Stephanie Barker, who has led Morehead State to two Ohio Valley Conference titles and two NCAA appearances, is in her 18th season leading the Eagles (and 17th with a competitive team).
Barker led MSU to top-three conference finishes in each of her first four seasons and was named OVC Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2023. Â The Eagles have placed in the top five at the conference championship 10+ years she's been head coach. Barker was also named the 2020 and 2015 LPGA Midwest Coach of the Year.
She has mentored five OVC Golfers of the Year (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2023), five OVC Freshmen of the Year (2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2023) and a trio of league-tournament medalists (2011, 2012 and 2023).
Under her guidance, Morehead State has won eight events and have turned in 25Â top-three efforts. The Eagles have also notched 20 top-five finishes in the last 15Â seasons.
Barker has coached more than 50 OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipients, 40 All-OVC performers and more than 25 National Golf Coaches Association Scholar All-Americans at MSU. Her teams have maintained a 3.5 GPA or higher every semester and won the 2020-21 OVC Team Academic Award.
Just the second coach in school history, Barker was hired in the fall of 2007 to revive the Morehead State women’s golf program. The Eagles had not previously competed since the 1982-83 school year.
Barker came to Morehead State after six years (2001-06) as the head coach at the University of Kentucky, where her squads consistently finished among the nation’s top 60.
Under her guidance, UK posted 21 top-10 finishes, 15 top-five efforts, three victories and two runner-up finishes. Her 2005-06 team, which reached 35th in the national polls, set school records for lowest scoring average and best single-round score through the 2006 season.
Barker coached numerous award winners at Kentucky. The highlights include 20 Academic All-Southeastern Conference recipients, 12 NGCA Scholar All-Americans, eight Society of Character honorees and one All-SEC Honorable Mention.
The Wildcats improved their scoring average by more than seven strokes under Barker's watch. More than 80 percent of her golfers improved their scoring average, and two individuals trimmed more than seven strokes in a single season. Through 2006, Barker had coached four of UK's all-time top 10 lowest stroke averages.
Barker began her collegiate coaching career at Cal State Northridge, where her team collected several top-five finishes and finished the 2001 season in the nation's top 100. Barker was named the 2001 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year after leading CSUN to a second-place league finish, the school’s best effort since the program was re-established in 1996.
Before coaching, Barker played professionally on the LPGA, Australian, Futures and European LPGA Tours. She posted two top-20 finishes on the European Tour, two top-25 efforts on the Australian Tour and two top-40 finishes on the LPGA Tour. In 1995, Barker was a qualifier for both the Women’s U.S. Open and Women’s British Open. Barker won the Colorado Women’s Open in 1996.
Throughout her professional playing career, Barker notched three victories, multiple top-three performances and several top-five efforts on the Futures, Player's West and Telia Tours. Over the course of her career, Barker competed in seven USGA Championships.
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Barker is an active member of the LPGA and has been involved with its teaching division since 1996. As a teaching professional, Barker was runner-up at the 2001 LPGA Teaching & Club Professional National Championships.
Barker played collegiately at Oklahoma State, where she was a four-time NCAA Championship qualifier. She earned All-America honors twice and was a three-time Academic All-America honoree.
In 1992, Barker received the Edith Cummings Munson Award, which is given to the First-Team All-American golfer with the highest grade-point average (3.67). In 1993, she was named Woman Athlete of the Year for both the state of Oklahoma and OSU.
In her four-year college career, Barker won five events, placed in the top 10 in 23 of 44 tournaments, and finished in the top five in all four of her Big VIII Championships. As a junior, Barker placed ninth at the NCAA Championship in Tempe, Ariz. She left OSU ranking fourth all-time for single-season scoring average.
Barker was a member of the Rio Mesa High School (Calif.) boys golf team. She led the squad to two conference championships and won the Southern California High School Championship in 1989.
A native of Carmel, Calif., Barker earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State in 1994 and Master’s Degree from Kentucky in 2005. She and her husband, Jamie, have three children -- Zack, Bailee and Alec Lee.