Kristen Simpson begins her second season at Penn State in 2024-25 after being named head women's golf coach on June 27, 2023. 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 decade in Power 5.
In her first season in Happy Valley, Simpson helped junior Michelle Cox shave nearly 2.5 strokes off her average as she posted the third-lowest stroke average in program history with a 73.07 including an eye-popping opening round scoring average of 68.0 during the fall semester.
Simpson led the team to a runner-up finish at the 2024 Columbia Classic with a 10-over, 874, while Cox secured her first collegiate victory capturing individual medalist honors with a 9-under, 207, the third lowest 54-hole total in program history.
Prior to her time at Penn State, Simpson 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 (2021-23).
Simpson, a veteran recruiter and skill development specialist, helped coach the Badgers to a fifth-place finish at the 2023 B1G Championships, their highest since a fourth-place finish in 2017. Emily Lauterbach finished 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.
In her first season in Happy Valley, Simpson helped junior Michelle Cox shave nearly 2.5 strokes off her average as she posted the third-lowest stroke average in program history with a 73.07 including an eye-popping opening round scoring average of 68.0 during the fall semester.
Simpson led the team to a runner-up finish at the 2024 Columbia Classic with a 10-over, 874, while Cox secured her first collegiate victory capturing individual medalist honors with a 9-under, 207, the third lowest 54-hole total in program history.
Prior to her time at Penn State, Simpson 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 (2021-23).
Simpson, a veteran recruiter and skill development specialist, helped coach the Badgers to a fifth-place finish at the 2023 B1G Championships, their highest since a fourth-place finish in 2017. Emily Lauterbach finished 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.