NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt women’s golf head coach Greg Allen announced Thursday that Vanessa Wang has been hired as assistant coach.
She joins the Commodores after competing the last five seasons as a student-athlete at Cal Poly.
“We are really excited about bringing Vanessa onto our coaching staff. She embodies everything we stand for in our program and comes highly recommended from people I respect,” Allen said. “I also want to thank Candice and the administration for allowing us to take advantage of the NCAA rule change that’s allowing us to add another coach. She continues to do great things for Vanderbilt Athletics and this is just another example of her providing opportunities for us to get better.”
During the 2022-23 academic year Wang served as a donor and engagement specialist for Cal Poly Athletics, a role that saw her execute the creation and management of athletic special events including donor engagement activities, individual team events and alumni relations. She was also the tournament director for the Mustang men’s program’s Cal Poly Invitational at the Preserve Golf Club at the end of the 2022 fall season, where she managed a staff that helped run a college-amateur and donor engagement events in addition to directing tournament operations, and helped organize alumni weekends for the department’s football, baseball, golf, and track and field programs.
Wang worked multiple years as a counselor at Stanford’s annual summer golf camps and was on staff at the Friendly Hills Country Club as well.
“I am so honored to be joining the Vanderbilt women’s golf program and am so grateful for the opportunity that Coach Allen and Coach [Emilie] Meason have given me. They are some of the best coaches in college golf and are awesome people that I am excited to work with and learn from,” Wang said. “Vanderbilt has high academic and athletic standards, and I can’t wait to help these young women succeed and win on and off the course.”
Over the course of five seasons with the Mustangs, Wang recorded a stroke average of 75.20 with 23 rounds at or under par and 17 top-20 finishes while helping the team to three straight Big West Conference championships and NCAA Regional appearances. She was an all-tournament selection in 2023 after tying for fourth-place individually as Cal Poly claimed the tournament title by an 11-stroke margin, and would go on to shoot an even-par 72 in her final round at the collegiate level at the NCAA Pullman Regional. Wang ended the campaign with a 74.8 scoring average highlighted by a season-best 69 on the final of the Anuenue Spring Break Classic hosted by Hawai’i.
Wang also posted a 74.8 stroke average the previous season, and she led Cal Poly with a scoring average of 75.3 in 2020-21 when she recorded four top-10 results. That included placing among the top 10 at the Big West Championships and shooting a career-low 67 in the final round of the Fresno State Classic.
A Big West All-Academic Team member, Wang graduated from Cal Poly in 2023 with a degree in sport management as well as a exercise and sports studies minor.
Wang is originally from Rowland Heights, California, where she helped lead La Serna High School to a fifth-place finish in the California Interscholastic Federation state championships in 2016 and four San Gabriel Valley League titles. She won the Lizette Salas Junior Championship in her final American Junior Golf Association event, adding nine top-10 results on the Southern California PGA Toyota Tour Cup in 2017 and 11 victories on the PGA Southern California Junior Tour during her prep career. In 2018, Wang qualified for the USGA Fourball Championship.
“It wasn’t a hard decision to pursue college coaching,” said Wang. “The student-athlete experience is so special, and you get to live your college years differently than the normal college student. It can be hard to navigate at times, but I was lucky to have great coaches and mentors and had such a great experience during my time at Cal Poly. I’m excited to now be a part of the Vanderbilt program to coach and mentor these young women and help them become the best that they can be!”
The Commodores will begin Wang’s first season on the staff at the Carmel Cup in Pebble Beach, California, Sept. 1-3.
