Nancy McDaniel

Coach Nancy McDaniel serves as the head women's golf coach at Cal. She was recently inducted into the Women’s College Golf Association Hall of Fame in December 2016.

Coach McDaniel, the founding coach of the California Bears Women's Golf Program, is entering her 27th season in 2019. She has led her team to 19 consecutive NCAA Regional and ten NCAA Finals as well as two Pac-12 Conference Championships. She has been WGCA National Coach of the year and 2-time Pac-10 Coach of the year.

“Coach McD. challenged me and pushed me to reach my full potential. Without her guidance and encouragement, I would not have been able to achieve the success that I had during my career at Cal.” Sarah Huarte Glynn (NCAA Individual Champion 2004)

As a player McDaniel earned All-American honors and 2 collegiate wins at the University of Washington. As a professional she played in the 1992 U.S. Women’s Open and finished 13th in the Order of Merit on the Ladies Asian Tour.

During Cal's rise to the upper echelon of the collegiate women's golf landscape, McDaniel has led the Golden Bears to compete at seven NCAA Championships, highlighted by three top five showings from 2004-06, capped by 2004's program-best finish of fourth at the NCAA Championships. That year, Sarah Huarte won Cal's first NCAA individual title. Duke was the only other school during that span to register three straight top five national finishes. After the 2005-06 season, McDaniel was selected the LPGA Teaching Division Western Section Coach of the Year. Following four top five 2007 fall finishes, McDaniel was recognized as Golf World's Midseason Coach of the Year.

McDaniel’s coaching expertise and energy extends to junior golfers as a board member of the First Tee of Oakland as well as the First Tee Youth Golf Skills Committee. She is also the co-founder of Collegiate Golf Academy.

One of the most successful players ever to compete at Washington, McDaniel was team captain as a senior in 1988 and earned one All-America and two Pac-10 All-Star team selections. During her career, she won individual titles at the 1987 Washington and BYU tournaments and finished in the top-10 at seven additional events. She was named to Washington's Pac-10 All-Decade team (1986-96) for women's golf and received her bachelor's degree in speech communications in 1988.

McDaniel came to Cal with five years of professional experience on the Women's European, Ladies Asian and Players West golf tours. One of the top players on the Ladies Asian Tour, she finished 13th on the Order of Merit in 1993 and ranked 20th during her final season in 1994. Prior to that, McDaniel won the Players West title at the 1992 Las Vegas Classic and won the LPGA sectional qualifier in Mission Hills later that year. She has been a Class A member of the LPGA Teaching Division for 18 years.