Sofie Aagaard Named Cal Women’s Golf Head Coach – California Golden Bears Athletics

WGOLF6/4/2024 11:06 AM | By: Cal Athletics

Cal Athletics Hall Of Famer Returns To Alma Mater To Lead Program

BERKELEY – Sofie Aagaard, a California Athletics Hall of Famer who spent the last two seasons at the helm at Washington State, has been named the next head coach of the Cal women’s golf program, Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Tuesday.

“I am incredibly honored and excited to be the next head women’s golf coach at Cal and I want to thank Athletic Director Jim Knowlton, Associate Athletic Director Jay John and the search committee for this opportunity,” Aagaard said. “It is with great pride that I come back to Cal to coach at my alma mater, following one of the best coaches in college golf history, coach Nancy McDaniel.”

Aagaard – a three-time NGCA All-American as a player at Cal from 2003-06 – will be the second head coach in program history. She takes the reins from McDaniel, the Golden Bears’ founding head coach, who recently announced her retirement following 29 seasons leading the team.

“We are ecstatic to welcome Sofie back to Berkeley as our new head women’s golf coach,” Knowlton said. “Sofie knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level as a student-athlete and coach at Cal, and her track record speaks for itself. She was mentored by a legend and has turned those experiences into successes at every stop along the way. We are thrilled to bring Sofie and her family back home.”

As a player under McDaniel, Aagaard helped lead the Bears to three consecutive top-5 finishes at the NCAA Championships and finished her Cal playing career with a then-program record 74.2 stroke average. During that time, she also won gold (2004) and silver (2006) medals with the Swedish National Team at the World Amateur Team Championships and earned four more medals at the European Team Championships.

“We are so excited to welcome Sofie back to Cal,” McDaniel said. “As a decorated alum of the program and former assistant coach here, she understands what it takes to be a successful and balanced student-athlete at Cal. She has always set a high standard for herself that inspires those around her to follow. She will hit the ground running with her enthusiasm, experience and ingenuity.”

Following her collegiate playing career, Aagaard qualified to compete on the 2008 LPGA Tour and played in the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Women’s Opens. She earned four top-10 finishes on the Symetra LPGA Tour from 2007-12 and also served as a member of the Player Advisory Committee from 2010-12.

In February of 2013, Aagaard returned to Berkeley for a two-year stint as an assistant coach. Following that, she served as the head coach at Cal Poly for seven seasons, where she was a four-time Big West Coach of the Year and two-time LPGA Western Section Coach of the Year.

Aagaard led the Mustangs to three NCAA Regionals and produced 13 All-Big West selections, 12 WGCA All-American Scholars and one conference player of the year. She also served as both an assistant and head coach for the Arnold Palmer Cup International Team (2020-21) and was inducted into the California Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.

After guiding WSU to back-to-back NCAA Regionals in 2023 and 2024, Aagaard makes her second return to her alma mater to lead a rising Golden Bear squad coming off a year in which it set numerous all-time records and qualified for its 23rd NCAA Regional since 2000.

Also returning to the Bears’ coaching staff is associate head coach Bev Terry, who on Monday was named the WGCA Assistant Coach of the Year after playing a crucial role in leading the Bears to their best season in recent memory.

“We are so fortunate to also retain Bev as our associate head coach,” Knowlton said. “Bev has been an indispensable member of our program for nine years and was especially invaluable to us this past season as she took on a significant increase in responsibility. Her continued presence on our coaching staff is a huge asset to the future of the program.”

Terry will be returning for her 10th season overall on Cal’s coaching staff and second as associate head coach.

“Bev and Sofie complement one another effectively, providing the team with a perfect balance of challenge and support as well as the mentorship for high personal growth,” McDaniel said. “This is a perfect pairing and we are excited to watch these two amazing women team up and take this program to the next level in the ACC and beyond.”

The news of Aagaard’s hiring comes on the same day that the NCAA released its latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) data – a metric that demonstrates real-time measurement of academic success. The Bears’ women’s golf program received a perfect APR mark of 1,000 for the eighth consecutive year.

“I am looking forward to building a great coaching partnership together with Coach Bev,” Aagaard said. “I am thrilled to continue to build on the already strong team culture, competitive roster and lineup that Bev and Nancy have instilled within a program that has found great success in balancing academics and athletics performance.”