University of North Carolina Athletics
Earley Named Assistant Golf Coach Of The Year
May 27, 2012 | Women's Golf
May 27, 2012
Three Tar Heels Selected All-ACC
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Patricia Earley, assistant head coach of the UNC women's golf team, was selected Eaton Golf Pride NGCA Assistant Golf Coach of the Year as selected by the National Golf Coaches Association and announced at the NGCA Division I Awards Banquet Friday in Nashville, Tenn. Catherine O'Donnell was named to the NGCA All-West Region Team while teammate Katherine Perry was chosen honorable mention All-America.
Earley is in her ninth year as assistant head coach for the Tar Heels. Earley teams up with head coach Jan Mann with the day-to-day operations of the program in addition to her on-course duties as coach and instructor. Earley, two-time Big South Player of the Year, joined the Tar Heels after playing on the Futures Golf Tour in 2002 and 2003.
During Earley's career at Carolina, 10 Tar Heels have been selected to the All-ACC team on 15 occasions and Catherine O'Donnell was selected the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year. There have been five All-Americas on six occasions. The Tar Heels have performed well in the classroom as well. Seven players have been named to the All-ACC Academic Team 13 times and three Tar Heels have been chosen NGCA All-American scholars on four occasions.
A native of Marion, Iowa, Earley played collegiate golf at Charleston Southern 1997-2001 and was inducted into Charleston Southern's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. She won four collegiate tournaments, was two-time Big South Champion and Player of the Year and MVP of the Buccaneers all four years. She also won the 2000 Iowa State Amateur. A 2001 Charleston Southern graduate, Earley excelled academically as well as she was three-time Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year for Golf. Earley and her husband, Jeff, have a two-year old son, Grayson.
Catherine O'Donnell, a senior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., was selected to NGCA All-West Region Team. O'Donnell won two tournaments this year. She won the NCAA West Regional and tied for first at the LSU Golf Classic, giving her three collegiate wins as she also won the 2008 Tar Heel Invitational. O'Donnell was hampered in the fall due to a thumb injury which caused her to miss the last tournament of the fall and first of the spring. After surgery during the Holiday break, O'Donnell carded five top-25 finishes. In addition to her two wins, she tied for 12th at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, tied for 14th at the ACC Championships and tied for 25th at the Bryan National Collegiate.
O'Donnell was selected the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2009 and is a four-time selection to the All-ACC team (2009-2012), Carolina's first four-time honoree. She was named 2011 Ping Golfweek All-America Third Team and was an Honorable Mention in 2009. O'Donnell was selected to the 2011 NGCA All-East Region Team and a 2011 NGCA All-America Honorable Mention. She was chosen to the 2010 All-ACC Academic Women's Golf Team.
Katherine Perry, a sophomore from Cary, N.C., was chosen an honorable mention All-America. Perry, also an All-ACC selection this year, has played in 10 of Carolina's tournaments this year. After one top-30 finish last fall, a tie for 26th at the Cougar Classic, Perry has turned it around this spring with five top-20 and six top-30 finishes. Her top performance was a third-place finish at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate when she led the Tar Heels to a runner-up finish in the team race. She tied for eighth place at the NCAA Championships, finished 10th at the ACC Championships, tied for 10th at the LSU Golf Clssic, tied for 16th at the Central District Invitational and tied for 30th at the Bryan National Collegiate.
![Images from the first round of the 2026 Gators Invitational on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. [Photo by Matt Pendleton Photography for North Carolina Tar Heels Athletics]](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Func.sidearmsports.com%2Fimages%2F2026%2F3%2F7%2F260306-NCAAWGOLF-UNC-GatorsInvitational-0828-MattPendleton_copy.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
Players Mentioned
