Mikayla Ash | University of Texas Women's Golf

In this episode of College Golf Today, host Kelly Okun speaks with Mikayla Ash, the assistant coach and director of operations of the women's golf team at Texas.

Mikayla shares her coaching journey thus far. She emphasizes building trust with student-athletes by showing that you care, listening and getting to know them beyond their scores. 

Mikayla outlines her assistant coach and operations responsibilities, including practice planning, player support, travel, budgeting and recruiting. She highlights the important role of social media in recruiting nowadays. Lastly, Mikayla shares her advice for new and aspiring college golf coaches.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to College Golf Today, Inspiring Tomorrow's Coaches and Players, a podcast in partnership with the Women's Golf Coaches Association and Fairway to Green. I'm your host, Kelly Okin, and a former Division I and Professional Golfer. We are excited to dive into College Golf's biggest topics with the coaches themselves. We're talking best coaching and recruiting practices, their take on current trends like NIL, and stage advice for new and aspiring coaches, all straight from the

Meet Mikayla Ash: Making Impact at Every Step

SPEAKER_01 0:26

source. Today we're joined by Michaela Ash, the Director of Operations and Assistant Coach of the Women's Golf Team at Texas. Our conversation dives into the act of caring for your student athletes, team planning logistics, the role of social media and NIL in recruiting, and advice for those looking to become a college golf coach. Michaela, thanks so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Yeah. So if you would have asked me when I started my coaching career if I would be that assistant that moved around a lot, I would have told you you're crazy. I wanted to be the assistant that stayed at one place, then got the next big opportunity, the next head coaching job. I consider myself a very loyal person. So I was like, I'm just gonna be a one place. Well, fast forward eight years, I'm now at my fourth school. What at my fourth assistant job. Not to say that that doesn't mean I am not loyal. I'm as loyal as it comes, but the path looked different for me than maybe other people. I'll rewind a little bit. I first applied for a coaching job at the University of Denver, the assistant coaching job for the women's team, and I did not get it the first time. And that was hard, but I knew coming out of school, like who knows? I I want to be a I want to be a college golf coach, but I don't know how to do this. I got the news I didn't get the job. Go on, I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do? So I decided to go start my LPGA education. Um I was gonna see if given swing lessons was what I wanted to do. So I went into that, got a little bit of experience with junior golf programming, running junior golf camps and programs, and I loved that side, still knew that I wanted to be a college golf coach. That same University of Denver assistant coach shop came open again, applied for it, and I got it the second time. So that goes to say, like, just because you're told no once does not mean it's the end all be all. So then COVID hit a couple years later. I lost my job. I remember calling who was once my head coach at Colorado State. What am I gonna do? Just lost my job. Nobody's gonna hire in the world of COVID, right? Everybody was making layoffs, they weren't doing any hires. Long story short, that same head coach that took a chance on me as a player, then took a chance on me as a coach again at the University of Tulsa. So went there for three years, did some awesome things, knew it was time to see the Power Five, be in a Power Five conference, get a different experience than a group of four school. Was lucky enough to then get the Arizona State assistant coach job. Was there for a couple of years, again, did some really awesome things, then some exciting personal things happened in my life. I got engaged, I got married, and that's what took me to the University of Texas. So, roundabout way to say that you never know what's gonna happen in your coaching journey, but taking each step by step, not passing up opportunities, it's all just part of the journey.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

That's incredible. And yeah, I've always heard no is just not yet. That's what I especially know. Noah is not yet opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Exactly.

