MENOMONIE (December 8, 2020) – When Howie Samb was tabbed by then athletic director Joe Harlan to serve as UW-Stout's interim women's golf coach in the spring of 2008, he had never coached a team.
Fast forward 12 years and Samb is retiring as the Blue Devils' women's golf coach after a very successful career. Teaching was not new to Samb, who was an assistant professor in the university's Golf Enterprise Management program.
Samb led the Blue Devils to three conference championships, three national appearances and the program has been consistently ranked among the top 25 nationally. And, Samb was named an unprecedented eight times as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) women's golf coach of the year.
A golf professional in the Twin Cities for 25 years before returning to Stout as a faculty member, Samb, a UW-Stout graduate, was able to shape the team to conference and national success.
“It was the girls that put in the work,” Samb said. “I identified their strengths and worked to improve on their weaknesses. That was the fun part. We knew they had it in them. We just had to figure out to get it out of them and make them better.”
The Blue Devils women’s golf program began in the 2006-07 school year.
“When I took over the program, the goal was to put some legitimacy in the program,” Samb said. “We told them early that they will practice hard, get better every day and learn to be good teammates. We were going to dress like a team and look like a program. I think the other coaches noticed and saw how we went about our business.”
Samb’s teams captured three first place WIAC crowns (2012, 2014, 2016), and four runner-up titles (2013, 2017, 2018, 2019). Eight times Samb has been named the WIAC Women’s Golf Coach of the Year (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019). He was selected as the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) central region coach of the year in 2018.
“Howie has certainly left his mark on this program,” said UW-Stout athletic director Duey Naatz. “We appreciate everything this program has accomplished. We thank Howie for his hard work and dedication in building a national contender, not only on the golf course but in the classroom.”
Thirteen Stout golfers have combined to earn 25 all-WIAC honors, including Trystin Kluess (first team), Madison McCambridge (second team),?and Klairissa O'Reilly-Dye (newcomer of the year) in 2019. Brittany McNett-Emmerich, a 2015 graduate and the program's only four-time all-WIAC selection, was twice the WIAC player of the year (2014-15 and 2012-13).
Trystin Kluess (2019-20), Britt McNett-Emmerich (2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15), Rachel Hernandez (2016-17, 2017-18) and Mariah Chesley (2014-15) were named all-WGCA Central Region selections. McNett-Emmerich was also a second-team national all-WGCA selection in 2012-13 and an honorable mention pick in 2014-15.
Under Samb’s tutelage, McNett-Emmerich was twice named as a WGCA All-American.
The Blue Devils had top 20 finishes in all three of their national appearances, placing 18th in 2013, ninth in 2015 and 14th in 2017.
Academically, his program has ranked in the top 25 in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Division III All-Scholar Team GPA Awards in each of the three years since the inception of the rankings. In 2019-20, Stout’s 3.696 grade-point average ranked it No. 15 in NCAA Division III.
Stout has had two winners of the prestigious WIAC Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete in Alex Westman (2013) and Rachel Hernandez (2017). Following the 2015-16 season, Hernandez became the program's first WGCA All-American Scholar honoree. In all, 12 Stout golfers have combined to earn 15 WGCA All-American Scholar honors with Alexa Filipiak becoming the school’s first four-time recipient of the award in 2020 when she joined teammates Trystin Kluess, Madison McCambridge, Kendra Swanson and Klaire O’Reilly-Dye in giving Stout five honorees in one season.
Samb, a native of nearby Spring Valley, has always been a Blue Devil. He attended UW-Stout, earning a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a master's degree in Training and Development. Samb was an assistant professor in Stout’s Golf Enterprise Management (GEM) program and had retired from teaching after the 2019-20 school year.
“I want to thank all of the players,” Samb said. “It was probably more fun for me than it was for them. The gals I met along the way, I still have a lot of contact with them. Each team was different, and a lot of those teams were really fun.”
“I would like to thank the administration, Duey Naatz and (associate athletic director) Erin Sullivan for their support,” Samb continued, “as well as the support staff - (senior financial specialist) Melissa Rappley was just awesome and the sports information staff.”
Samb, who attained a Class A membership from the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) of America in 1989, spent 25 years serving as a head golf professional or general manager at three Minneapolis area golf clubs, two of which were rated 4.5 stars in Golf Digest, before coming to Stout.
Samb resides in Bayport, Minn., along with his wife, Penny. The couple have two adult children, Garrett, and Natalie.
