With five girls state titles in 11 seasons, Susan Jennings owns one of the best coaching records in the history of Colorado state high school golf.
But even with those credentials, moving up to the college ranks — and having success there — was far from a sure thing.
Indeed, the number of Colorado high school golf coaches who have gone on to be a head coach at an NCAA Division I golf program in the state can be counted on one hand. The most notable in recent decades who has made that transition was Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Mark Crabtree, who went from coaching the Fort Collins High School boys to leading the Colorado State University men’s program.
Despite the odds, two years after concluding her high school coaching career at Skyline in Longmont, Jennings was named interim head coach of the CSU women’s team in August. Following a two-year stint as assistant coach, Jennings took over the program after longtime head coach Angie (Hopkins) Collier went on maternity leave. Collier then moved to Houston with her husband, Jeff Collier, who is a new associate athletic director at the University of Houston.
And, if things go well this season, Jennings may be able to remove the “interim” tag from her title later this year.
“I hope the (prospects) are really good,” Jennings said this week. “I’m keeping a positive attitude and I definitely want to stay. I’m doing everything I can.”
The Rams’ fall results show there’s plenty of work to be done. The CSU women finished in the lower half of the team standings in four of five tournaments, with the best showing being a fourth-place performance in a 13-team field at the Price’s “Give ‘Em Five” Intercollegiate in New Mexico.
CSU, with a roster that includes one of Jennings’ former Skyline players (Mikayla Tatman), begins practice for the spring semester in a couple of weeks, and spring tournaments begin next month.
“We struggled a little in the fall; there was a lot of change for everyone,” Jennings said. “But I was able to hire an assistant (Rachel McClintock) , and I’m trying to change the culture to be more positive. I think we have a pretty good outlook going into the spring.
“There was definitely a big learning curve (as a first-year college head coach). It took a while to get my feet under me. It was not so much coaching the team; it was more administrative stuff. I’d done some of it, but I didn’t have a good grasp on all I had to do.”
Asked if she views this year as interim head coach as a season-long audition for the permanent position, Jennings said, “That’s a good way to put it. … I feel very fortunate” to have this opportunity.
Besides a stellar coaching resume in the high school ranks — 5A state titles at Skyline from 2002 through 2005, then 2009, and thrice being named the state’s girls golf coach of the year — Jennings has the added advantage of bleeding green and gold, figuratively speaking.
Then known as Susan Knox, she played golf for the fledgling CSU women’s program from 1978 to ’82, winning a Division II AIAW national title. Her record at the school was impressive enough that Jennings was inducted into the CSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
After graduating, Knox was a top amateur in the state. Among the titles she won was the 1984 CWGA Stroke Play Championship. Jennings worked for two decades at Fox Hill Country Club — where her husband, PGA Master Professional Barry Jennings, was the longtime head professional until 2011 — though Susan kept her amateur status throughout.
Before becoming a CSU assistant coach under Hopkins in 2010, Jennings was a candidate for several other college coaching jobs. She said she previously applied for openings at CSU, the University of Colorado and the University of Northern Colorado.
“I always enjoyed the high school level, but one of the parents (at Skyline) encouraged me to look into” college opportunities, said Jennings, who now lives in Johnstown. “And everything ended up falling into place.”
