The exit of one Colorado native from a head coaching job led to the promotion of another into that position.
Two months after Denver native and former University of Denver women’s golf coach Sammie Chergo stepped down as women’s coach at Oregon State, her former OSU assistant, Dawn Shockley, was named the Beavers’ head coach on Monday.
Shockley was born and raised in Colorado and played golf under Chergo at DU. While competing for the Pioneers, they placed sixth and fifth, respectively, in the 2008 and ’09 women’s NCAA finals. Individually, Shockley won twice while at DU, including the 2009 NCAA East Regional as a senior. She finished 21st individually in the 2009 NCAA finals.
“Dawn is a proven winner and a steely competitor,” Oregon State athletic director Todd Stansbury said in Monday’s announcement. “Her ability to instill confidence in student-athletes and teach course management set her apart from other candidates. I’m excited to watch our program develop under her leadership.”
Shockley, a regular on the Symetra Tour or Ladies European Tour for several years before going to Oregon State, had been serving as interim head coach at OSU since Chergo departed.
Oregon State competes in the Pac-12, the same conference as the University of Colorado.
“Being a head coach is a privilege,” Shockley said. “I’m very grateful (and) thankful and look forward to the opportunity to lead this team and continue what we’ve been doing for the last two years. … I look forward to becoming one of those teams that’s a powerhouse. The challenge and excitement about being the head coach is leading this team to something that is pretty cool and pretty unique.”
Oregon State set — or re-set — program scoring average records the last two seasons under Chergo, with Shockley’s assistance.
Besides excelling at golf while she attended Estes Park High School, Shockley won the Class 3A state cross country title as a freshman, was named Miss 3A Colorado Basketball as a senior, and served as her school’s student body president as a senior.
As she told coloradogolf.org in 2009, “I’m pretty competitive in everything.”
