Eastern Michigan Athletics
Women's Golf
Gentile, Pina
Pina Gentile
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- jgentil2@emich.edu
- Phone:
- 734.487.6435
Pina Gentile (pronounced jen-TEAL) was named as the sixth Head Women’s Golf Coach at Eastern Michigan University on Aug. 4, 2015. Gentile starts her third season at EMU in 2017-18.
The 2016-17 Eagles challenged the team single season mark, posting a 305.2 en route to seven top-10 tournament showings. Gentile won her first career tournament at the Kzoo Classic and added a second with a win at the 15th Annual Rio Verde Invitational.
Senior Kelsey Murphy wrapped up a sensational EMU career with Second Team All-MAC to join Darby Peters (2009-12) as the only student-athletes in school history to grab all-conference honors in each of their four years playing. Murphy completed her career as EMU’s all-time average scoring leader at 75.81 stokes over the course of 114 rounds.
Eastern Michigan also saw three Eagles garner Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar recognition. EMU’s three selections ranked tied for fourth-most in the Mid-American Conference, while the Green and White were one of six MAC schools to have multiple student-athletes recognized.
In her first year at EMU, Gentile helped the Eagles post one of the best seasons in program history. Eastern Michigan posted the lowest 18-hole average in program history at 304.04. The tally finished 1.7 strokes ahead of the 2011-12 squad’s previous standard of 305.74. Overall, EMU finished in the top-five at six different tournaments this season, including a second-place finish in the The Preview, which was also hosted by EMU at Purgatory in the fall.
At the MAC Championships, the squad shattered the program’s previous 54-hole MAC Championship low by 29 strokes which was set in 2003 at Walden Ponds in Hamilton, Ohio, with a 925 (309-317-299). Additionally, the team’s 290 was the lowest 18-hole mark in the team’s 57 all-time rounds in MAC Tournament play. Altogether, the three-round tally is eighth best in school history and the single-day score is tied for second all-time in EMU laurels.
On the academic front, four Eastern Michigan golfers were recognized by the WGCA as All-American Scholars.
Gentile arrived in Ypsilanti after spending the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach at Iowa State University. She was promoted to associate head coach in June of 2015.
With nearly 16 years of NCAA Division I intercollegiate coaching experience, Gentile spent the eight years working at Iowa State where she helped the Cyclones to six-straight NCAA Regional appearances, while recording its best finishes in the Big 12 Championships during her tenure. In 2014, the Cyclones advanced to their first-ever NCAA Championship, the first women’s program from the state of Iowa to make it to the NCAA finals since the regional format was introduced in 1993. Two Cyclones, Sasikarn On-iam and Chonlada Chayanun, were named All-Big 12 First-Team in 2014. Chayanun placed in the top-10 at the NCAA Championship, finishing in a tie for seventh. The Cyclones posted their highest ranking in school history (No. 15) and won three tournament titles in the 2010-11 campaign, as Iowa State earned the No. 1 seed at the 2011 Big 12 Championship. Gentile has also helped tutor 10 Cyclones who have earned All-Big 12 recognition 15 times during her tenure. She’s also coached 12 golfers who have went on to earn Academic All Big 12 accolades 21 times.
Gentile spent six seasons on the Illinois State staff before arriving in Ames. Gentile was hired full-time at Illinois State in 2005 after previously serving as a volunteer assistant. She helped guide the Redbirds to Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles in men’s golf in 2005 and 2007 and in women’s golf in 2005. While at Illinois State, she coached Samantha Richdale, who was a 17-time player of the week and recorded 10 wins during her collegiate career. Richdale currently plays on the Symetra Tour. Gentile earned her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional Division card in 2000 and is a Class A member. She has worked as an assistant golf professional at Crestwicke Country Club in Bloomington, Ill., and Edgewood Valley Country Club in LaGrange, Ill.
Gentile earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Illinois State University in 1999 before going on to add her master’s in the same major, specializing in clinical-counseling. During her time at Illinois State, she was a four year letterwinner on the golf team, where she was a co-captain from 1997-99, a member of the Afni Honor Roll, the NGCA All-American Scholar Team and earned the Helen Cushmen Endowed Scholarship. In addition, she helped lead the Redbirds to a Missouri Valley Conference Championship during the 1997 campaign.
The 2016-17 Eagles challenged the team single season mark, posting a 305.2 en route to seven top-10 tournament showings. Gentile won her first career tournament at the Kzoo Classic and added a second with a win at the 15th Annual Rio Verde Invitational.
