The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Ianello named Women’s Golf Head Coach at Texas
06.04.2024 | Women's Golf
Laura Ianello takes over the Longhorns’ program after 14 years as head coach at Arizona, where she led the Wildcats to a national championship in 2018.
AUSTIN, Texas — A national champion as both a player and head coach at the University of Arizona, Laura Ianello has been named Women's Golf Head Coach at The University of Texas, Vice President and Lois and Richard Folger Athletics Director Chris Del Conte announced Monday.
"We are thrilled to have Laura Ianello taking over our women's golf program," Del Conte said. "She is one of the nation's elite golf coaches, absolutely checks all the boxes as a leader and person and is a highly-respected coach with a great reputation in the collegiate golf community. What she has accomplished during her 14 seasons at Arizona is outstanding, and she brings the wisdom and knowledge of an All-American and LPGA Tour golfer in her playing days as well. Laura is a program builder with a championship pedigree, and she truly cares about developing her student-athletes, whether it be on the course, in the classroom or as people. I'm thrilled about the future of Texas Women's Golf with Coach Ianello leading our program, and we are excited to welcome her into our Texas Athletics family."
Ianello served as the head coach at Arizona for the past 14 seasons and paced the Wildcats to a national championship in 2018. During her undergraduate playing career, she also was a member of Arizona's 2000 national championship team.
Under Ianello's leadership, the Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Championships a total of nine times in 13 opportunities (the 2020 championship was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and claimed the Pac-12 Championship in 2015. She developed six student-athletes who received a total of nine All-America honors, while 24 individuals earned All-Pac-12 team accolades and 24 players also claimed Pac-12 All-Academic team recognition.
"I am thrilled to be named the new women's golf coach at The University of Texas and I want to thank Chris Del Conte and Sarah Baumgartner for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime," said Ianello. "My goals are simple: build positive relationships with the current team, work hard, recruit the best and win championships. I'm grateful to the University of Arizona for my 17 years (as an assistant and head coach), and I am thrilled for a new beginning at The University of Texas. Texas is the best athletic department in the country, I'm so excited to a part of it, and I know our women's golf team is destined for greatness."
During the 2023-24 season, Ianello led the Wildcats to a 16-stroke team win at the Gators Invitational (Gainesville, Fla.) while Nena Wongthanavimok captured her first individual collegiate victory. Gile Bite Starkute also won the individual title at the Match in the Desert that included a round of 64, tying the lowest 18-hole score in Arizona program history. Freshman Charlotte Back also carded a 64 in the second round of the Pac-12 Championships. Back equaled Starkute and Haley Moore for the lowest round in school history as well as tying USC's Catherine Park for the lowest round ever at the Pac-12 Championships. Starkute and Carolina Melgrati earned All-Pac-12 team honors, while Wongthanavimok claimed All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention accolades.
In 2022-23, the Wildcats punched their ticket to the NCAA Championships by winning the NCAA Raleigh Regional. This marked the first NCAA Regional title for Arizona since 2010. Freshman Julia Misemer carded back-to-back rounds of 68 to tie for second place individually, marking the best performance by an Arizona golfer at a NCAA Regional since Alison Walshe won the 2008 NCAA UC Davis Regional. The Wildcats concluded the year with a tie for ninth at the NCAA Championships. Wongthanavimok earned a tie for seventh in the individual standings at the NCAA Championships with a score of 6-under for the week. She became the third Arizona freshman in the last 20 years to post a top-10 finish at NCAAs, joining Haley Moore (2016) and Erica Blasberg (2003). Ianello was named to the WGCA National Coach of the Year Watchlist in May.
Despite losing the All-American sister duo of Yu-Sang and Vivian Hou to the professional ranks in December after they both qualified through the final stages of LPGA Q-School, Ianello still led the Wildcats to another NCAA Regional appearance and came within just a few strokes of advancing to the NCAA Championships in the 2021-22 season. Freshman Carolina Melgrati earned WGCA Honorable Mention All-America and All-Pac-12 accolades and also participated in the prestigious Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA).
Ianello completed one of her top coaching jobs in the shortened 2020-21 season. Arizona overcame late returns from international players, injuries and the uncertainty of college sports to make the NCAA Championships. Once at the national championship, Arizona became the only program in the nation to reach the semifinals of match play in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 NCAA Championships.
Ianello was named Pac-12 Co-Coach of the Year in the 2018-19 season after leading the Wildcats to the NCAA semifinals for the second year in a row. The Wildcats, led by a trio of WGCA All-Americans, fell to eventual champion, Duke, on the 18th hole of the final match.
During the 2017-18 season, the Wildcats entered NCAA Regionals after finishing in the top three of its previous five events, including wins at the El Tigre Invitational and the PING/ASU Invitational. The Wildcats finished fourth at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional to secure their spot in the NCAA Championship field. The Cats edged top-seeded UCLA in the quarterfinals of match play and advanced to the final with a 4-1 victory over Stanford. The championship match went to extra holes with the Wildcats emerging victorious over Alabama for their third national title in program history.
Prior to being named the Wildcats head coach, Ianello spent three seasons as an assistant coach at UA where the squad qualified for the NCAA Championships all three years. In her final season as an assistant coach in 2009-10, she helped lead Arizona to the Pac-10 Championship, the NCAA West Regional Championship, and a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The Wildcats also qualified for the NCAA Championships in her first two seasons of collegiate coaching at UA in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
For all the success on the course, Ianello's Arizona Women's Golf program earned an equal number of academic accolades. The program boasts 29 WGCA Scholar All-Americans during Ianello's career as head coach with more than 40 student-athletes earning Academic All-Pac-12 recognition as well. Starkute received the prestigious Pac-12 Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2023-24.
Before joining the coaching ranks, Ianello spent five seasons playing professionally on the LPGA Tour, Futures Tour and the West Coast Ladies Golf Tour. Her best season was 2004 in which she finished 147th on the LPGA Tour money list. Ianello also ranked eighth on the 2003 Futures Tour with a 72.1 stroke average and three top-10 finishes.
She played for the Wildcats from 1998-2003 as Laura Myerscough and was a part of one NCAA Championship (2000) and three Pac-10 Championship (2000, 2001, 2002) teams during her five seasons as a Wildcat. In 33 career collegiate appearances, Ianello posted a 75.92 stroke average and registered eight top-10 and four top-20 finishes. She was a National Golf Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-American and a second-team All-Pac-10 selection in 2002. Ianello also earned All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention accolades in 2001 and 2003. She served as the Wildcats team captain as a senior in 2002-03.
Ianello was the runner-up at the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. She also played in the 2001, 2002 and 2004 U.S. Women's Open, the 2002 Curtis Cup and represented the U.S. at the 2000 and 2002 World Amateur Championships. For three seasons (2000-03), she was ranked in the top 10 in Golfweek's amateur rankings.
A native of Charleston, Ill., Ianello earned her degree in physical education from the University of Arizona in 2007. She and her husband, Jeff, have two daughters, Natalie and Joanna.
