi Katz, Erica Woodall and Nicole Spear in 2007. Six Titans have won the individual medalist honors at the league tournament since 1998.

Six teams during her tenure have participated in NCAA Division III national championships and finished fourth in 2008, the highest finish ever for the Wesleyan women golfers. IWU finished sixth in 2007, 2006 and 2000, eighth in 2005 and 10th in 2002.
In 2007, Taylor Paskell was named a second team NGCA All-American and finished a team-low 23rd in the NCAA Division III national tournament. In the 2006 national tournament, Paskell finished seventh, the lowest ever for an IWU national competitor, and in the 2005 national championships, Paskell was 17th and Alison Mayer tied for 26th.
In two other NCAA tournaments, Illinois Wesleyan has also been represented by players as individuals - Gail Nelson finished eighth in 2003, and Stephanie Morton placed 47th in the 2004 Division III meet.

Since 1997, 45 of her student-athletes have earned National All-Scholar Awards and the IWU women's team tied for fourth among all NCAA division schools in the 2007-2008 NGCA All-Scholar Team GPA Award with a combined 3.662 grade-point average. The 2005 and 2006 teams earned top 10 academic awards across Divisions I, II and III.

Currently in her 12th year as head coach, Niepagen has been the Division III Director of the National Golf Coaches Association since 2002. Named NGCA Region Three "Coach of the Year" in 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006 by NGCA membership, Niepagen is also a five-time recipient of the CCIW "Coach of the Year" award (from 2001 to 2006). Representing Illinois Wesleyan, she was tournament director for the 2000 Division III national championships, hosted at Bloomington's Prairie Vista Golf Course, and volunteered as tournament director for the inaugural COUNTRY Youth Classic in 2002.

A native of Bloomington, Ill., and graduate of Central Catholic High School and Illinois State University, she is an avid golfer and a regular participant in women's city championship tournaments. She worked at Bloomington's Highland Park Golf Course for eight years and also worked at Inverrary Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Niepagen is married to six-time Bloomington-Normal city golf champion Frank Niepagen, who serves as her volunteer assistant coach.