Long-time Washington golf coach Mulflur will step down

Mary Lou Mulflur, who has been a part of the Washington women’s golf team for nearly five decades, announced today that the 2024-25 season, her 42nd as the program’s head coach will be her last. She will retire at the conclusion of the coming season.

Mulflur, who was among the first golfers ever to earn a scholarship at Washington and who earned four letters as a Husky, took over the program in 1983, two years after the retirement of her coach and mentor Edean Ihlenfeldt, who founded the program in 1974.

In her lengthy résumé as a golfer and coach, the Huskies’ 2016 NCAA Championship stands out as the highlight of Mulflur’s long tenure at Washington. That year, after finishing fourth in stroke play, Washington beat Virginia, UCLA and Stanford to earn the program’s first national title.

In her 41 seasons at UW to date, Mulflur’s teams have earned an NCAA Tournament berth all but once, and have advanced to the finals 14 times. She was named national coach of the year in both 2015 and 2016, and earned Pac-10/Pac-12 Coach of the Year three times.

At Washington, she won three individual tournament championships, and continued to play in both pro and amateur events long after her college career ended. Mulflur earned the NCGA Founders Award for her service to the sport, in 2010, and has played a number of roles in the WGCA and the NCAA. She was also on the advisory board for the longtime local LPGA event in Seattle, the SAFECO Classic.

Currently the UW athletic department’s longest-tenured employee, Mulflur will coach the Huskies through the end of the 2024-25 season before retiring. Washington begins the 2024-25 season Sept. 16-17, at the Leadership & Golf Invitational at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Wash.