LITTLE ROCK – Heading into the 2019-20 season,
Jenna Wylie was expecting her first season as a head coach to be memorable. But little could she have imagined just how unique her first nine months in Little Rock would be.
"I will say, this wasn't how I envisioned my first year to play out," said Wylie. "I'm trying to take advantage of this as much as I can right now, because when in our careers do we ever have this much time? But I'm also not accustomed to having this much free time, so it makes me a little stir crazy at times."
Wylie was hired as the Trojans' third women's head coach on June 14, 2019, becoming the first head coach associated with the program without the last name of Norwood. A skilled golfer herself, Wylie was a two-time All-American at Armstrong State and was the Peach Belt Player of the Year in 2013, ranking third in the nation. Wylie earned a reputation as a fierce competitor, holding a career scoring average of 74.88 and being inducted into the Armstrong State Hall of Fame in 2018.
That competitiveness translated well in the coaching realm where she spent four years as an assistant coach – two at her alma mater followed by a pair at Sun Belt foe Georgia Southern. She helped guide the Pirates to a conference title and a pair of NCAA Regional Championships before guiding the Eagles to program-best Sun Belt finishes.
Arriving in Little Rock, Wylie knew she had a challenge on her hands. The Trojans were shorthanded, having just five players on the roster and were coming off a disappointing 11th-place finish at the Sun Belt Championships in 2019.
"It was challenging for me as a coach and challenging for them as players when there are only five golfers on the team," said Wylie. "They had the pressure of knowing they have to play consistently every time we traveled. As a coach it was challenging because while they all want to play and they are all competitive girls, I had to find that balance to keep that competitiveness going at practices while also not burning them out too much.
"As a new coach, I wanted to put my own stamp on this program and I definitely changed things up a little bit. I think I added a little bit more competitiveness put also wanted to make sure I was pushing them in a positive way."
Instilling her style and competitive drive, Wylie and the Trojans began to see immediate improvements. Little Rock opened the year with a 299 in the first round of the season in South Alabama, leading into a fall semester which saw 14 new personal-bests in either 18, 36 or 54-hole scoring.
All five players lowered their scoring average from the previous season with each either tying or surpassing a previous career best tournament finish.
Malena Austerslaatt finished in the top-10 twice, lowering her scoring average by nearly three strokes, with
Kellie Gachaga and
Thea Wakeford-Wesmann dropping their averages by nearly two shots.
Tilde Bocker and
Sydney Scraba each registered a top-20 finish on the year as the Trojans combined for five top-20 showings individually and notched four top-10 team finishes, including three rounds of par-or-better. Above all, Little Rock started to show some consistency in tournaments, which was a major in year one for Wylie.
"I think the girls definitely played beyond the expectations I had at the beginning of the year," Wylie said. "Knowing I would have the same five players, and seeing how they performed last season, they exceeded the expectations I had for them. If we would have been able to play the final four tournaments of the year, I think we would have seen even more gains."
This week was suppose to be the culmination of Wylie's first season at the helm of the Trojans with Little Rock returning to Daytona Beach to improve on its Sun Belt Championship performance from last season. But as is the case with athletics, and life in general across the world, the tournament was wiped out due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of walking the course at LPGA International coaching her players on how to attack a hole, Wylie is now communicating with her team remotely. Which is a challenge, considering her team is currently spread across four countries on three different continents.
"We probably talk to each other at least every other day," Wylie said. "They're working out on their own and trying to make the most of it. We're in a unique situation, being as spread out as much as we are, that some are able to get out on the course while others aren't. But as I've told them over and over, this is a time where we have more time than we typically have, so it's important to make the most of it."
Unbeknownst to Little Rock at the time of Wylie's hiring, it turns out it hired possibly the best candidate to not only understand the disappointment of a season coming to a halt but be able to lend a supportive ear. In 2017, when Wylie was an assistant at her alma mater of Armstrong State, the school was consolidated with Georgia Southern, leading to the discontinuation of the Pirate athletic department.
"One thing I learned from that experience was the importance of not to speculate on the unknown," Wylie said. "This time around, we were at practice when the news started to break, so we were able to take the news as it came. I especially wanted to be respectful of Thea, who was our only senior on the team. Her last collegiate tournament ended up being in Arizona, and she didn't know at the time. I wanted to make sure we went through that as a team rather than individuals."
For now, with the future of the program and the schedule up in the air, Wylie and her team remain focused on the things they can control. With a few weeks remaining in the semester, academics remain a major focus for the Trojans as the team boasts a department-best 3.922 cumulative GPA – one of the best in the nation.
In addition to the hours in the classroom, Wylie and her team continue to set the standard for assisting in the community as well. Earlier this week, Little Rock was recognized as the number two women's golf team nationally for community service hours by Helper Helper, an organization that tracks volunteer hours performed.
While year one may not have played out exactly how she envisioned, Wylie is taking advantage of the lessons learned as she and her team shift their focus to 2020-21. With four of five golfers set to return, and a handful of new additions expected to join, Wylie is looking to take that next step to help make Little Rock into Sun Belt Conference contenders.
"My goals are still set high," said Wylie. "There were some we didn't accomplish this year, partially in part to the season being cut short. I have goals for them individually, I have goals for them as a team. Ranking wise, there is a number in my head I want to reach, but if I'm making them better on a daily basis and the results are following, that's my main goal.
"I'm just ready to have them back in Little Rock and know they are eager to get back as well."
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