Montgomery Announces as New Head Women's Golf Coach
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With the season quickly approaching, the Eagles have named Knoxville native and former collegiate golfer Alyssa Montgomery as C-N’s new head women’s golf coach.
VIDEO: Alyssa Montgomery Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – With the season quickly approaching, the Eagles have named Knoxville native and former collegiate golfer Alyssa Montgomery as C-N's new head women's golf coach.
"I'm a Knoxville native," Montgomery said. "The opportunity to come back home after I finished my collegiate career and lead a team around here came up and I couldn't pass that up."
Montgomery spent four years at Virginia Tech, and in her final year with the Hokies she tallied a 75.92 scoring average including three rounds at par or better. She was also a member of the All-ACC Academic Team.
In the 2023-24 season, Montgomery took a fifth year at the University of South Florida, where she shot a career-best 72.82 scoring average with a low-round total of 68, which she achieved twice. She added six rounds in the 60s and 12 rounds of par or better in her final year of eligibility with the Bulls.
With a successful playing career under her belt, Montgomery feels she has a lot to share with a team who wants to continue making strides in 2025.
"Coming in, they asked me what the best part of my game is and what I'm excited for," Montgomery said. "It's the short game. I aim to get them really good at chipping and putting, working super hard on that stuff. I want to improve the scoring average, which is a pretty easy fix, and help them with my experience as a Division I golfer… I want to help them be the best golfers they can be this season."
Heading into the season, Montgomery lacks familiarity with many of the courses the Eagles will travel to, but having a fairly experienced group that has played the courses before will benefit the first-year head coach.
"Looking at the schedule, I haven't played any of those courses before," Montgomery said. "I was asking the girls and they said it's their third or fourth year at these courses, so I'm happy that they have some more experience and I'll have Randy [Wylie] and Suzanne [Strudwick] out there on the courses too. They're going to help me out and I'm going to do all the research I can beforehand to make sure I'm prepared."
Looking at the roster heading into the 2025 spring season, Montgomery is excited about the young talent and the returning upperclassmen who provide experience to the group.
"We have some upperclassmen who kicked the season off hard in the fall," Montgomery said. "They've had some really good finishes, so I'm excited about that. Just taking what they already have in their game and helping them nurture it, and drop a few more strokes if we can… They seem like a great group. They're super nice and fun on the course, so I'm excited."
Montgomery aims to adjust her coaching style during events on a player-by-player basis, adjusting to each player's desired coaching style.
"I think that's more of a one-on-one personal thing," Montgomery said. "Some people like a little more coaching, and some don't… I will try and hopefully feed off their body language and what they tell me… We will help a lot with course management, where I'll have the biggest influence. I'm not there to be a swing coach and help them with that a whole lot, but some of the short game stuff, course management, and helping them with whatever they feel like they need on the course."
Montgomery makes her head coaching debut on February 17th, as the Eagles kick off their 2025 spring season at the Battle at Hilton Head.
For 2025 Carson-Newman women's golf spring season updates, visit cneagles.com and follow us on social media @cn_eagles.
