The Embry-Riddle women’s golf team has a great source of golf knowledge leading them through the season thanks to Head Coach Maria Lopez’s experiences, as both a collegiate golfer and touring professional. Since Lopez’s arrival at ERAU in 2000, she has produced 12 All-Americans, 20 honorable mention All-Americans, 25 NAIA-Daktronics All-America Scholar-Athletes, 25 NAIA All-Region XIV selections, 35 All-Sun Conference selections, six NAIA Region XIV/Sun Conference Players of the Year, 20 regular season titles, seven Region XIV/TSC titles and 12 National Championship appearances.
Lopez pioneered the women’s golf program at ERAU in 2000 and is in her 13th season of coaching the Eagle women. During her tenure, the Embry-Riddle women’s golf team has accrued seven regional championships, 19 tournament titles and has earned 11 national championship appearances in a row. As individuals, there have been four regional medalists, 17 individual titles, 13 All-Americans, 20 honorable mention All-Americans, 15 National Championship All-Tournament team members, 34 All-Sun Conference team members, 23 All-Region XIV team members, five Conference/Region Players of the Year, 16 Academic All-Americans and 17 Academic All-Conference recipients. The women’s golf squad was the inaugural NAIA Buffalo Funds Champions of Character Team in 2006 and recognized as an NAIA Scholar Team in 2010.
In 2003, Lopez assumed the head coach position of the men’s golf program. From 2003-10 Lopez coached the men’s team to four team titles, two National Championship appearances, a conference championship runner-up team finish and 12 top-three finishes. In addition Lopez’s student-athletes have garnered individual honors, including three individual titles, one All-America honor, one Sun-Conference Player of the Year, four All- Sun Conference team members, two All-Region XIV team members, one Region XIV A.O. Duer Award Winner, 13 Academic All-Americans and 12 Academic All-Conference recipients. The men’s golf squad was also recognized as an NAIA Scholar Team in 2010.
Lopez’s teams have not just proven themselves on the field of play, but also in the classroom. During her coaching tenure, the men’s and women’s golf teams have placed at least one player on the Conference All-Academic list every year. In 2009, the women’s golf team posted a 3.7 GPA, the highest of ERAU’s 16 athletics programs for the third year in a row. Lopez also served as the director of the Embry-Riddle Braddock Education Success Team (BEST Program) from 2001-05, overseeing and implementing the department’s academic enhancement program.
Lopez was named the 2007 Coach of the Year by the The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP), marking the first time a coach from a NAIA institution has been given the award. The LPGA Coach of the Year Award, presented by Etonic, was established in 1980, and is awarded annually to a female golf professional actively engaged in teaching and/or coaching golf at the collegiate or high school level.
In 2010-11, Lopez led the women’s golf team to a second-place finish at the NAIA National Tournament in one of the most exciting finishes in NAIA history, tying the the 2007-08 team for the best finish for any Embry-Riddle golf team on the national stage. The 2007-08 team’s 3.7 GPA was also the second highest of any athletic team in the entire NAIA.
Lopez has also been very active in the NAIA at the national, regional and conference levels. She recently completed her last term as President of the NAIA Women’s Golf Coaches Association and now serves as the women’s golf rater for The Sun Conference. Lopez has also held positions as the regional women’s golf rater and the men’s and women’s regional golf chair.
A three-year letter winner at Alabama, Lopez competed for the Crimson Tide from 1989-92. During her tenure at Tuscaloosa, Lopez also won a U.S. Amateur sectional qualifier, earning her the right to participate in the 1992 US Women’s Amateur. Lopez was a Dean’s List student at Alabama and graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition/hospitality management.
After graduation, Lopez made the jump to the professional ranks, beginning with the Futures Tour in 1993. During that time, she also competed on the Asian (1994, 1997), European and Australian Tours (1994). In 1998, she retired from full time competition after a long battle with injuries. Lopez returned to competitive golf in 2000 and occasionally competes in various professional events in order to maintain and sharpen her skills as a player and instructor.
Since 1994, Lopez has caddied numerous LPGA and Futures Tour events. Her experience as a player and keen eye for instruction makes caddying and coaching a natural fit. Lopez has coached professional players to five LPGA Tour memberships, appearances in five US Women’s Open Championships, three Nabisco Championships, two Canadian Opens, one Women’s British Open and one USGA Public Links Championship. Throughout the year, Lopez will work with tour players, and on occasion, they play with her teams during the off-season. Tracy Hanson, Jamie Hullett, Katherine Hull and Kristen Samp have been great friends and mentors to the program.
The product of a true “American Dream” story, Lopez is the youngest child of Cuban immigrants Julian and Dora Lopez. Younger sister to Julian Jr. and Nancy, her golf roots may have been predictable as she competed in her first golf tournament with them at the age of three. Lopez credits her family, especially her grandmother Margie and sister Nancy, as the inspiration to make a difference in young peoples’ lives.
Lopez is currently a Class A member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division and a certified Henry-Griffitts golf club fitter. She serves as a National Educator and Mentor to apprentice members. During the school year, Lopez serves as a guest instructor on campus for Introduction to Health and Fitness, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and various Hispanic and female awareness initiatives.
Lopez currently resides in Ormond Beach and is working on her thesis for her master’s degree in Human Factors Psychology and Systems Engineering at Embry-Riddle.
