Nebraska Head Women’s Golf Coach Jeanne Sutherland announced her retirement on Friday, March 14, effective at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Sutherland, who is completing her third season as the head coach of the Huskers after spending her first season at Nebraska as associate head coach in 2021-22, helped at least one Husker golfer to an NCAA Regional appearance in each of her first three seasons in Lincoln. She was named Nebraska’s head coach on May 5, 2022 after helping the Huskers to an NCAA Regional appearance. The 2024 Huskers also qualified for NCAA Regional competition as a team.
“I want to thank Jeanne Sutherland for her leadership of our women’s golf program and her contributions to the University of Nebraska,” Athletic Director Troy Dannen said. “Jeanne has had an outstanding record throughout her college coaching career, both here at Nebraska and at her previous schools. We look forward to our team finishing the season strong and wish Jeanne all the best in her retirement. We will begin the search for our next Nebraska Women’s Golf coach immediately.”
Sutherland came to Nebraska after spending 10 seasons (2011-21) as the head coach at SMU. She previously spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Texas A&M (1992-2007). She has led 19 teams to NCAA Regional qualification during her award-winning career.
“I’m very lucky to have been a coach for 32 years,” Sutherland said. “Some days are tough, but even those are well worth it when you’re with wonderful women who want to play their best and pull together as a team. There’s a lot that I’ll miss about coaching, but number one is getting the opportunity to spend time with motivated players and watch them learn and mature. With that being said, we still have one third of our season left to play some great golf, so I’m all in on a strong finish.”
Sutherland has coached three All-Americans, five individual conference champions and three conference players of the year. In 2018, Sutherland was named the inaugural winner of the WGCA Kim Evans Award. She also earned the WGCA Founders Award in 2017. A four-time conference coach of the year at Texas A&M (3 Big 12, 1 Southwest Conference), Sutherland was also a two-time NCAA Regional Coach of the Year (1997, 2007). She led 13 Texas A&M teams to NCAA Regional play, including four NCAA Championship appearances in 1997 (17th), 2004 (24th), 2005 (22nd) and 2006 (19th).
Sutherland coached SMU to five straight NCAA bids (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017).
In her first 27 seasons as a head coach, Sutherland helped her golfers earn 46 WGCA Scholastic All-America awards and 121 academic all-conference honors, while her Texas A&M and Nebraska teams carried perfect 100 percent graduation rates.
