UNLV golf coach Ringler resigns
After eight years as UNLV’s women’s golf coach, Missy Ringler decided she needed to put her family first.
Ringler resigned citing personal reasons Wednesday, 11 days after the Rebels finished 16th in the NCAA West Regional tournament.
"I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while," said Ringler, a native of Bloomington, Ind., who coached at Minnesota before coming to UNLV in 2002. "I’m a Midwestern girl. My family’s there, and family is important to me. My niece, who has been living with us for the last seven years, is going to go to school back in Indiana. If I was going to do this, now’s the time."
Ringler talked to most of her players Wednesday, and they took the news hard.
"It was a big shock," sophomore Kristen Schelling said. "It’s like someone died. But things change, and you have to take care of things. You can’t blame her for thinking about her family."
Athletic director Jim Livengood said he didn’t see Ringler’s resignation coming.
"Missy did a wonderful job while she was here," he said. "But we’re in the progress of sorting everything out, and we’ll conduct a national search quickly."
Assistant coach Amy Bush, who has spent the last three years with the program, has indicated to Livengood that she is interested in taking over the program.
Schelling, one of four starters eligible to return in 2010, said she would wait to see what the school does to replace Ringler before she decides whether to stay or transfer.
"There’s always options out there," Schelling said. "(Ringler) was very important to me. She was fun, and when she recruited me, she recruited me for the person that I am. She allowed me to be myself — both on and off the course."
During Ringler’s tenure, UNLV appeared in eight consecutive NCAA regionals, made three NCAA Championship appearances, won three Mountain West Conference titles and produced three All-Americans — Sunny Oh, Da Sol Chung and Therese Koelbaek.
"Obviously, I’m very proud of the fact we’ve developed into a premier program," Ringler said. "But I’m prouder of the student-athletes we brought in and developed. That was the best part."
Ringler said she intends to return to coaching but isn’t sure when.
"There’s no timetable," she said. "But I fully expect to be back coaching."
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.
