2019 Hall of Fame Inductee: Kristi Coggins

After leading the women’s golf team for 13 years and coaching the Gamecocks to 12 trips to the postseason and six NCAA championship appearances, former head coach Kristi Coggins is part of the 2019 class for the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame.  Named SEC Coach of the Year in 1999, she and her team claimed their first SEC title in 2002. Coach Coggins also mentored two players already in the University’s Athletics Hall of Fame, and four players who went on to the LPGA Tour as professionals.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by my Gamecocks,” Coggins said. “I don’t feel like I ever worked a day, which was quite a blessing. I just cherished the time and the players. I was recruited here and didn’t know a soul. I was in Texas, at Texas Christian University, and the opportunity to come coach in the SEC and at the top level was just truly a blessing for me.
“I am so honored. You don’t think about it when you’re doing it. You’re thinking about the players.”

In speaking about her time in Columbia, Coggins was honored to be a Gamecock.

“It was certainly a source of pride. It was fun being a Gamecock. Just to have the opportunity and to be truly selected to be the coach here. We won an SEC championship, I had numerous players have academic awards, as well as two different Dinah Shore winners, to the extent that the LPGA Tour told me that we were not going to be eligible anymore because we had taken so much of their grant funding, but we had the kids who deserved it and it was fun,” Coggins said.

Coggins mentored Adrienne Gautreaux who won the award for the top collegiate female golfer in 2004, and Erica Battle two years later in 2006.

“It’s always fun to come back and be with my Gamecock family, because they truly are my family.”

Coggins highlighted a special moment during her career with South Carolina.

“When we won the SEC championship, it was very special winning the team championship by the leadership of Kristy McPherson, who had just won her back-to-back SEC individual championships,” Coggins said. “And so that year I got a call from Mike McGee, who was the former athletic director, and he said ‘Coach I’ve got an opportunity for you that I’m not sure you can decline. William ‘Hootie’ Johnson, Chairman of Augusta National has invited your team to play Augusta National Golf course.’ I said you know what, that is an invitation I believe we will accept. We were lucky to take our team for four consecutive years. We felt like we were being treated like queens. It’s something that not many people get to experience.”

While coaching the women’s golf team, Coggins also earned recognition in the sport.

“I have been honored to be the coach for the South Carolina Junior Girls team vs. Georgia. While I was coaching at the university, I was selected as the coach for Team USA, and we competed against Japan and won that,” Coggins said. “Putting that jacket on and representing your country was just a feeling that I was so blessed to have. It’s something that you don’t think of in your wildest dreams. It was great.”

Coggins is still giving back to the game of golf and the community.

“I’m currently serving on the Junior Golf Foundation board, and I’m loving that work, and just trying to pass it on to the young junior golfers involved,” Coggins said. “One thing that we do that is cool is we also produce rodeos. My husband and I have done the Blythewood Rodeo for the last 10 years, and we also do some other events.”

Coggins is proud to join two of her former players in the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame.

“Siew Ai Lim was a junior when I came in and what a greater player and person she is. She’s currently teaching in Malaysia, coaching their national team,” Coggins said. “She’s just an incredible young lady. Also, Kristy McPherson I recruited from Conway, South Carolina, and we always took so much pride in the fact that our SEC team was comprised of all but two girls from South Carolina. We felt that it was truly a source of local pride with those girls winning those championships.”

Looking forward to coming back to Columbia Coggins mentioned, “My class is incredible, from Marcus Lattimore to Cally Plummer the volleyball player. I’m so looking forward to coming back and seeing (Athletics Director) Coach (Ray) Tanner, who was the baseball coach when I was there. It’s always fun to come back and be with my Gamecock family, because they truly are my family.”

To read more about the 2019 Hall of Fame class, click here.