Brad Bedortha, the reigning Big Sky Coach of the Year, will begin his 15th full season as the women’s golf coach at Northern Arizona University in 2022-23. He became the program's fourth head coach midway through the spring 2008 semester, coaching NAU in the final three tournaments of the season.
During his tenure as the Lumberjacks' head golf coach, Bedortha has guided NAU to four Big Sky Conference titles (2009, 2013, 2015, 2022) and 19 tournament victories. The Lumberjacks' four conference championships during Bedortha's 14 full seasons are the most in the conference. He has also led the Lumberjacks to four NCAA regional appearances and coached 21 different golfers to a total of 45 all-conference accolades. Nine different golfers have earned All-Big Sky First Team recognition.
Bedortha, a three-time Big Sky Coach of the Year (2009, 2013, 2015, 2022), has coached three golfers (Sophia Choi - 2008, Stephanie Kim - 2010, 2011) and Sofia Anokhina (2017) to Big Sky Player of the Year honors and a pair of Big Sky Freshman of the Year awardees (Stephanie Kim - 2010, Savana Bezdicek - 2013). Kim, Anokhina and Ekaterina Malakhova also claimed individual medalist honors at the Big Sky Championship in 2011, 2017 and 2022 respectively.
Bedortha's program has also embodied the true definition of the student-athlete under his leadership with the team recording a perfect APR score of 1,000 in eight of his first 14 full seasons. His team has garnered 66 Big Sky All-Academic awards and 34 WGCA All-American Scholar honorees. Ali Carter also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team honors in 2009.
NAU (2008-Present)
Since Bedortha took over the NAU golf program in the spring of 2008, the Lumberjacks have been consistent contenders for the Big Sky Championship. Bedortha’s teams have finished in the top three in 10 of the 14 conference tournaments he has coached and in the top five in all but one year.
After making big strides in the spring of 2021, the Lumberjacks finally reclaimed the Big Sky Championship for the first time in seven years in 2022. At the conference championship, Bedortha, who earned his fourth career Big Sky Coach of the Year award, coached NAU to the fifth-lowest 54-hole score in championship history at 8-over par 872 (288-287-297). Ekaterina Malakhova won the individual medalist honor and was one of two All-Big Sky First Team honorees along with Elle Kocourkova.
Malakhova (Big Sky Championship), Kocourkova (Red Rocks Invitational) and Kimberlee Tottori (Hobble Creek Fall Classic) all earned tournament medalist honors in 2021-22 as NAU had three different medalists in a season for the first time in eight years.
The 2021-22 season saw the Lumberjacks break several school records including scoring average (299.31), par or better rounds (5), birdies (320), par 4 scoring (4.2489) and par 5 scoring (5.0685). Additionally, led by a school record 9-under 279 performance at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic, Bedortha also guided NAU to three of the five lowest rounds in program history. NAU also logged three of the five lowest 54-hole tournament scores highlighted by a school-record tying 7-over par 871 at the Red Rocks Invitational.
The 2021 season was a huge step back towards the top of the Big Sky Conference despite the Lumberjacks not playing a fall tournament and only getting their full team back in Flagstaff for the spring semester as a result of COVID-19. With Malakhova leading the way, the Lumberjacks placed runner-up at the conference championship marking the program's best finish since winning it all in 2015. Malakhova tied for second and Klara Kucharova tied for fifth, giving the Lumberjacks a pair of golfers in the top five in a decade.
Malakhova wound up earning All-Big Sky First Team honors in her first season and Aleksandra Chekalina, Ashley Croft and Kocourkova all earned their third career all-conference awards.
After being voted third in the 2020 Big Sky Preseason Poll, the Lumberjacks were expected to contend once again for the conference tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of NAU’s final three tournaments, including the 2020 Big Sky Championship. Prior to the cancellation though, the ‘Jacks still managed to reset the school record for lowest season scoring average to 301.43 for the second time in three years.
For the second consecutive year, NAU’s sophomore trio of Chekalina, Croft and Kocourkova earned all-conference honors in 2019-20.
Prior to NAU’s seventh-place Big Sky finish in 2019 – a year in which the Lumberjacks’ top three golfers were all true freshmen – the Lumberjacks had never finished below fifth in the conference in Bedortha’s tenure. Spurred by Sofia Anokhina’s fourth-place individual finish, the Lumberjacks finished fourth as a team at the 2018 Big Sky Championship. During the 2017-18 season, the Lumberjacks broke the program’s record for lowest scoring average (301.57). The average was also the program’s all-time best in relation to par (13.97).
Anokhina put together possibly the greatest season by a Lumberjack ever in 2016-17 as she won a school record four tournaments, set the program record with a 73.00 scoring average and reaching an NAU-high national scoring rating of No. 52. With Bedortha’s guidance, Anokhina became the seventh Lumberjack to win the Big Sky individual championship and the first since 2010. That spring, Anokhina also smashed the Red Rocks Invitational record by shooting rounds of 69-68-67=204, besting the previous record by 11 shots.
Bedortha coached Anokhina and three others to all-conference honors during the 2015-16 season, which ended short of defending NAU’s Big Sky Championship in a third-place finish. However, the 2014-15 season was a memorable one.
NAU captured its third Big Sky Conference title under Bedortha in 2015. Garnering his third conference Coach of the Year award, Bedortha led the Lumberjacks to their third Big Sky Championship in seven years with a final day comeback down six strokes and sitting in fourth-place heading into the third round.
The 2015 championship followed closely after Bedortha and the Lumberjacks claimed the 2013 title – the program’s seventh in school history. NAU trailed Portland State by nine strokes after round one before pulling even with the Vikings going into the final day where the ‘Jacks managed to secure the championship by four strokes. Savana Bezdicek was awarded Big Sky Freshman of the Year, while Bedortha was named Big Sky Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
From the 2008-12, the NAU golf program experienced serious success. During that time frame, Bedortha coached the Lumberjacks to 10 tournament wins, including his first Big Sky Championship in 2009, and guided the ‘Jacks to their highest national ranking ever during the 2010-11 season. That season, Stephanie Kim was named the Big Sky Player of the Year for the second consecutive year – after winning the individual conference championship the year prior.
Ferris State (2000-2008)
Bedortha served as the head men and women’s coach at Division II Ferris State University in Michigan beginning in 2000. He was named the Division II National Coach of the Year after leading his women’s team to a fourth-place national finish in 2005. Overall, he led five Ferris State women’s teams to the national championships, finishing second in both 2004 and 2006 and third in 2007.
At Ferris State, Bedortha was a three-time (2000-01, 2002-03 and 2005-06) GLIAC Coach of the Year honoree and received 2000-01 co-National Women’s Golf Coaches Association NCAA Division II East Region Coach of the Year accolades. At the conclusion of the 2002-03 season, Bedortha was the recipient of the NGCA’s East Region Coach of the Year Award.
Personal
A 1990 graduate of Ferris State’s Professional Golf Management program, Bedortha was an all-conference golfer and three-year letterwinner as an undergraduate at Ferris and helped the Bulldogs win league titles in 1988 and 1989 under coach Ron English.
Bedortha presently holds membership in the Professional Golfers Association of America and the National Golf Association.
A native of Oregon, Bedortha worked at various golf clubs prior to joining the Ferris State staff including Bend Golf and Country Club and Sunriver Resort in Oregon, Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Deer Run Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also worked with the Madison Golf Development Group.
