Mike Whitson, the former EKU women’s golf coach, and a former Colonel golfer, was chosen as the men's golf head coach in August of 2018.
In his first season as the men’s golf head coach, Whitson led the Colonels to nine top-10 finishes, including eight in the top-5, in 11 total events. His team posted the sixth lowest single season scoring average in program history.
Under Whitson’s tutelage in 2018-19, Erik Lindwall was chosen as the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and picked to the All-OVC team. He led the conference with a program record 71.66 stroke average.
Whitson guided the Colonels to four top-10 performances in six events during the 2019-20 season. Eastern’s 54-hole round score of 832 at the Marshall Invitational tied for the fourth lowest three-round score in program history. The team’s season scoring average of 291.29 was the fifth-best by a Colonel team. Individually, Billy Basham’s season stroke average of 72.14 tied for the third lowest on record for an EKU golfer.
In 2020-21, his third season as head coach, Whitson led Eastern to five top-10 finishes in seven events.
This past season, the Colonels had seven top-10 finishes. EKU’s round of 272 at the EKU Intercollegiate tied for the fourth lowest score for the program since 1997. Senior Willis Gaer became the first Colonel to earn a spot on the ASUN Conference Men’s Golf All-Academic Team.
“I am excited and honored to be the head men’s golf coach at EKU,” Whitson said. “To be the coach of the team I once played for is a special experience. We are looking forward to a great year and I hope in the years to come we can continue the excellence EKU golf has achieved over so many decades.”
Under Whitson’s guidance, the women’s team finished among the top three teams at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship five straight times, won the league title three times, made three NCAA Championships appearances and sent the first EKU women’s golfer – Elsa Moberly – to the NCAA Championships as an individual. Whitson was chosen as the OVC Women’s Golf Coach of the Year in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
It didn’t take long for Whitson to turn the Colonels into the premier program in the OVC. In just his third season as head coach, the Colonels won the 2013 OVC Championship and made the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance. Whitson had EKU back on top of the league and making a second NCAA Regional appearance in 2015. The team made it back-to-back championships by winning in record fashion in 2016.
Eastern Kentucky captured the 2016 OVC title by 18 shots and broke conference records for 54-hole total (888) and team tournament scoring average (296.0). EKU’s remarkable 2015 season ended with the best performance ever by an OVC team at the NCAA Regional, placing 15th at the South Bend Regional. The Colonels finished just one shot behind North Carolina and three shots in front of 45th ranked San Jose State.
EKU concluded the 2016-17 season ranked 96th in the nation in the final Golfstat Rankings, higher than such teams as Virginia Tech, Kansas, Indiana, Cincinnati, South Florida and Nebraska. In eight seasons as the women’s head coach, Whitson tutored 16 All-OVC selections.
Whitson was a four-year letter winner for the Colonels from 1994 to 1998, helping the team to a second-place OVC finish and capturing All-OVC honors in 1998. As a senior, he fired a second round score of 64 at the OVC Tournament and finished tied for third with a three-round total of 214, two shots under par.
The Paris, Kentucky native earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from EKU in 1998. He completed a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in athletic administration at the University of Kansas in 2005.
Before returning to his alma mater, Whitson spent five years as the head women’s golf coach at Indiana State University. He served three seasons (2001-04) as an assistant women’s golf coach at the University of Tennessee. Whitson’s collegiate coaching career began at Transylvania University (2000-01).
In addition to their success on the course, Whitson’s student-athletes have excelled in the classroom. In 2010 Indiana State was listed fourth on the Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s (WGCA) top-25 list of team grade point averages. Eastern Kentucky’s 2012-13 team grade-point-average of 3.604 ranked 22nd on the WGCA Top-25. Over 12 seasons, Whitson coached 52 WGCA All-American Scholar Team selections. In his first three seasons as the men’s golf coach, there have been nine Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-American Scholar selections.
Whitson and his wife Autumn reside in Richmond with their daughter Leeann and their son Collier.
