Hovland Welcomes Emilyee McGiles as Assistant Coach

COLLEGE PARK, MD — Head coach Kelly Hovland of the Maryland women’s golf team welcomed Emilyee McGiles to her staff as an assistant coach this week.

McGiles comes to College Park after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky. 

“Emilyee brings great experience from her years coaching in the SEC at Kentucky,” Hovland said. “I expect her to make an immediate impact on our program in working with our women. I am grateful she is joining our Terp Family.”

“I would like to thank Coach Hovland for the incredible opportunity to work alongside her and help further the success of the Maryland women’s golf program,” McGiles said. “I’m excited to coach and compete at the highest level with the University of Maryland. I’m grateful to be a Terp!”

In 2024-25, where McGiles helped coach a young Wildcats team, which turned in a 291.3 scoring average through nine tournaments and 27 rounds. Their 291.3 checked-in as the fifth-best stroke average in program history. 

In McGiles’ first season at UK in 2023-24, she stepped in a program with one of its most decorated rosters on school record, which featured four players that are now playing professionally, including All-Americans Jensen Castle and Laney Frye, María Villanueva Aperribay and Marissa Wenzler. That season, the team turned in a 290.27 scoring average, which ranked second in program history.

McGiles, a native of Orland Park, Ill., spent two years on the professional tours, including the Women’s All-Pro Tour and the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour. In 2023, she also worked at Shadow Wood Country Club in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Before her career, McGiles was a standout golfer at Southern Illinois (2017-21). She averaged a 77.56 scoring average over 103 career rounds, which ranks third all-time in program history. She also helped Southern Illinois claim the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Championship title, finishing in a tie for eighth place at 11-over-par 227.

McGiles made a pair of MVC Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete Teams (2019, 2020), before earning a degree in exercise science from Southern Illinois in 2021.