APSU extends Jessica Combs’ contract through 2025 season – Clarksville Online

Clarksville, TN – After leading her alma mater to its first-ever women’s golf conference championship, Austin Peay State University (APSU) head coach Jessica Combs has agreed to a contract extension through the 2025 season, vice president and athletic director Gerald Harrison announced Tuesday.

“We are thrilled that Coach Combs is staying home in Stacheville!” said Harrison. “Since we hired Jessica, I’ve watched her build a top-notch women’s golf program and lead Austin Peay to his first-ever conference championship. Her teams are a model of the ‘Total Gov Concept’ with extraordinary success both on the course and in the classroom, and she is absolutely the right person to lead this program in the ASUN conference.

A three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference draft pick and two-time individual medalist for the Govs, Combs — then Jessica Cathey — is the sixth head coach in program history.

Last season, Combs clinched his first tournament title as a head coach when APSU Governors won the Butler Fall Invitational by two strokes at Highland Country Club in Indianapolis, Indiana. The win marked the Governors’ first-team title in a multi-team event since the 2018 Town & Country Invitational title and was the first time Austin Peay State University had won a three-round event in history. from the program. To cap the fall, the Governors also ran away with the Tennessee State Town & Country Invitational, beating Belmont by 18 strokes at McCabe Golf Course.

In the spring, Combs helped Taylor Dedmen win the individual title at Southern Illinois’ Diane Daugherty Invitational, marking the first individual victory for a governor since 2018. Dedmen’s victory was also only the third victory of a three-round tournament by an individual in the history of the program. since digital record keeping began.

Under Combs’ tutelage, Erica Scutt, Shelby Darnell and Dedmen were all named to the All-OVC team, with Scutt and fellow freshman Kaley Campbell also receiving All-OVC Newcomer honors. After leading Governors to their first-ever OVC title with an eight-stroke comeback in the final round of the tournament, Combs was named OVC Coach of the Year and Scutt was named OVC Freshman of the Year, along with Scutt and Dedmen . also receiving OVC All-Tournament Team recognition.

Off the course, Comb’s team led Austin Peay State University’s athletics department with a 3.833 grade point average during the spring 2022 semester. Governors also tied the program’s record with five golfers who earned All-American Scholar honors from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) during the 2021-22 season. In Comb’s three years at the helm, ten golfers have received WGCA All-American Scholar honors.