Andrea Gaston, a three-time NCAA national championship Hall of Fame coach, and one of the nation’s most decorated golf coaches, has been appointed the Head Women’s Golf Coach at Texas A&M University, it was announced today by Aggie Director of Athletics Scott Woodward. Gaston led the USC women’s golf team for 22 seasons, winning three national titles, four Pac-12 titles, coaching five NCAA individual champions and earning Pac-12 Coach of the Year and the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors three different times.
“We strive for excellence in all that we do and Andrea is the personification of excellence as the nation’s premier women’s golf coach,” said Woodward. “Her commitment to the complete student-athlete and her track record of developing world-class golfers and leading them to championships is unparalleled and we are thrilled that she will be joining the Aggie Family.”
Gaston guided the Trojans to NCAA titles in 2003, 2008 and 2013 and has finished in the Top 5 for the past 13 years (the longest active streak in the country by nine years), a span in which no other school has more than eight Top 5 finishes. Under Gaston, USC qualified for the NCAA Championships 21 years in a row. Twenty-three of her golfers have earned a combined 51 All-American honors and the Trojans have totaled 79 All-Pac-12 honors during her tenure. Gaston was inducted into the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010.
“Throughout my career, I have always focused on the student-athlete,” said Gaston, “and any success that we have had is because of their hard work and talent. Texas A&M is known throughout the country for providing a world-class student-athlete experience and education and I believe that the program has no limits to where it can go. I want to thank Scott Woodward and his team for giving me this opportunity and I cannot wait to get started.”
This past season, Gaston put together one of the best coaching jobs of her career, earning national Women’s Coach of the Year honors from Golfweek for the third time in her career. After losing two All-Americans to the professional ranks mid-season, she took a group of four freshmen and three sophomores to the NCAA Championship semifinal.
The Trojans have finished first or second at the NCAA Championships seven times under Gaston, including second-place finishes by one stroke in 2010 and 2012 and by two strokes in 2014. The Trojans are one of two schools nationally to have reached match play at the NCAA Championships in all four seasons since the current format was adopted in 2015, and have made the national semifinals in three of those four seasons.
Prior to entering the coaching ranks at USC in 1996, Gaston was a highly acclaimed amateur and professional player, competing for San Jose State in the 1970s, finishing in the Top 10 of the NCAA Championships and qualifying for the 1977 U.S. Women's Open. After a 14-year hiatus to focus on a business career, Gaston returned to the game, qualifying for the 1994 U.S. Women’s Open and winning two California State Amateur championships (1993-94).
Gaston completed her education at California State University, Northridge, graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1980.
She has served on numerous committees over the years, including the NCAA Certification Committee, WGCA Awards Committee, Collegiate Golf Foundation Coaches Council, the National Tour Committee and the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings Committee.
Gaston By The Numbers
3 - NCAA National Championships (2003, 2008, 2013 / Second among active coaches)
4 - Pac-12 Championships (2008, 2011, 2013, 2016)
5 - NCAA Individual Champions (Leads active coaches)
7 - NCAA Top 2 Finishes (Leads active coaches)
13 - Straight NCAA Top 5 finishes (Longest streak among active coaches)
21 - Straight NCAA Championships Appearances (Longest streak among active coaches)
50 - All-Americans (Second among active coaches)
63 - Team Tournament Wins (Fifth among active coaches)
79 - All-Pac-12 honors
