{"id":298706,"date":"2025-11-21T06:28:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T06:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298706\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T06:28:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T06:28:22","slug":"mikayla-ash-steers-ut-womens-golf-on-off-the-course-the-daily-texan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298706\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikayla Ash steers UT women\u2019s golf on, off the course \u2013 The Daily Texan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few teams at Texas rack up more miles than the women\u2019s golf program \u2014 they have competed at home only once<\/a> in the last four seasons. Behind every flight, hotel and cross-country trip is the newest addition to the team\u2019s coaching staff, Assistant Coach and Director of Operations Mikayla Ash.<\/p>\n

Ash joined the program in July 2025 after a two-year stint as associate head coach at Arizona State and has prior assistant coaching experience at Tulsa and the University of Denver. Now, she wears two hats at UT, where she not only coaches but also manages team affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to have two roles, and they both are very hands-on with the student-athlete,\u201d Ash said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I love most about my job: the quality time with student athletes and just trying to be a light in their world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One way she fosters closeness with the team is via travel, which she facilitates for every tournament, working closely with Anthony Travel<\/a> to arrange flights and coordinating with tournament hosts to secure accommodations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer attention to detail and exceptional organization ensure that our team\u2019s daily operations run smoothly \u2014 from travel and scheduling to practice logistics and tournament preparation,\u201d head coach Laura Ianello wrote in an email. \u201cBecause of her efficiency and professionalism, our players and staff are able to stay focused on performance, knowing everything behind the scenes is taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although travel management is a major part of her job, once the team arrives at a tournament, Ash assumes her assistant coach role. Just this season, Ash has seen Minnesota, Illinois, California and, most recently, Hawaii with the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ironically, coaching became an option only after injuries during her collegiate career at Colorado State ended her hopes of playing professionally.<\/p>\n

Despite coming from a family of coaches, Ash initially struggled to break into the collegiate coaching scene. Instead, she went on to develop several junior golfing programs in Colorado, including ExperienceGolf<\/a> and Colorado Golf Association<\/a>. Her work caught the eye of Lindsay Kuhle, the University of Denver women\u2019s program head coach at the time, who offered her a role as assistant coach.<\/p>\n

Now at a Top 15 NCAA Division I program<\/a>, Ash enjoys greater resources, more time with players and additional management responsibilities. She\u2019s already looking forward to what will be one of her most ambitious assignments yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNext fall, we are going to St. Andrew\u2019s in Scotland and playing the Old Course there, so it\u2019ll be aired on Golf Channel,\u201d Ash said. \u201cAnd as far as operations are concerned, that\u2019ll be a big one for me to get right, per se, and make sure all of our travel goes to plan, so we can have a great experience over in Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opportunities like planning a trip to the Old Course<\/a> excite her for the years ahead at UT and fuel her desire to continue growing in the profession. While she hopes to one day step into a head coaching position, Ash takes pride in the difference she can make in her current roles at the University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m right where I need to be, right where I want to be,\u201d Ash said. \u201cIt really is a dream come true, what I get to do every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Few teams at Texas rack up more miles than the women\u2019s golf program \u2014 they have competed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-298706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}