UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft named Kristen Simpson as the head coach of the Penn State Women's Golf team Tuesday. An LPGA Teaching Class A member and a TPI Golf 2 Certified Coach, Simpson descends on Happy Valley with more than 12 years of Division I coaching experience, including the past nine years in Power 5.
Simpson has spent time as an assistant coach at Old Dominion (2011-14) and Maryland (2014-18), served as the associate head coach at North Carolina (2018-21) and was most recently the assistant coach at Wisconsin since July 2021.
"We are excited to bring Kristen to Happy Valley as our head women's golf coach," said Kraft. "During our national search for our women's golf coach, Kristen rose to the top of the list with her extensive coaching and recruiting success in the Big Ten and ACC, as well as her playing career as a two-time captain at the University of Virginia. Her experiences as both a coach and player on the East Coast will be extremely beneficial as she builds our program into a perennial contender."
"I am thrilled and honored to be named the next head women's golf coach at Penn State! I would first like to thank Dr. Pat Kraft, Brandi Stuart, Joe Hughes and the entire leadership team for their support and belief in my vision for the future," commented Simpson. "I look forward to continuing to build on the strong foundation Coach St. Pierre built! I know there are some great young women in the program with outstanding accomplishments and I am eager to start working with them and help them continue to improve and build the Penn State Women's Golf legacy. I can't wait to get to Happy Valley and join the Penn State family! WE ARE…"
Simpson, a veteran recruiter and skill development specialist, helped coach the Badgers to a fifth-place finish at the B1G Championships this past season, their highest since a fourth-place finish in 2017. Simpson saw senior Emily Lauterbach finish the week tied for second in the 83-player field.
During her time in Chapel Hill, Simpson played a key role in UNC's recruiting, academic and player development efforts, in addition to team operations and event management. Notably, Simpson helped recruit a talented roster not only domestically, but internationally as well including some of the top student-athletes overseas highlighted by 2019-20 WGCA honorable-mention All-American Jennifer Zhou, Carolina's first All-American in seven years.
Simpson had her first Big Ten coaching experience at Maryland where she helped coach the Terrapins to a second-place finish in the 2018 Big Ten Championships, their highest since joining the conference. Simpson also saw the Terrapins shoot up the rankings reaching No. 56, the highest in program history by more than 60 spots. In 2017, Maryland won its first tournament championship in program history, taking home the title at the Nittany Lion Invitational with freshman Laura Van Respaille earning individual medalist honors.
Prior to her time in College Park, Simpson began her coaching career at Old Dominion as an assistant coach for both the men's and women's programs. Simpson helped the women to multiple tournament and individual tournament victories while achieving their highest national ranking on No. 62, up from No. 131.
Simpson played collegiately at the University of Virginia graduating with a degree in economics in 2008. A team captain her final two seasons in Charlottesville, Simpson also earned her master's degree from UVA in social foundations of education in 2009 before playing professionally as a member of the LPGA Futures Tour and SunCoast Tour from 2009-11.
