| Melissa McNamara Luellen |
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Melissa McNamara Luellen is in her second year as the head coach of the Sun Devil women's golf program. She became the sixth head coach of the program on July 16, 2002.
In her initial year in Tempe, Luellen helped continue Arizona State's tradition of excellence as she guided the squad to its 12th consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships. The season included fifth-place finishes at the Pac-10 Championships and the NCAA West Regional in addition to top five finishes at the Landfall Tradition, the Wildcat Invitational and the Spartan Invitational.
Luellen came to ASU after spending the previous two seasons as the head women's golf coach at her alma mater, the University of Tulsa. Luellen, a four-time All-American for the Golden Hurricane, succeeded her mother, Dale McNamara, who retired in 2000 following a 26-year career that saw her Tulsa teams win four national championships.
"When my fiancé (now husband), Mark, and I came to visit, the day we had, the total package at Arizona State knocked our socks off. We see it as a great opportunity to be in the No. 1 coach's job in the country," she said.
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In her two seasons as Tulsa's head coach, Luellen led her team to seven tournament titles including back-to-back Western Athletic Conference and NCAA Central Regional championships in each year. The 2001-02 season saw her team win five tournaments, including the 2002 PING/ASU Championship at Karsten Golf Course, earn a No. 3 national ranking for most of the season and finish 12th at the 2002 NCAA Championships. Luellen was named the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in each of her two seasons and was the 2002 Central Regional Coach of the Year.
"We are very excited about having Melissa at ASU," said former ASU head coach Linda Vollstedt, a five-time National Coach of the Year who led her team to six NCAA titles. "Melissa was a great college player and a great LPGA Tour player, and she is a great coach. Her mother, Dale, is the First Lady of women's college golf, a real pioneer among women coaches. She has passed that championship legacy onto her daughter, Melissa. Dale McNamara was my mentor when I first started coaching, and it will be fun to be Melissa's mentor."
Luellen played collegiate golf at the University of Tulsa (1984-88) where she was a four-time All-American, earning first-team honors as a senior, second-team honors as a sophomore and junior and honorable-mention accolades as a freshman. She won medalist honors in four tournaments, including just the second event of her collegiate career, and finished in the top 10 in 22 of 41 career events. She capped off a stellar collegiate career by capturing a two-stroke individual victory at the 1988 NCAA Championship and leading the Golden Hurricanes to the national team title.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Tulsa in 1988, Luellen competed on the Futures and the Ladies European Tours in 1988 and 1989 before qualifying for the LPGA Tour in October of 1989. She spent 11 years on the LPGA Tour, winning the 1991 Stratton Mountain LPGA Classic and teaming with Mike Springer to win the 1993 JCPenney Classic. She was also elected to the LPGA Executive Committee in her final two years on the tour and is currently a non-exempt member of the LPGA.
Prior to entering college, she was a three-time Oklahoma state high school champion and American Junior Golf Association All-American (1982-84). In 1983, she was named the AJGA Player of the Year.
Luellen was inducted into the National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998 and the University of Tulsa Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.
"We were ecstatic that Melissa decided to join the Sun Devil family. She is already an established coach and will add a great deal to the quality of the Arizona State women's golf program," said Don Bocchi, Arizona State's associate athletic director. "Melissa has the backing of two of the finest women's golf coaches in America in Linda Vollstedt and Dale McNamara and is of the same mettle as the outstanding group of coaches that we already have in place at Arizona State.
"When you make a hire, you want to know that the person has the type of leadership and skills that will allow your student-athletes to live out their dreams, and we have done that. I am happy for our current and future players because I think they will walk away from ASU at the end of their careers very pleased that they played for someone like Melissa McNamara Luellen."
Luellen, 37, and her husband, Mark, were married on Dec. 14, 2002 in Scottsdale. The couple lives in Cave Creek with Mark's son and daughter, Drake (14) and Sydney (11), and their two dogs, Oscar and Maya.
