Kathy Niepagen, the 2000 Division III national women's golf "Coach of the Year," serves as an assistant coach under Craig Onsrud. She previously led the Titans from 1997 until 2014.
Her teams won 11 straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championships (2002 through 2012) and 58 Illinois Wesleyan players earned all-conference honors, including Katie Klosterman, Rose Kelly, Brittany Levens, Megan Geraghty, Michelle Schoch and Rebecca Candra in 2012.
Eleven teams during her tenure have participated in NCAA Division III national championships and the Titans tied for ninth in the 2013 national championships.
Since 1997, 56 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.
Niepagen was named NGCA Region Three "Coach of the Year" in 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006 by NGCA membership, Niepagen is also a seven-time recipient of the CCIW "Coach of the Year" award (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012). 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 served as her volunteer assistant coach.
