Beginning with the 2021-22 academic year, veteran Wayland Baptist volleyball coach Jim Giacomazzi takes on the added duties of coaching the Pioneer women’s golf team.
Giacomazzi, who has more than 400 career volleyball victories and has coached Pioneer volleyball since 2007l, also is no stranger to coaching golf, having overseen the Pioneer women’s program on two previous occasions, most recently in 2017-18.
An avid golfer for the past 25 years, Giacomazzi owns a 2.1 handicap and has won the championship at Canyon Country Club “seven or eight times.” He formerly played USGA events.
Giacomazzi said he is looking forward to sharing his knowledge of the game.
“I enjoy golf, and I enjoy teaching it. I especially enjoy the mental part of the game. Once you have the skills, it’s how you can handle the pressure you put on yourself so you can perform to your abilities.”
He added, “The challenge always is to get a team to work as one. In golf, individual hard work matters and then you have to have enough concern and care for your teammates to encourage them to be successful, too.”
Giacomazzi has guided the WBU women’s golf team to three of its five NAIA National Championships appearances, including an all-time best eighth-place showing in 2013. Also under Giacomazzi, Wayland finished 19th in 2011 and 10th in 2012.
The 2015 Pioneers matched the program’s all-time best eighth-place nationals finish then tied for 11th the following year. Wayland just missed qualifying for nationals in 2019 and again this past spring when the Pioneers finished third in the Sooner Athletic Conference and were ranked the equivalent of 27th in the NAIA. (The 2020 NAIA National Championships were cancelled due to COVID-19.)
Wayland’s women’s golf program began in 2008-09. That season, Charlotte Guilleux tied for third place at nationals, the best individual showing at the national tournament for a Wayland golfer.