Senior Kelsey Murphy wrapped up a sensational EMU career with Second Team All-MAC to join Darby Peters (2009-12) as the only student-athletes in school history to grab all-conference honors in each of their four years playing. Murphy completed her career as EMU’s all-time average scoring leader at 75.81 stokes over the course of 114 rounds.
Eastern Michigan also saw three Eagles garner Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar recognition. EMU’s three selections ranked tied for fourth-most in the Mid-American Conference, while the Green and White were one of six MAC schools to have multiple student-athletes recognized.
In her first year at EMU, Gentile helped the Eagles post one of the best seasons in program history. Eastern Michigan posted the lowest 18-hole average in program history at 304.04. The tally finished 1.7 strokes ahead of the 2011-12 squad’s previous standard of 305.74. Overall, EMU finished in the top-five at six different tournaments this season, including a second-place finish in the The Preview, which was also hosted by EMU at Purgatory in the fall.
At the MAC Championships, the squad shattered the program’s previous 54-hole MAC Championship low by 29 strokes which was set in 2003 at Walden Ponds in Hamilton, Ohio, with a 925 (309-317-299). Additionally, the team’s 290 was the lowest 18-hole mark in the team’s 57 all-time rounds in MAC Tournament play. Altogether, the three-round tally is eighth best in school history and the single-day score is tied for second all-time in EMU laurels.
On the academic front, four Eastern Michigan golfers were recognized by the WGCA as All-American Scholars.
Gentile arrived in Ypsilanti after spending the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach at Iowa State University. She was promoted to associate head coach in June of 2015.
With nearly 16 years of NCAA Division I intercollegiate coaching experience, Gentile spent the eight years working at Iowa State where she helped the Cyclones to six-straight NCAA Regional appearances, while recording its best finishes in the Big 12 Championships during her tenure. In 2014, the Cyclones advanced to their first-ever NCAA Championship, the first women’s program from the state of Iowa to make it to the NCAA finals since the regional format was introduced in 1993. Two Cyclones, Sasikarn On-iam and Chonlada Chayanun, were named All-Big 12 First-Team in 2014. Chayanun placed in the top-10 at the NCAA Championship, finishing in a tie for seventh. The Cyclones posted their highest ranking in school history (No. 15) and won three tournament titles in the 2010-11 campaign, as Iowa State earned the No. 1 seed at the 2011 Big 12 Championship. Gentile has also helped tutor 10 Cyclones who have earned All-Big 12 recognition 15 times during her tenure. She’s also coached 12 golfers who have went on to earn Academic All Big 12 accolades 21 times.
Gentile spent six seasons on the Illinois State staff before arriving in Ames. Gentile was hired full-time at Illinois State in 2005 after previously serving as a volunteer assistant. She helped guide the Redbirds to Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles in men’s golf in 2005 and 2007 and in women’s golf in 2005. While at Illinois State, she coached Samantha Richdale, who was a 17-time player of the week and recorded 10 wins during her collegiate career. Richdale currently plays on the Symetra Tour. Gentile earned her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional Division card in 2000 and is a Class A member. She has worked as an assistant golf professional at Crestwicke Country Club in Bloomington, Ill., and Edgewood Valley Country Club in LaGrange, Ill.
Gentile earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Illinois State University in 1999 before going on to add her master’s in the same major, specializing in clinical-counseling. During her time at Illinois State, she was a four year letterwinner on the golf team, where she was a co-captain from 1997-99, a member of the Afni Honor Roll, the NGCA All-American Scholar Team and earned the Helen Cushmen Endowed Scholarship. In addition, she helped lead the Redbirds to a Missouri Valley Conference Championship during the 1997 campaign.
| The Pina Gentile File | ||
| Name: | Pina Gentile | |
| High School: | Providence Catholic, New Lenox, Ill. | |
| College: | Illinois State University - Bachelor's degree in psychology - 1999 | |
| Illinois State University - Master's degree in clinical-counseling psychology - 2005 | ||
| Professional Experience | ||
| Year | School/Company | Position |
| 2015-Present | Eastern Michigan University | Head Coach |
| 2015 | Iowa State University | Associate Head Coach |
| 2007-15 | Iowa State University | Assistant Coach |
| 2005-07 | Illinois State University | Associate Head Coach |
| 2001-04 | Illinois State University | Volunteer Assistant Coach |
| 1995-99 | Illinois State University | Student-Athlete |
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