Carol Robertson

Carol Robertson just completed her ninth season overall and eighth season of competition, as the head coach of the Hokies’ women’s golf program. Robertson was hired on July 8, 2013, as the program’s first-ever head coach.

Robertson has built this program the right way. Recruiting outstanding student-athletes who compete on the course, in the classroom and in the community. The Virginia Tech women’s golf program was a known and respected entity before the team ever competed in their first event.

A finalist for the 2021 WGCA National Coach of the Year, Robertson and the Hokies experienced their best season in program history in 2020-21, where they advanced to their first-ever national championship in Scottsdale, Arizona. Tech ascended to as high as No. 14 in the Golfstat national rankings, which was a program record and earned its third straight NCAA Regional bid. The Hokies were the No. 4 seed in the Stanford Regional, which was their highest ranking at a regional in program history. Also in 2021, Tech boasted a pair of All-ACC golfers for the first time as Emily Mahar and Becca DiNunzio earned the accolade. In April 2021, Mahar became the second Hokie to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open.

The growth of the Virginia Tech program was more than noticeable during the first six months of 2018. The team earned an NCAA Public Recognition Award for its high marks in the classroom, a feat duplicated in 2019, and on April 25, 2018, the Hokies earned a berth in the NCAA Austin Regional, marking the first NCAA appearance in just the team’s third season of competition. In 2019, the Hokies made it two-in-a-row, once again earning an NCAA Regional berth.

On Oct. 5, 2019, the team was co-champion of the Princess Anne Invitational in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It marked the first-ever team title in the program's history. Mahar won the individual crown for her first collegiate title and the third individual title in the last two-plus seasons for the Hokies.

More highlights and accolades continued in 2019-20, as the team earned a ranking of 20^th by Golfstat, the standard used by the NCAA Women’s Golf committee for seeding teams in the NCAA Regionals. The Hokies ended the shortened season 26^th nationally.

Academics and community service are a top priority in the Virginia Tech women’s golf program. The Hokies achieved a 3.58 cumulative grade point average for the Fall 2019 semester, tied for the best of any athletics program on campus. In Spring 2020, Sarah Spicer was named the 2020 Skelton Award winner, the highest academic award given annually to a Virginia Tech student-athlete. She becomes the second women’s golfer to earn the honor, joining Elizabeth Bose, who earned the award in 2017. Sarah’s twin sister, Jessica, was named the Virginia Tech Female Athlete of the Year, another top academic honor given by the athletics department. In addition to academic successes, the team takes part in community service activities, including working with various organizations during the holiday season.

During the 2018-19 season, the Hokies celebrated many accomplishments on top of the second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. Freshman Keera Foocharoen won the Alexa Stirling Invitational in the fall. In the stretch of less than a month in the spring, Amanda Hollandsworth became the first Hokie golfer to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open Championship and then, weeks later, became the first Hokie golfer to advance to the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. At the NCAAs, Hollandsworth finished fifth individually, the highest finish of any ACC or Commonwealth of Virginia golfer.

Robertson’s players immediately became integrated into the fabric of not only the athletics programs, but the university community as a whole. And as the team competes on the course, they have taken advantage of the support of the Hokie Nation.

Robertson came to Virginia Tech following two seasons as the head coach at Old Dominion University. She became the head coach at ODU following one season as the assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs at the school.

While with the Monarchs, Robertson led her teams to five tournament titles in her two seasons, including three tournament titles this past season. In the 2012-13 season, ODU finished in the top five in eight of the 10 regular season events. In her first season at ODU, the women’s program placed fifth or better in six tournaments. 

Robertson is also an outstanding player. In September of 2010, Robertson reached the finals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, but fell just short of the title against Meghan Stasi in the 18-hole final at Wichita Country Club (Kan.). She won the 2006 Virginia State Amateur Championship. During the Virginia Tech inaugural season, while on a spring break trip with the two original members of the team, Robertson carded two hole-in-ones on the front nine of the Celebration Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. Odds of that happening in a round is 1 in 67 million.

Robertson had been serving as the Virginia State Golf Association’s Junior golf club tournament director in Hampton Roads. She played on the LPGA Future’s Tour from 2007-09, and was an assistant golf coach at James Madison for the 2005-06 season.

Robertson was one of five collegiate women golfers chosen to represent the USA in the Collegiate World Championships, and in 2006 was the Women’s Amateur Golf Champion for the State of Virginia. She was selected NGCA (National Golf Coaches Association) All-American Scholar Athlete in 2005.

The Tazewell, Va., native graduated from James Madison University in 2005 with a B.S. degree in public administration with a concentration in criminal justice. She received a M.S. degree in sport management in 2007 from West Virginia University.

At JMU, the then Carol Green excelled on the course and in the classroom. She was a two-time Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, in 2003 and 2004, and three-time first team All-CAA selection. She was the conference championship medalist in 2003, and twice qualified for the NCAA East Region. In January 2012, she was one of 25 selected to the CAA’s Silver Anniversary team for women’s golf. She was on the Dean’s List twice, was a three-time winner of the CAA Commissioner’s Academic Award and was inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She also was named a National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar-Athlete as a senior. In the summer of 2019, Robertson was elected to the JMU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Robertson and her family are no strangers to Virginia Tech or top-level golf in the Commonwealth. Her father, Charles, is a past president of the VSGA, her older brother, Chuck, played collegiately at Washington and Lee and her younger brother, Garland, was a four-year letter winner on the Hokie men’s golf team from 2007-11. He is currently 13th on the all-time scoring list in Virginia Tech history. Robertson and her husband, Jason, who also played golf at JMU, have a son JJ and a daughter, Molly Clair.