STARKVILLE – Mississippi State head men’s golf coach Dusty Smith is pleased to announce the hiring of Kolton Lapa as the Bulldogs’ new assistant coach.
A member of the PGA Tour Canada with caddying experience on that circuit ant the Web.com Tour, Lapa brings a wealth of knowledge to Starkville. He previously coached the women’s teams at Nebraska and Denver where he helped both programs set single-season school records for team stroke average and claim team tournament titles.
“I am so excited to welcome Kolton to Mississippi State and our golf program,” Smith said. “He is going to be a great coach for our guys. His experience as a player and a coach will be very beneficial for our team. Kolton is a high achiever and his desire to make others better will be contagious within our program.”
Most recently, Lapa served as the associate head coach at Nebraska. He helped the Huskers to a school-record team stroke average (298.96) in 2018-19 and three top-five finished including Nebraska’s first team tournament title since the 2013-14 campaign at the 2019 Westbrook Spring Invitational.
Lapa helped Kate Smith post the best individual stroke average in school history (73.52), while Vanessa Bouvet (3rd), Kirsten Baete (T-6th) and Megan Whittaker (11th) all posted some of the best season stroke averages by freshmen in school history that year. Lapa walked alongside Baete for all 18 holes of her then-career-low round (66).
In Lincoln, he was the team’s lead recruiter and secured commitments from a pair of international Top 1000 WAGR players.
Prior to his time in Nebraska, Lapa spent two seasons as the assistant coach for the women’s team at Denver. In 2017, the Pioneers won the Summit League title, and they finished as runners-up in 2018. In both seasons, Denver qualified for NCAA Regional play. In just two seasons at Denver, Lapa helped coach Pioneer golfers to seven All-Summit League honors, including four first-team awards and saw Denver set a school record for team stroke average at 296.06 in 2017-18.
From September to November 2017, Lapa stepped in as Denver’s interim head coach. Under his guidance, the Pioneers won the GolfWeek Invitational and the Ron Moore Invitational. They also opened the season by defeating four top-25 teams at the Dick McGuire Invitational before finishing fourth at the Maryb…
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