Ithaca College will add women's golf to its intercollegiate athletic program and has hired the program's first coach. The addition of women's golf, which will bring the College's number of varsity sports to 26 (12 men's sports, 14 women's sports), was announced by Ken Kutler, director of intercollegiate athletics and recreational sports, as part of Ithaca's continuing efforts to maintain compliance with Title IX.
Dan Wood has been hired as the first coach of the program, which is expected to begin full varsity competition for the 2009-10 season.
In addition to adding women's golf to its varsity sport offerings, Ithaca will be adding a number of coaching positions in the next two years -- a diving coach for the men's and women's swimming and diving programs, an assistant coach with the indoor and outdoor track and field programs, and full-time interns in women's lacrosse and softball.
"Adding women's golf and creating these new coaching positions, combined with other initiatives that we’ve already begun -- in areas such as facility enhancements, equipment and uniform upgrades, and personnel workload equity -- are initial steps toward ensuring that we will be in full compliance with Title IX," explained Kutler.
A total of 155 schools offer women's golf at the Division III level, including two other members of the Empire 8 (Elmira and Nazareth; St. John Fisher also recently announced plans to add women's golf). The NCAA conducts its women's golf championship in the spring; Ithaca's team will also compete in a number of events during the nontraditional (fall) season. The team will practice and host a yearly invitational at the Country Club of Ithaca.
Wood is a member of the Professional Golf Association and a former Senior PGA Tour champion. He coached men's soccer and men's tennis at Cornell University (leading the Big Red soccer team to the NCAA semifinals in 1972) while also teaching golf in the physical education department. Wood left Cornell for a coaching stint in professional soccer, coaching North American Soccer League teams in Denver, Atlanta, and Minneapolis from 1977 to 1984.
Wood joined the PGA of America in 1985 and competed as a club professional from 1985 to 1996, qualifying for the PGA Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis in 1992 and winning the Florida Open in 1995. He joined the Senior PGA Tour (now known as the PGA Champions Tour) full time in 1996 and played in senior events until back surgery slowed him in late 1999. He qualified for five U.S. Senior Opens, tying for seventh at Riviera Country Club in 1998 (he finished two shots ahead of Jack Nicklaus). Wood won the 2002 Otesaga Seniors Open in Cooperstown with an 11-under-par 205 and has won the last two North Florida PGA Super Seniors titles. In 2007 he qualified for the inaugural Dick's Sporting Goods Champions Tour event at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott.
"Dan has already started recruiting and his enthusiasm and expertise make him the perfect 'first coach' for our program," said Kutler.
He is the son of the late Carlton "Carp" Wood, a charter member of the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame who coached men's soccer, men's basketball, and baseball at Ithaca and served as the school's athletic director.
"My goal is to make Ithaca a force in the Empire 8, in Division III tournaments in the Northeast, and, eventually, in the NCAA Division III national championship," Wood said. "I am thrilled to work at a college that has been so important to the Wood family for many years and which offers an outstanding combination of academic and athletic excellence."
Ithaca's intercollegiate athletics program has been one of the most successful NCAA Division III programs in the nation, with over 700 student-athletes participating; the Bombers have won team or individual national championships in 12 sports and have placed in the top 30 of the Directors' Cup standings every year, finishing 14th last season.