Why Caring Matters

SPEAKER_01 3:33

And how do you make an impact as soon as you get to a team? You seem to be a pro of getting into a new situation, establishing yourself and making an impact. How do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah, I think it's hard. These kids, and I say this all the time, they don't care what you know until they know that you care. So I've said that everywhere I go. So building that trust from day one, and that does take time. And I have learned more and more just how much time that can take. And I knew going from I was very close with my players at Arizona State University, and it was hard to leave there. And I knew that it was gonna take some time at the University of Texas to build that trust again. But it I think it's just wanting to know my players in their hearts and them off of the golf course. That's the biggest thing for me is I just want them to know that I care. Because they've got plenty of coaches in their world. They've got to know that we care about them as human beings first. It's not about their golf scores. And so early on, I just ask questions. I'm curious, I listen, and that's how I have been able to create strong relationships with each of the teams that I have been lucky enough to be a part of.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, that's so wholesome. And how is that part of your why of why you wanted to get into coaching in the first place?

Mikayla's Why for Coaching

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Absolutely. I I knew I wanted to give back to this game that has given me so much. And yeah, my my why is what helps us get through that day-to-day grind, remembering why I do this. I do it for the love of these women, showing them that love, helping them become. We just heard it in the in one of the amazing presentations we were at today, turning girls into women. I want them to leave programs better than they entered them. And I think that's a why of a lot of really good coaches, and I've got to learn from some really amazing golf coaches that have kind of a similar why. And I just I love being around this game. I never want to not be around this game because I've seen it do so many incredible things in my life, and I want to be part of that for other young women.

Coaching Philosophy and Growth

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Like you said, so many coaches have the why, but there's so many different tactics. What have you learned from the other coaches and from your programs that have now shaped your philosophy?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, again, I think it's it goes back to that idea of they don't care what you know until you know that you care. And again, it goes back to that listening. I worked for a lot of coaches, continue to work for a coach that that listens. These players just want to be heard. And I think the listening allows for some really cool dialogue. You get to hear the players' hearts. If you're truly listening, you get to hear their hearts and what makes them tick and what's their why. We have whys as coaches, but the players have whys too. They might not know what their why is yet, but I think that's really a crucial part of college athletics is getting these players to figure out what their why is. Why are they playing golf? Are they playing just simply because they want to play professionally one day and make a lot of money? I'll tell you what, it's gonna be a tough road if that's your why. So, yeah, I've worked for four very different coaches too, which has given me some great experience. And I've taken things from each coach, and it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but the overarching message from all of those coaches is how they get the best out of their players on a day-to-day basis. And it is hard to, it's intangible, right? Like motivation and getting your players to buy in and all that. It's very intangible, but everybody I've worked for has this just incredible way of getting people to do things that they didn't think that they could do. So whether I like I said, I can't put my finger exactly on it, but I've taken little tidbits from everybody, and I I think that's what career development is too. Career growth, learning is a being better every day. We ask our players to be 1% better every day, but we also as coaches have to be 1% better every day. And what are we doing to do that? And I think it's doing a lot of observing and listening and those kinds of things. And I've been very blessed to observe and listen to some really awesome female mentors of mine.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Yeah, and if it was easy to do, everyone would be doing it and winning. So absolutely.

Life of an Assistant Golf Coach

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Switching gears a little bit to your role as an assistant coach, what does that look like throughout a week or a day to day, especially with recruiting coming into the picture?

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, it is very busy. Every day, every day is something new. I also have I have two roles. I'm an assistant coach and director of operations. I would say like a hundred percent of my job is assistant coaching, and a hundred percent of my job is director of operations. Like we wear a lot of hats just as head coaches do. But on a day-to-day basis, you know, I'm building practice plans, helping build practice plans. We talk to players all day, every day, like just all hands on deck with our student athletes at all times. And then, yes, I do a lot of the operations side: travel, budgeting, finance, expense reports, but I truly love the operations side of things too. And but yes, I my coaching hat is first and foremost, and the player development side is first and foremost, always at the top of mind. I think as assistants, our biggest thing is to be available, be present. Um, not only for our head coaches and things that they need on a day-to-day basis, and just supporting their vision and their goals and supporting the head coach fully, being visible and present with our student athletes. They also need kind of that buffer between their peers and their head coach and somebody to go to that they trust. And I take great pride in like a like we talked about, building those strong relationships and having them trust me, but it's simply being visible, being around, being present, and every day is very different. Every day there's something new, but that aspect is what was what drives me every

Assistant Coach's Recruiting Process

SPEAKER_00 9:45

day.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, and switching to recruiting a little bit, how much of that falls on you and what are you really looking for when you go recruiting?

