A year after leading the Florida women’s golf team to the Southeastern Conference and NCAA East Regional championships, gaining Coach of the Year honors, Jill Briles-Hinton is out as the Gators’ head coach.
In a late Monday evening release, the university announced that Briles-Hinton, the program’s coach for the past 11 seasons, had tendered her resignation Monday, effective immediately.
“I accept Jill’s decision because I believe she made it in the best interest of this program,” Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley said in the statement. “The women’s golf team has had some shining moments under Jill and the players have traditionally performed well in the classroom. We wish her well in her future ventures.”
The school announced that a search for Briles-Hinton’s successor would start immediately.
“Our vision is that the women’s golf team is consistently among the contenders at the NCAA Championships,” Foley continued. “That simply hasn’t happened and now we begin a search for a coach that shares that vision.”
Florida concluded its season Saturday by finishing 16th in a field of 21 schools at the NCAA Regional Championship on its home Mark Bostick Golf Course. The Gators, who were hard hit by graduation, fielded two redshirt sophomores, a true sophomore and two freshmen. Florida also finished eighth in defense of its SEC Championship.
“I enjoyed my time at Florida and now I’m looking forward to spending time with my family,” Briles-Hinton said in a release. “I hope to get back into coaching someday and look forward to again helping young golfers achieve their dreams.
“I want to thank Jeremy Foley and the administration for this tremendous hands-on learning experience,” Briles-Hinton continued. “They took a chance on me and I will be forever grateful for this opportunity to get on-the-job training at the University of Florida. The program is better off than when I started, but I feel it is time to step aside and let someone else take it from here.”
Briles-Hinton, a graduate of the University of Miami in 1986 where she played two seasons for the Hurricanes, was a member of the Miami team that finished second to Florida at the 1986 NCAA Championships. She played 12 years on the LPGA Tour, finishing runner-up at the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic her rookie season. She also was runner-up at the 1988 Mitsubishi Motors Ocean State Open and the 1994 Children’s Medical Center Classic.
Briles-Hinton was named Florida’s fourth head coach in June of 1998 and in 11 seasons she took Florida to six NCAA Championships. The Gators finished sixth in 2002 and 2006 under Briles-Hinton. Player Andrea Vander Lende was runner-up in the 2003 NCAA Championships as an individual.
After the Gators won the 2008 SEC Championship, Briles-Hinton was named Coach of the Year. It was Florida’s first SEC crown since 1995. Florida was second in the 2003 SEC Championship when Aimee Cho became the second freshman in school history to win medalist honors.
Following the SEC Championship victory, the Gators went on to down top-seeded Duke to win their first NCAA East Regional title by a stroke.
Under Briles-Hinton, six players earned eight All-America honors, 11 were named to the All-SEC team 19 times, including sophomore Jessica Yadloczky this season.
As important, however, her Lady Gators have been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll 48 times while also receiving 13 National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Golf Team honors.