Kansas women’s golf coach Lindsay Kuhle received a three-year contract extension on Monday, after her second and third seasons leading the Jayhawks featured the first back-to-back NCAA regional appearances in program history.
In a press release announcing the move, Kuhle expressed her gratitude to athletic director Travis Goff and sport administrator Nicole Corcoran.
“Our past and current players have fully believed in our vision and goals over the past three years,” Kuhle said. “It has been a delight to see their progress and watch this program continue to improve and grow. I also want to recognize Associate Head Coach Stephen Bidne for joining me at KU to help our players grow and develop. He is such a positive influence on our ladies and brings incredible enthusiasm and knowledge to our program.”
Goff appointed Kuhle to replace Erin O’Neill in July 2021, making her the second head-coaching hire of his tenure after football coach Lance Leipold. Kuhle now follows in Leipold’s footsteps in receiving a contract extension from Goff and the KU athletic department, and she will be under contract through the 2028-29 season.
“Coach Kuhle has had a tremendous start to her Jayhawk career, and we couldn’t be more excited about the incredible momentum of our women’s golf program under her leadership,” Goff said in the release. “She has been an ideal fit for our department and she and her family have immersed themselves in the Jayhawk and Lawrence communities. The program has already hit unprecedented heights both on the course and in the classroom, and we are thrilled to have her at the helm for years to come.”
Kuhle will be paid a base salary of $180,000 for each of her next two seasons, which will increase by $5,000 each of the following three years. The extension also contains bonuses for various Big 12 and national milestones, including a month’s salary if the Jayhawks make it to regionals and then an identical bonus if they go on to nationals.
Besides its postseason performance, which culminated in May with a sixth-place finish at regionals that outperformed a No. 9 seed, the KU women’s golf program has also set records for season-long team stroke average in consecutive years. And the Jayhawks’ team victory at the Westbrook Invitational in February earned them the team’s first title in six years.
“We continue to build and improve every year towards our goal of making the National Championship,” Kuhle said in a press release after the Jayhawks’ regional exit.
Prior to coming to Lawrence, Kuhle had served as the head coach at Denver for nine seasons. Other coaches hired by Goff since he brought on Kuhle are baseball’s Dan Fitzgerald and soccer’s Nate Lie.
Kuhle’s extension closely follows that of women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider, who got two years tacked onto his contract in June.