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah, University of Texas, we are all hands-on deck with recruiting. It is a never-ending process between the head coach, myself, our other assistant. We do have two assistants. We're lucky enough to have two assistants at the University of Texas, and it is all hands-on-deck at all times with that. Constantly talking, communicating back and forth. Hey, this player's playing in a tournament, this is what they shot. Hey, I found this player on Instagram or on some sort of social media channel. This player emailed me. What do you think? It's a lot of communication between the coaching staff, figuring out which tournaments are the best ones to go recruit at. We again we try and get eyes on the very best players at all the very best tournaments, and that bringing those players in on unofficial visits. I have a big hand in planning a lot of those official visits, me and the other assistant. And again, it's just it's it is all hands on deck at all times. Recruiting is the lifeblood of our program, and it is essential. I don't care if you're number one in the nation or 200th in the nation, recruiting is the number one aspect that keeps your program continuing to develop. Bringing in the not only the best golfer you can find with their physical game and their golf scores, but who you bring in as a person is very important. How do they fit in with your culture? Are they gonna fit in with your culture? A lot of that is they we try and get them to spend a lot of time with current players on official visits. And we ask our current players, like, what do you think of this girl? You like her? Do you see yourself being a teammate with them? If the answer is no, we've got to listen to our players. But yeah, it is it is a very fun part of our job, it is a very busy part of our job. We're always recruiting all at all times.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yeah, and I think that's the first time I heard someone say they found someone on Instagram. Does that happen a lot?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

No, it doesn't happen a lot, but every now and then you might be scrolling and you see a good swing on Instagram or or whatever the case may be. But we have our players that we target, you know, two, three years out, two, three recruited classes out, and um, and it's just keeping up with them. These players' worlds are on Instagram and social media, and it's meeting them where they're at, and yeah, just trying to find the best next law enforcement, the next best, wherever, whatever program you're at, the next best. But then never losing sight of your current team. I think there's a huge blend because they are while recruiting is the lifeblood, you've got to dive in. And the quote earlier today from one of the incredible panels and speakers today was water the flowers that are on your team. Like put everything into them, and and so there is that great balance of finding the next great talent and the next great person that could take your program to new heights and fit in with your culture, but also being where your feet are, being with your team, and just developing the best young women that we can develop.

unknown 12:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

I mean it's a noble cause. We try.

Social Media & Recruiting

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Sticking to the media thing real quick, how important is media presence for players? Whether you're looking at them and seeing a clean media presence, or how does that affect your view of them?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Yeah, it's super important. I will be the first to say if I'm recruiting a player and I go to their Instagram and I see things that I don't like, it is a massive turnoff. Pretty instantaneously. I think it's important for players, you know, young girls who are starting that recruiting process, is you can change it, right? Like if maybe what your Instagram and your social media portray right now is not very good, change it. If you truly want to play college golf, change that image. Because coaches are looking at it, and it is an important part because we want young ladies that will represent our university to the highest standard. We want great golf scores, we want great people, first and foremost. So it does matter. And what if girls keep their profiles on private? Does that deter you at all? It won't deter me if we do get a little further into the recruiting process. I would love to see them allow me to be their friend. Again, it just because it's a relationship building thing. Like, and we do honestly, in our day and age, we do a lot of relationship building through social media. So it is an important part. And I do want to see your life off the golf course too. Like spending time with your family and your friends, are you like let's have other hobbies? Let's let's showcase what we do on and off the golf course. So yeah, I would love to eventually get to the point with my recruits where they feel comfortable enough and we've built that relationship where they feel comfortable in me being their friend, quote unquote, on Instagram. Or I do try and stay off of TikTok. I'm not a big person on TikTok. I stick to you know Instagram, and it seems like Facebook is getting less and less, especially with the recruits that we're recruiting. But yeah, it is an important part in our day and age to be connected with these student athletes on social media. But again, it needs to be a positive thing. So yeah, I would say like eventually let's get it to the point where it's not so private. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. That was really interesting. Yeah. Don't want to go down a rabbit hole on social media, but yeah, I think like once you do get to college in the space of NIL, it's important. If you do want to get some NIL money and not to go down the whole NIL rabbit hole, but future sponsors are looking at that stuff. How do you portray yourself on social media and having a good presence on any TikTok or Instagram or whatever social media platform you use? It does matter.

