June 28, 2007

UTPA head women's golf coach Barb Odale announced on Thursday (June 28) that she will resign as the Lady Broncs' head coach after eight seasons in order to pursue other opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley.

"I've really enjoyed my time here at UTPA," said Odale. "Right now, my family life comes first, and it's not feasible to do all of the traveling with my family at home. I wish the Lady Broncs as well as the entire UTPA family nothing but the best of success."

"We would like to thank Barb for all of her hard work and dedication to building the UTPA women's golf program into one of the top Independent programs in the country. She is a true professional and modeled ideal student-athletes who excelled on the golf course, but most importantly, excelled in the classroom. We wish her and her family nothing but success in their future endeavors," said Director of Athletics Scott Street.

Odale was the longest-tenured coach in the UTPA Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and guided the Lady Broncs to national prominence during her time at the helm. The Lady Broncs have become one of the most dominant Independent women's golf programs in the nation since Odale took over the helm.

UTPA captured three National Minority College Golf Championships in the past five years as well as collected a pair of victories during the 2004 fall campaign at the Ellingson/SHSU Invitational and its own UTPA Bronc Classic.

During the last six seasons, Odale guided the Lady Broncs to 32 top-10 finishes, 20 top-five finishes and 11 top-three showings. The Lady Broncs were also in the mix for a tournament crown on the final day of competition at the Oral Roberts' Battle at the Lake Invitational, Texas State's CenturyTel/Bobcat Classic and the Saint Croix Collegiate Classic in the Virgin Islands.

Odale transformed the UTPA women's golf program into a team to reckon with in every tournament they enter, and her student-athletes continued to put forth some of the best marks among the tournament field. A sign of the dominance of the Lady Broncs occurred at the 2004 National Minority College Golf Championships where they hammered Spelman College by 391 strokes en route to capturing the team title by the largest margin of strokes in the tournament's history.

The Lady Broncs' head coach was a catalyst for the success of Stefanie Maynard, who graduated from UTPA as the program's all-time leader in individual championships surpassing former standout Nancy Verastegui. Maynard left the UTPA women's golf program with five career individual titles, including a trio of National Minority College Golf Championships.

Under Odale's tutelage, Maynard became the first UTPA women's golf to captured Co-Independent Golfer of the Year honors en route to accumulating All-Independent honors in all four seasons that she competed. In the Spring of 2006, Maynard was added another award to her trophy case when she was selected as the UTPA Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

Maynard wasn't the only UTPA student-athlete to excel under Odale's guidance as she was paired with Daniela Cortes to become the first Lady Bronc teammates to ever earn All-Independent honors in all four seasons. Cortes was a four-time All-Independent second team award winner with the Lady Broncs.

During her tenure as head coach, Odale guided 14 student-athletes to post-season All-Independent accolades with five of them earning multiple selections in Maynard, Cortes, Nikki Boychuk, Crystal Frazier and Elizabeth Rodriguez. To go along with her All-Independent selection in 2005, Boychuk was also selected to ESPN The Magazine All-District VI Women's At-Large Second Team honors.

While UTPA has produced several individual standouts under Odale, the Lady Broncs cemented themselves as one of the best up-and-coming programs in the country when UTPA posted seven top-10 finishes throughout the course of the 2003-04 season. All of this was done with one junior, three sophomores and one freshman leading the charge in the lineup, which proved to be a sign that great things were on the way for the Lady Broncs.

A true believer in the importance of an education, Odale constantly pushed her teams to excel not only on the golf course, but also strive for perfection in the classroom. Following the 2006-07 academic campaign, the Lady Broncs recorded a team grade point average of 3.511, which was the highest among all athletic programs at UTPA for the fourth consecutive year. In the last four seasons, the Lady Broncs posted team grade point averages of 3.511 (2006-07), 3.541 (2005-06), 3.569 (2004-05) and 3.251 (2003-04).

The Lady Broncs' grade point average of 3.569 in 2004-05 ranked them 14th in the nation among all NCAA Division I, II and III programs. It was the highest academic award that a UTPA program has ever received from the National Golf Coaches' Association. That season, Boychuk, Maynard and Rodriguez were each named to the NGCA Academic All-American Scholar Honors for their individual grade point average.

The academic numbers under Odale's watch are staggering: 70 members of the Bronc Pride 3.0 Club, 42 members of the UTPA Dean's List First and Second Honors; 32 selections to the UTPA Athletic Director's Honor Roll; 16 selections to the National Golf Coaches Association Scholars; and 11 selections to the United States Achievement Academy (USAA) All-American Scholars.

Odale also watched as three of her golfers honored with the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award, which was started by the Black Issues in Higher Education Committee and awarded to the minority student-athletes who excel in the educational arenas. Former golfer Adriana Espinoza won this award in each of her final three seasons at UTPA while Christina Infante was honored twice. Alejandra Gutierrez received the honor in 1999-00.

The UTPA Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will begin an immediate national search for a head women's golf coach.

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