Kristen Simpson begins her fourth season at Penn State in 2026-27 after being named head women's golf coach on June 27, 2023. Simpson is an LPGA Teaching Class A member and a TPI Golf 2 Certified Coach, with more than 15 years of Division I coaching experience, including the past decade in Power 4.
This past season, Simpson mentored freshman Audrey Lam to the lowest stroke average in team history as the rookie finished the year averaging 72.41 per 18 holes. JMU transfer Hannah Raab also impressed with a 72.97 stroke average, the fourth best in Penn State women’s golf history.
As a team, the Nittany Lions lowered their stroke average by nearly five shots finishing the season with a 291.52 four-person average. Penn State captured a pair of team titles while finishing in the top-10 in eight of its 10 tournaments.
Simpson saw six of her nine players register sub 75 stroke averages for the season.
Simpson helped Penn State regain the crown at its home invitational, the Nittany Lion Invitational, with a 14-over score ekeing out a one-stroke victory over Delaware to secure the first head coaching win of her career.
The Nittany Lions captured a share of the crown at the Evie Odom Invitational to close out the fall with another 14-over finish. Penn State had its best finish relative to par to open the spring at the UCF Challenge with a 5-under score.
In 2024-25, Simpson mentored freshman Jiratchaya Jiratthitinun to a team-best 73.13 stroke average, the fourth-lowest in school history, and a trio of top-10 finishes. Penn State lowered its team scoring average by nearly a full stroke in Simpson’s second year at the helm finishing the season with a 296.34 (10-over) average.
The Nittany Lions had their best finish relative to par at the Westbrook Invitational with a 7-under, 857), the best finish for Penn State in three years and the third-lowest 54-hole score relative to par all-time. PSU fired a 9-under, 279, during the final round marking the lowest round of the season and tied for the third-lowest 18 hole score relative to par all-time.
Penn State also finished in red figures at the PDI Intercollegiate with a 3-under, 861, score tying for the seventh-lowest 54-hole score relative to par in team history. The Nittany Lions carded red figures in all three rounds of the tournament.
Simpson, also saw senior Jami Morris be selected as the All State/NACDA Good Works Team Captain for the inaugural spring team. Morris has raised over $280k for cancer research over the past three years following her mother’s lymphoma diagnosis.
In her first season in Happy Valley, Simpson helped junior Michelle Cox shave nearly 2.5 strokes off her average as she posted the third-lowest stroke average in program history with a 73.07 including an eye-popping opening round scoring average of 68.0 during the fall semester.
Simpson led the team to a runner-up finish at the 2024 Columbia Classic with a 10-over, 874, while Cox secured her first collegiate victory capturing individual medalist honors with a 9-under, 207, the third lowest 54-hole total in program history.
Simpson has spent time as an assistant coach at Old Dominion (2011-14) and Maryland (2014-18), served as the associate head coach at North Carolina (2018-21) and was most recently the assistant coach at Wisconsin (2021-23).
Simpson, a veteran recruiter and skill development specialist, helped coach the Badgers to a fifth-place finish at the 2023 B1G Championships, their highest since a fourth-place finish in 2017. Emily Lauterbach finished the week tied for second in the 83-player field.
During her time in Chapel Hill, Simpson played a key role in UNC’s recruiting, academic and player development efforts, in addition to team operations and event management. Notably, Simpson helped recruit a talented roster not only domestically, but internationally as well including some of the top student-athletes overseas highlighted by 2019-20 WGCA honorable-mention All-American Jennifer Zhou, Carolina’s first All-American in seven years.
Simpson had her first Big Ten coaching experience at Maryland where she helped coach the Terrapins to a second-place finish in the 2018 Big Ten Championships, their highest since joining the conference. Simpson also saw the Terrapins shoot up the rankings reaching No. 56, the highest in program history by more than 60 spots. In 2017, Maryland won its first tournament championship in program history, taking home the title at the Nittany Lion Invitational with freshman Laura Van Respaille earning individual medalist honors.
Prior to her time in College Park, Simpson began her coaching career at Old Dominion as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s programs. Simpson helped the women to multiple tournament and individual tournament victories while achieving their highest national ranking on No. 62, up from No. 131.
Simpson played collegiately at the University of Virginia graduating with a degree in economics in 2008. A team captain her final two seasons in Charlottesville, Simpson also earned her master’s degree from UVA in social foundations of education in 2009 before playing professionally as a member of the LPGA Futures Tour and SunCoast Tour from 2009-11.