#MizzouMadeMonday: Women's Golf Coach Coop
9/30/2019 3:00:00 PM | General, Women's Golf, TSF
More than 29 years after Stephanie Cooper Priesmeyer first joined the Mizzou family, she continues to mentor and inspire as head coach of the Mizzou Women's Golf team.
Coach Coop - as she's affectionately known by her players and colleagues - has been a Tiger for most of her life. On her visit to Mizzou in 1990, Priesmeyer witnessed the second-ranked Missouri Men's Basketball team take down no. 11 Oklahoma in the Hearnes Center.
"I remember John McIntyre hit the game winning shot, the ball nearly fell into my lap," Priesmeyer recalled. "I screamed 'I'm coming to Mizzou!'"
During her time at Mizzou, Coop excelled not only on the course, but in the classroom as well. On her way to getting an Education degree, she was a multiple-time Dean's List honoree and was named to the academic All-Big Eight team in her senior season.
"I always took pride in being a good student and building good relationships with professors," Priesmeyer says.
Her focus on the classroom during her time at Mizzou has carried over to her coaching methods. After a brief stint at Columbia Hickman High School (62-15-1 record from 1996-2001), Priesmeyer was named head coach of the Mizzou Women's Golf team in 2001. During her 18 years leading the program, the team has posted a 3.0 cumulative team GPA every season. She also boasts 37 Academic-All Conference honorees, 25 Spring SEC Honor Roll members and 25 National Golf Coaches Association scholars.
Laura Kraft, former Mizzou golfer from 2011-2015, remembers how Priesmeyer would hold her players accountable and ensure they were focused on school.
"Coop always wanted to make sure our academics stayed high on our priority list. I think we were lucky as golfers because most of us had good grades to begin with, but Coop always did a good job of balancing us out between keeping those grades a priority and understanding that we were going to miss classes for golf," Kraft says.
Not only has Priesmeyer led her team to academic prowess, the Tigers have shined on the course throughout her stint. Since 2001, Mizzou has won 15 tournaments and competed in eight NCAA Regionals. In 2005, she led the Black & Gold to their first ever NCAA Championships appearance. In the 2003-04 campaign, Priesmeyer was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year after the Tigers had seven Top 3 finishes in 11 events. In her second season as head coach, the Tigers placed second at the Big 12 Championships, the best conference finish in Mizzou history.
Coach Coop says that teaching and coaching have always been a part of her goals. She was heavily influenced by her mentors- her parents, her high coaches, and her coaches at Mizzou- Mary Scott and Tom Lloyd. Now, she has the opportunity to give back to her players.
"Coop has a very motherly way of coaching. She cares about each and every player individually as well as a team," Kraft says. "I always appreciated how well she could separate treating her team as both players and people. She knew how to have a personal touch while staying disciplined."
Black & Gold runs through Priesmeyer's veins. Columbia has been her home since she moved here from Seymour, Indiana in 1990. When she was hired by Mizzou in 2001, it was a dream come true.
"I knew I wanted to coach but never thought this opportunity would be available. To coach for your alma mater is simply the best feeling and to coach with one of your first athletes (assistant coach Mindy Coyle played for Priesmeyer from 2002-2005) is the icing on the cake," Priesmeyer says.
Her Tiger spirit does not go unrecognized. Kraft says that Coach Coop has had a huge impact on the women's golf program as well as the university.
"Coop is an incredible advocate for our university. Her relationships in and out of Columbia make our golf team possible. She does an incredible job of keeping fundraising and donors alive and well, but above that she's an incredible face for the tigers. I think Coop is a true advocate for Mizzou spirit in our community."
Not only is Coach Coop #MizzouMade, but all of the athletes that she has coached embody the characteristics that have defined her career, and undoubtedly, Coach Coop is proud of each one of her student-athletes who proudly call themselves #MizzouMade as well.
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#MIZZOUMADE MONDAY
What does it mean to be #MizzouMade? That moniker has been a staple for Mizzou student-athletes for years. It is often associated with athletes who have excelled at the highest levels of their respective sports, but the true meaning runs much deeper.
While there are certainly examples of former Tigers excelling in professional athletics, there is a much larger contingent of Mizzou student-athletes thriving in today's fast-paced, competitive work environment. What each of those student-athletes learned at Mizzou has prepared them for life beyond sports.
The mission of Mizzou Athletics remains to prepare champions for life through a personal enhancement model that emphasizes academic and athletic excellence, social responsibility, career development and leadership in order to help each student athlete become a prepared professional in any field upon earning their degree.
#MizzouMade Monday aims to tell those stories of student athletes who are bringing those values and ideals of Mizzou into the real world every day.
