Aug. 21, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – Debby King, whose teams at the University of Memphis have advanced to the NCAA Golf Championships in four of the last five seasons, has been named the women’s golf coach at the University of Notre Dame.
King comes to Notre Dame after six years as the head golf coach at the University of Memphis where her teams have captured two Conference USA titles (1997 and 2001), produced 16 all-conference players, one conference player of the year and two conference rookies-of-the-year.
Her 2000-01 squad won the Conference USA tournament and finished 14th in the NCAA West Regional. Rookie of the Year, Meghan Francella, advanced to the NCAA finals but was forced to withdraw with an injury.
In announcing King as the new women’s golf coach, Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said, “We are very excited to be naming Debby King as the women’s golf coach at Notre Dame. She brings with her outstanding qualifications as a coach and a teacher at Memphis. With Debby taking over as our full-time coach, plus the addition of scholarships and our facilities at the Warren Golf Course, we have now put our women’s golf program in the position to compete at the national level.”
A native of Slidell, Louisiana, King took over at Memphis in the fall of 1995 and led the Tigers to the Memphis Women’s Intercollegiate Invitational championship in her first tournament as head coach. Since then, King’s teams have won six individual tournament titles. In 1997, King was named Conference USA’s Coach of the Year as Memphis won its first Conference USA title and advanced to the NCAA’s for the first time under her guidance. The Tigers finished eighth at the South Regional in 1997, 10th at the South Regional in 1998 and sixth at the Mid-Atlantic Regional in 1999.
A former collegiate player at Florida Atlantic University, King moved to the professional ranks as an assistant golf pro at St. Andrew’s Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. In 1985 she attended the LPGA Qualifying School and for the next five year played on the Asian Tour, the Futures Golf Tour and worked as a teaching professional.
As a player, King has won the 1991 Massachusetts Women’s Open, the 1993 West Tennessee Assistants Championship, and in 1995, the Tour America Championship.
She is recognized as one of the finest teaching professionals in the Memphis Area after working three years as the teaching professional at Windyke Country Club in Memphis, Tenn., before taking over at the University of Memphis. In 1996, she was named the PGA West Tennessee Teacher of the Year and in 1997, the LPGA Coach of the Year.
King is an LPGA Class A member, a PGA Class A member and is a member of the National Golf Coaches Association. She replaces Ross Smith who served as the women’s golf coach at Notre Dame for nine seasons. He is currently the head professional at the South Bend Country Club where he has been since 1990.