LACEY, Wash. - Saint Martin's University is excited to recognize current Women's Golf Head Coach, Anne Bahr, as the next head coach for the Saints' Men's Golf team. In a move designed to model the coaching structure employed by other GNAC programs, and to enhance the quality of the SMU golf teams, Bahr will begin serving in a full-time capacity as head coach of both the women's and men's golf programs with the support of part-time assistants.  

Joining the department in the spring of 2019 as the Assistant Women's Golf Coach, Bahr took over the reigns as that program's head coach in July 2022. Since that time, the team has notched multiple top-5 team finishes, including their highest finish ever at the GNAC Conference Championships as runners-up in April of 2023. Freshman, Ashley Bruland, took home medalist honors in 2023 as the second Saint Martin's woman to have won Conference. Bahr has produced multiple first-team All GNAC honorees, All-Academic GNAC honorees, and helped the team earn the conference's top team academic award in 2023.

Striving to elevate the competitiveness of the Saints' intercollegiate athletic programs, and always keeping student-athlete experience front of mind, Director of Athletics, Steve O'Brien, decided to promote Bahr following men's coach, Zach Dietz's decision to step down. "When Zach indicated that this would be his final season coaching the men's team, the vacancy presented an opportunity to explore ways to increase the competitiveness of both programs by mirroring the coaching structure employed by our GNAC counterparts. Based on her entire body of work, it was evident that Anne was the right person to lead these two storied programs forward. Under the oversight of the Saints' most recent past coaches Bob Grisham, Kevin Bishop and Zach Dietz, the Saints have won Conference Championships, made multiple regional appearances and one National Championship appearance in the spring of 2021. I have every confidence that Anne will add to that list of accolades and contribute to the programs' rich legacy."

Reacting to the announcement, Bahr said, "I'm extremely honored to be the next Men's Head Coach at Saint Martin's University. The program has an acclaimed history thanks to the success of coaches Kevin Bishop and Zach Dietz, and I am excited to continue that success under my leadership. I want to thank our Director of Athletics, Steve O'Brien, for his support and trust in me to lead the men's program alongside the women. I look forward to stepping in to this larger role at Saint Martin's and continuing to provide a high-quality student-athlete experience for our golfers."

An accomplished golfer in her own right, Bahr played at the Division I, Eastern Illinois University for her college career. She made every tournament for the Panthers and notched 4 top-10 records in their record book. She went on to play professionally on mini tours for 2 years prior to assuming the Head Coach role at Saint Martin's. Bahr is now working towards her Class A membership with the PGA of America and still plays professionally in Section events throughout the year.

The women and men head to Coeur D'Alene for the GNAC Championships next week after strong showings last week in their final regular-season tournaments. On the men's side, Senior Max Turnquist was recently awarded his second GNAC player of the week award of the year, after finishing as the low GNAC player at the RJGA Palm Valley Classic last week in Phoenix. On the women's side, the team is coming off a top-3 finish at the NNU Nighthawk Invitational and impressive top-10 individual finishes by Ashley Bruland, Kelsie Inouye, and Jade Rebelo.