Tulane Tabs Andrew Pratt as Head Women's Golf Coach
Aug 26, 2011 | Women's Golf
Aug. 26, 2011
New Orleans - Tulane University Director of Athletics Rick Dickson announced today the hiring of Andrew Pratt as the Green Wave's new head women's golf coach. Pratt becomes the fourth head coach in the 22-year history of the Tulane women's golf program.
Pratt, 30, inherits a program that ranked as high as 10th nationally last season and finished 23rd overall and has participated in three straight NCAA Championships either as a team or individual. Tulane has won two of the last three Conference USA titles and three different players have been named the C-USA Golfer of the Year in as many seasons. The Green Wave returns a solid nucleus with five letterwinners and Pratt inherits two talented freshmen for the 2011-12 campaign.
"We're very pleased to announce the hiring of Andrew Pratt as our women's golf coach," Dickson said. "We promised the young ladies in our program that we would quickly find the "best person coach" available and we are confident we have done so. Those that follow women's golf already know that he has quickly distinguished himself as both an outstanding recruiter and instructor, and we feel strongly he is ready for this opportunity. We welcome Andrew and his family into the Tulane family."
"I personally want to thank Rick Dickson and Sue Bower and the entire Tulane family for giving me this great opportunity," Pratt said. "I have been extremely fortunate to work at The University of Tennessee under Judi Pavon for the past three years and learned from one of the best coaches in collegiate golf. I am extremely excited about this golf program and will continue to add to what J.T. (Horton) and Sue have already accomplished. I look forward to working with the team and helping them reach their individual and team goals."
Pratt comes to Tulane from the University of Tennessee, where he spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach and helped the team to three straight NCAA Championship appearances and four regular season tournament titles.
"Although we are sad to see Andrew go, but we know it's a great opportunity for him to be the head women's golf coach at Tulane," Tennessee head women's golf coach Judi Pavon said. "He made a big difference in our program and we know he will do a great job leading the Tulane program."
During his final season at Tennessee, Pratt helped the Lady Vols to eight top-10 finishes, including a pair of tournament titles, and to the NCAA Championships, where the team finished 13th. Along the way, he also played an instrumental role in helping Eric Popson to first team All-America honors and Nathalie Mansson to honorable mention All-America accolades.
In his second season, the Lady Vols turned in nine top-10 finishes, including a pair of tournament titles, and the team advanced to the NCAA Championships, where it posted a 19th place finish, one spot behind the Green Wave.
Pratt's first year in the coaching ranks at Tennessee was a tale of two seasons. The Lady Vols got off to a slow start in the fall and dropped to No. 72 in the Golfstat rankings in the fall, but under Pratt's tutelage the Lady Vols turned in an outstanding spring and advanced to the NCAA Championships. Tennessee turned in a 17th place finish and completed the season with a ranking of No. 20.
Before entering the coaching ranks at his alma mater, Pratt spent four years playing golf professionally on the Nationwide Tour and played collegiately at Tennessee from 1999-03.
During his career on the Nationwide Tour, Pratt had five top-10 finishes, including a runner-up performance at the 2005 Xerox Classic. He also was the 2004 and 2005 Tennessee State Open Champion, and the 2004 Tennessee State Amateur Champion. By winning the 2004 Tennessee State Open and State Amateur Championship, Pratt became only the third player in Tennessee golf history to capture both titles in the same year. He also played in four consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) and the 2004 British Amateur Championship.
A four-year letterman at UT, Pratt competed at the 2000 and 2003 NCAA Championships, earned All-SEC Second Team honors in 2002 and was a three-time Academic All-American. In 2003, he led the Vols to a fourth-place finish at the SEC Championships by firing a 211 (72-69-70) to place fourth individually.
A native of Bartlett, Tenn., Pratt received his bachelor's degree from UT in sports management in 2004.
Pratt is married to Sara Buff Pratt and the couple has one son: Cooper (1).
