Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.
BATON ROUGE – Longtime LSU golfer and coach Alexis Rather has been named by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association the Golf Pride Grips Division I Assistant Coach of the Year, it was announced on Tuesday.
Rather is in her 13th season with the Tigers and her fifth working with current LSU head coach Garrett Runion. Rather spent eight seasons under the tutelage of long-time LSU head coach Karen Bahnsen in addition to playing for Bahnsen in the purple and gold from 2003-2008.
Rather is a consummate recruiter and on-course coach and can be seen all over the world searching for talented future Tigers.
“I could not be happier for Alexis Rather in winning the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year Award,” said Runion. “She is beyond deserving of this prestigious award. Alexis has been an assistant coach in the SEC for the last 15 years and considered one of the best for a long time now. That has shown in the last few years with the success we have had.
“She is one of the most loyal and compassionate people I know and has always put the program and the players first. I am glad to see her win this award as she does a lot of behind the scenes work that helps make our program what it is today. As she often says to our current and former players after big accomplishments, ‘Have a day, sis!”
The LSU Tigers in the 2023 season posted a school record scoring average of 285.65 while capturing four wins during the 2022-23 season, tying for the second most in program history. LSU finished the season NO. 3 in the Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll and earned the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Palm Beach Regional before going on to advance to the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year.
With a tie for 14th at nationals, the Tigers became one of just five schools to finish in the top 15 each of the three years. In addition, LSU golfers captured four individual titles during the season, while the team boasted three WGCA All-Americans.
The Tigers finished third in the 2011 and 2012 championships when it was a 72-hole stroke play championship and has helped continue to bring some of the world’s top recruits to Baton Rouge, including ANNIKA Award finalists Madelene Sagstrom (2015) and Ingrid Lindblad (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), 2011 NCAA Champion Austin Ernst and two-time top-ten finisher in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Latanna Stone.
Also recently, the Tigers under Runion and Rather for the first time in 30 years, brought the SEC Championship trophy home to LSU with a win in 2022. The Tigers swept three matches, two in dramatic fashion, defeating Vanderbilt, Alabama and Florida in the nationally-televised finals.
Since Rather joined the staff in the Fall of 2010, LSU has made 10 NCAA Tournament team appearances and sent two individuals in the other seasons. LSU was on pace for a team appearance before the 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA championships five times and placed third in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012. LSU has won 21 regular season tournament titles over the past 13 seasons that Rather has been on staff.
Rather served two years as an assistant coach at Ole Miss before beginning her professional tenure at LSU. At Ole Miss, she helped guide the Rebels back to postseason play and the team won a tournament for the first time since 2004 as the women’s golf team earned the Chancellor’s Cup for the women’s varsity team at Ole Miss with the highest grade point average.
The native of Tupelo, Mississippi, was a four-year letter winner at LSU, appeared in two NCAA Women’s Golf Championships as a player and was a four-time Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar.
Rather, a two-time First-Team All-Louisiana golfer, had three top-10 finishes in her 2008 senior season. That year, she also chipped in for the only birdie in a sudden death playoff for the eighth and final qualifying spot at the NCAA East Regional that got LSU to the NCAA Women’s Championships.
She graduated from LSU in July 2007 with an honors degree in communications and her master’s in sports management from LSU in 2008.