Women's Golf

MARYJO McCLOSKEY Head Coach (2006-)

With a hectic but exciting first year out of the way, MaryJo McCloskey enters her second season as the head coach of the women’s golf program at George Fox University in 2007-08 with an eye toward becoming truly competitive in the Northwest Conference.

Known as an excellent architect of golf programs, McCloskey joined the Bruin staff in the spring of 2006 after eight years building a strong women’s team at Lewis & Clark College. Under her guidance, the Pioneers placed second in the Northwest Conference Championship for three consecutive seasons from 2003-05, missing the 2005 title by only seven strokes. The program produced one NWC individual champion, two Fall Classic individual champions, one Academic All-American, and numerous All-Conference players. In 2002, she coached the NCAA Division III Freshman of the Year. She also has served for several years on the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship selection committee.

McCloskey’s fledgling George Fox team, with a four-player roster, earned eight points in its first season of competition in the NWC in 2006-07 to place seventh of nine teams. Now, with a chance to do some serious recruiting and an expanded roster, the Bruins are ready to become a force in the league.

A graduate of St. Mary’s Academy in Portland, Ore., where she played golf for four years, McCloskey went on to play in the collegiate ranks at the University of Oregon. She joined Lewis & Clark as an assistant golf coach in 1996, becoming head coach the following year.

McCloskey maintains a single-digit handicap, is a two-time club champion (’03 and ’04) at The Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, and has competed in several amateur tournaments in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon Amateur, the Oregon Coast Invitational, and the Pacific Northwest Amateur. She serves on the board of directors for the Children’s Course, a non-profit golf course affiliated with the First Tee program, which is dedicated to providing golfing opportunities for youth. She also worked for Peter Jacobsen’s Fred Meyer Challenge golfing event for 12 years.

McCloskey has a bachelor of arts in marketing from the University of Oregon, and a master’s of business administration from the University of Portland. In addition to coaching, she works as a consultant in marketing, primarily helping small businesses with image development and printed materials for their customers, sales and advertising strategies, identifying target markets, and public relations. She and her husband Rick, also an avid golfer, reside in Tualatin, Ore.

"I'm very excited about the tremendous opportunity to build a women's golf program at George Fox," says McCloskey. "I believe golf teaches many life skills, and it will be rewarding to combine it with the values that George Fox upholds and provide women student-athletes the chance to play and compete."