NIL's Impact on Recruiting

SPEAKER_01 15:28

That was my next question is how has an NIL impacted your recruiting and your current team? Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

At the women's college golf level, it has not, I don't love this term, but infiltrated quite as much as you know the other bigger sports. But it is something that I think recruits are keeping an eye on, and it's an ever-evolving landscape that is changing, it changes day by day what it looks like. At the University of Texas, we are very blessed to have a great NIL team that will help our student athletes with whatever opportunities they want to pursue with NIL. We have a great support system with that. But I think young junior golfers who are looking at, well, how much can I get paid and what's the school gonna do for me? And we've got to go back to the why, like we talked about earlier. Are you playing college golf because you want NIL money? Or are you playing for the love of the game and to use it as a catapult to a great future for yourself? That's where success is gonna come from a little bit more than just chasing those NIL dollars. So we are going after players who really don't ask much about NIL money, honestly. We want them to choose the University of Texas because they see that we have the best resources to take them wherever they want to be. Not ever losing sight, that's the world that we are in, and it is important, but never losing sight of, well, why do you play? Why do you want to come to the University of Texas? It can't be because we're gonna give you thousands of dollars in NIL money. We want you to see the value of getting a great education at a great university, training and competing with the best players as your teammates and constantly being in an environment of development, and that's what we want to see. But we can't lose sight because it is part of the world that we're in and we'll continue to evolve with it and continue to be flexible with the times and just again bring players in who fit our culture at the University of Texas the best that we can.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Yeah. I think that's a great level set for the junior golfers and their parents as they go through their creating process.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah, just find your why. Why do you want to play college golf? And it also can't be because mom and dad want you to play college golf. There has to be some sort of inner, and they might not know why. They might not know why they want to play golf, why because it's fun, whatever the case, like there's a deeper why, and I think as coaches of incredible young women, it is our job, it is our duty to help them find their why if they don't have

Transfer Portal Trends

SPEAKER_00 18:00

that yet.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

And when we talk about NIL roster limits and transfer portal always seem to come up. Do you have any commentary on what's going on in that part of college recruiting and just college golf in general?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, the portal, it's it's ever evolving as well. We have seen kind of this trend of when the transfer portal started, there was this big boom. This latest transfer portal that we were in, you know, is a little bit less. So we are seeing ebbs and flows. The December portal is not quite as robust as the postseason portal. But I think it is an important part of recruiting too. You know, we want to go after the best junior golfers, the best in the world, but we can't lose sight of these players that are wanting a new opportunity. Maybe there just was something about their previous institution that just didn't work for them, and they deserve another chance at developing and becoming whatever they set out to be. So yeah, we're diving into the portal. I think it's important to keep an open mind in the portal. And again, it's that ever-changing landscape of college golf. You know, and I played dating myself now, but when I was playing college golf 10 plus years ago, that was not even a conversation that we ever like, it never came out of our mouths about transferring. Like it was never brought up, almost a taboo subject. But now it is, and I see the pros and cons of it, but I think if you're doing your due diligence in recruiting through the transfer portal, there are players that just simply want another chance to play and develop and get into an environment that is better for them. And we leave it open for that to be University of Texas. And I think that's important for a program at any level to think about is at the end of the day, we want the best seven to nine players that fit a culture together. And there are some incredible opportunities through the transfer portal to find that. So yeah, I I think again, there's pros and cons to the portal, but in the end, with the ever-changing landscape, you have to be fluid, you have to adapt as coaches. We can't say absolutely not no portal, end of discussion. And some coaches might, and that's their prerogative, but evolving with the times is important to do as coaches. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

