Joni Stephens is now in her 12th year as the Eastern Kentucky women’s golf head coach. Over the past five seasons, the Lady Colonels have become regular contenders for the Ohio Valley Conference championships.
With three top-3 finishes, including a pair of second place finishes, in the last five OVC Championships, the Colonels have become a fixture at the top of the conference.
Stephens will likely never experience another season like the 2008-09 campaign. To say her squad was young would be an understatement. The roster included one sophomore and six freshmen. Despite their youth, the Colonels posted six top-10 finishes in 10 events and sat in fourth place after the first two rounds of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship.
In the summer of 2009, Stephens and her husband Pat, the EKU men’s golf coach, saw years of hard work and planning come to fruition with the opening of the Colonel Golf & Learning Center. The CGLC will provide the Eastern Kentucky men’s and women’s golf teams with a state-of-the-art practice facility and the Richmond community with top-notch golf instruction and teaching.
Under Stephen’s guidance, in 2005 senior Brittany Klein became the first Eastern Kentucky player in almost a decade to win the OVC individual title. As a result of her team’s performance, Stephens was named the OVC Coach of the Year that season. During her tenure, Stephens has coached nine All-OVC players and five OVC All-Tournament selections.
It only makes sense that Stephens would be such an outstanding teacher as she spent a great deal of her life studying the game and its intricacies. She produced golf feasibility studies for several Kentucky cities through consulting work and analyzed the golf swing for graduate studies. In addition, she co-authored the book “Skills, Drills and Strategies of Golf” with her husband Pat.
A longtime resident of Richmond, she has been involved with Eastern Kentucky University in numerous ways. Stephens received her bachelor’s degree in physical education and dance from Eastern Kentucky in 1989 and earned her master’s degree in physical education from EKU in 1990.
She served as a graduate assistant in Exercise and Sport Science at EKU, and was later hired as an assistant professor in the same department, teaching a variety of classes including beginning golf.
Stephens also has experience in other areas of golf, assisting in merchandising at Richmond’s Gibson Bay Golf Course for several years, before becoming co-owner of the golf shop at Eastern Kentucky’s Arlington Golf Course. Stephens passed her Playing Ability Test in August 2005, and is currently in the Professional Golf Association’s Professional Golf Management program. She is also a member of the National Golf Coaches Association.
“Coaching at Eastern Kentucky is a dream come true for me,” Stephens said. “As a long-time member of the Richmond community and a graduate of Eastern, I feel very honored to have the privilege of working with the Colonel golf team and sharing in their successes both on the course and in the classroom. EKU women’s golf is truly ‘a matter of pride’ for me. The young women who make up the Colonel team are a joy to work with; they are excited about the future of EKU women’s golf and are determined to make our program competitive at the national level.
“We are definitely taking steps in the right direction. Over the past five years, we have set numerous school records. We have daily access to a great golf course and have opened a new state-of-the-art practice facility. I am very excited about what we have to offer here at Eastern Kentucky University.”
Stephens and the Colonels host a Booster Scramble each fall at Arlington Golf Course, inviting alumni and golf boosters to join the team in a fun event that helps to raise funds for the team. The event has continued to grow each year, showing the increased support for the program and its success.
Stephens and her husband, Pat, reside in Richmond and have three sons, Daniel (28), Ben (26), and Joseph (17); two daughters-in-law, Mindy and Leah; and one grandson, Carter Adam
