Former collegiate golfer Ashton Maddaloni has been hired in the dual role as the head coach of East Mississippi Community College’s reinstated men’s golf program and head golf professional at EMCC’s Lion Hills Center in Columbus, it was announced by EMCC Director of Athletics Sharon Thompson.
Following a three-year hiatus from the links, the EMCC Lions are slated to resume competition during the upcoming 2021-22 Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference’s golf season.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Ashton to the East Mississippi Community College family,” Thompson said. “She comes to us with impressive credentials as both a player and as a knowledgeable golf instructor, so we’re excited to have her lead EMCC’s reinstated men’s golf program as well as serving as the head golf professional at our Lion Hills Golf Course.”
Thompson’s glowing remarks about Maddaloni were echoed by Will Arnett, director of golf operations at Lion Hills Center.
“We are also very excited to have Ashton join our team here at Lion Hills,” Arnett said. “She has embraced the idea of this dual-position role with great confidence and excitement, and she will be a great asset to our golf operations, club members and guests.”
Maddaloni competed in collegiate golf for the past six years while receiving her bachelor’s degree in communication/public relations from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2019 and her master’s degree in sports administration at Hattiesburg-based William Carey University in Hattiesburg.
This summer, as part of the USGA’s internship program, Maddaloni served as a P.J. Boatwright intern with the Mississippi Golf Association, where she assisted in all areas of tournament operations.
“I am so thankful for this opportunity because coaching has always been a career goal for me,” Maddaloni said. “I am passionate about helping players grow on and off the golf course, and I can’t wait to get started in this role at EMCC. I believe there is no better place for me to begin my journey as a golf coach.”
While working on her master’s and competing for WCU, Maddaloni also gained valuable experience working with golf operations for a year at Hattiesburg Country Club. She also has worked as a site director for the Central Alabama region of LPGA/USGA Girls Golf.
After lettering four years at ULM, Maddaloni capped her collegiate career at William Carey as a two-time All-Southern State Athletic Conference performer on the links as well as being a repeat Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar recipient. With a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average at WCU, she was named the 2019-20 Southern States Athletic Conference Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Maddaloni helped William Carey to a 12th-place finish in the 2021 NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship. She carded a career-best 75.91 season stroke average, including earning medalist honors at the Dancing Rabbit Intercollegiate along with a runner-up finish at the MUW Invitational and two third-place showings.
During her first season with WCU, Maddaloni fired a personal-best 68 in winning the Mobile Invitational at RTJ Magnolia Grove.
Maddaloni was also a six-year golf letterwinner at the prep level at Elmore County High School in her hometown of Eclectic, Alabama. After twice earning state sectional medalist honors and collecting two top-10 state tournament individual finishes, she capped her high school career as the 2015 recipient of the Joe Sewell Memorial Award Scholarship for Christian Athletes.