And so you don't date yourself, I also played college golf 10 plus years ago. And it was very weird. I had one teammate transfer during that time. Yeah. Oh, that's such a shock. Yeah. It was a shock.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

And yeah, when we had a transfer join us, I played at Carlos State University and we had a transfer join us. And I remember it just being like this crazy thing about transferring, and now it's like half of teams could be transfers. It's crazy. And yeah, it is not hit, just like the NIL world, like it has not hit women's college golf quite at the level of some of these other bigger schools, football, men's basketball programs. They've got turnover like crazy. So I can't imagine that world. But yeah, I think as coaches, we have to be flexible and continue to evolve with the times.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Yeah, I know basketball coaches are struggling with the team culture and just trying to figure out how to develop the players in a consistent manner when they're changing every few months. Exactly. A hundred percent.

Advice for New and Aspiring Coaches

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Looking sort of forward, what sort of advice would you give to people that want to become coaches or just enter the college coach space and apply for an assistant coach position?

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Yeah, I think it goes back to what we were talking about when we first started our discussion today is you might be told now. I was turned down for that first job, and it probably, you know, was the best thing that happened to me because I had to think, okay, what am I gonna do now? What's this look like? How do I get the experience that I need? Because at the time it was at the University of Denver, and I was passed up on that first opportunity, and uh head coached at the time, Lindsay Cool, who's a very dear friend and mentor of mine now, she said, you know, basically, I'm sorry you just don't have the experience yet. So it's like, okay, how do I get that experience? So I talked with a lot of people in my corner. I think that's an important thing too for a young aspiring coach is get a team of people around you that you trust their advice and trust them being in your corner and you can go to them for advice and then keep pushing. Like build relationships with where you're at, with the people you're around right now. And this is a relationship build business at the end of the day, and it is about who you know. So never passing up the opportunity for an opportunity to build a relationship because you don't know where it's gonna go from there. So you might be told no a few times, it's gonna be okay. Eventually, there will be a path for you, and it's believing like everything happens for a reason. I was told no the first time for the University of Denver for a reason. I lost my job during COVID for a reason. I think keeping that in mind as you go through the ebbs and flows of career development. When I was offered the job at the University of Tulsa, I'd never lived anywhere but Colorado. Born and raised in Colorado. I was scared to death to leave Colorado for the very first time. My family, my friends, my whole life was there. But making that hard decision to better your career and make that sacrifice to move a few states away if you have to, and just be open. I think that's the biggest piece of advice I have to young aspiring coaches is be curious, be open, be open to having to move states away. I knew that was gonna be a very difficult part of my journey, but it's part of my journey. And I learned a lot about myself, and I learned how important having those people in your corner is. Even though I was states away, I still had such a strong bond of people in Colorado, and that helped me through those tough times of even being 25 years old, still having some moments of homesickness. Like it's gonna happen. There's ebbs and flows, there's ups and downs during a career, but just continuing to work through those ups and downs and just be a hundred percent open and whatever job you're at, be the best you can be in that position. That's what's gonna take you to that next position and the next position, and wherever you want this game to take you, it can happen. That's amazing advice for anyone going into any sort of job. Absolutely. Just be where your feet are, soak up as much knowledge from the people you're working with and for, and then just building those relationships because you never know what job is next. From when I transitioned from University of Tulsa to Arizona State University is because of a great relationship I had with the head coach at University of New Mexico. So you never know what relationship is going to help you, and it's important to never lose sight again of going back to your why are you doing this. And it's for the student athletes, it's for the young women that you're coaching, so be where your feet are, but also just being open to whatever opportunity comes your way. And it might be scary, it might be moving halfway across the nation, but everything happens for a reason. Job offers come open for a reason. So just be open minded.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today, Michaela. Really appreciated it. Yeah, thanks for having me.