TAMPA, Fla. (USF Athletics) – USF Director of Athletics Mark Harlan announced today the appointment of Erika Brennan as head coach of the Bulls’ women’s golf program.
“We are very excited to welcome Erika back to the Bay Area and to have her leading our women’s golf program,” Harlan said. “Erika brings tremendous experience and a track record of success, having previously led programs at Southern Mississippi and St. Leo. She will be an excellent leader for the student-athletes in our program.”
Brennan comes to USF after two seasons leading the Southern Mississippi women’s golf program and improving the Golden Eagles national ranking by 110 places (187 to 76). She brings seven seasons of head coaching experience to the Bulls’ program, having also served five seasons as women’s golf head coach at nearby Saint Leo University, and nine years of collegiate coaching experience overall.
“I would like to thank the incredible staff at Southern Miss. I had a tremendous opportunity there and they will do great things this season,” Brennan said. “I am so excited to be leading the USF program and to be able to return our family to our own backyard. USF Athletics is at an all-time high with incredible momentum and the women’s golf program has a tremendous upside for what we can achieve. I would like to thank Mark Harlan for believing in me and giving me this awesome opportunity to join the Bulls. I can’t wait to meet the Bulls Family and get started.”
Brennan led Southern Miss (2015-17) to six tournament titles in her two-and-a-half seasons, winning the sixth this fall at the Pat Bradley Invitational in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.
In Brennan’s first season at Southern Miss, the team won the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate and UAB Fall Beach Bash and finished third in the Conference USA Championship, the program’s highest ever finish. For the first time in its history, Southern Miss boasted three top 10 finishers in the C-USA Championship.
The team won three tournament titles in 2016-17 and saw sophomore Henriette Syr finish tied for second at the C-USA Championship, the highest individual finish in program history. Syr earned all-tournament team honors for the first time in school history as the Golden Eagle's 54-hole total of 897 marked the second lowest finish by the program at the championship.
Brennan also spent five years as the head coach at Saint Leo University (2008-13), building the Lions into one of the premier Division II programs in the country. Brennan led the Lions to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and was named Saint Leo's Coach of the Year in 2011. Under her tutelage, the Lions entered the national spotlight as the team made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010 and she had the program consistently ranked in the national poll, including ranking in the top-10 in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In the fall of 2012, the squad set numerous records, including the low single round team score (291) and low 36-hole tournament score (592), which they carded at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate.
Brennan also served as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee during the 2013-14 season, where she helped lead the Lady Vols to a berth in the 2014 NCAA Regionals.
Brennan also served as the National Recruiting Coordinator for Dan Tudor Collegiate Strategies between her stints at Saint Leo and Southern Miss. Prior to entering collegiate coaching, she spent two years as a certified instructor for the David Leadbetter Golf Academy (2006-08) and also worked in an operations role for the American Junior Golf Association.
Brennan graduated from Western Carolina in 2006 with a degree in sport management. She also has a master’s degree in management from Warner University and is pursuing a master’s degree in human capital development from Southern Mississippi.
As a player, Brennan finished her career ranked in the top 20 in the Southern Conference and ranks ninth all-time at WCU in career scoring average. She was named the Catamount's Female Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2005 for her academic efforts, which included being named to the WCU Honors College and serving as the vice president of the Western Carolina Student-Athlete Advisory Council and a member of the Southern Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
Brennan and her husband, Brian, have a five-year old daughter, Blakely.