North Carolina State University Athletics
Staff Directory
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Courtney Gunter joined the NC State women’s golf program as an assistant coach in June 2024 prior to the 2024-25 season. She enters her third season with the program in 2026-27.
In her second season with the program, Gunter helped the Wolfpack rack up a program-best seven top five finishes, including a top five showing at the ACC Championship to earn a spot in the match play portion of the tournament for the first time in school history. NC State’s 12-under 852 at the ACC Championship at Porters Neck Country Club became a program-best 54-hole score at an ACC postseason event. The team also earned its fourth NCAA Regional appearance in the past five years and 21st overall, registering a tie for fourth at the Chapel Hill Regional and a No. 41 ranking in the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd Rankings.
Gunter played a key role in the development of a young roster, which consistently featured four underclassmen. Marie Eline Madsen was named a unanimous All-American and All-ACC selection for the second straight season and Ellie Hildreth became the fourth freshman in program history to earn individual medalist honors.
In her first season with the Wolfpack, NC State earned five top five finishes, the most since 2013-14, and nine top 10 showings in its 11 tournaments. NC State also won its first tournament since 2017 with a victory at the Daniel Island Invitational. The Pack featured an All-ACC and All-American selection in Madsen, who won two tournaments, including the NCAA Charlottesville Regional to advance to the NCAA Championship. The Pack capped off the season as a team with a sixth-place showing at the NCAA Charlottesville Regional.
Gunter joined the Wolfpack after serving as the head coach of the women’s golf program at Western Carolina from 2018-24. Under Gunter’s guidance for six seasons, the Catamount program reached new heights, highlighted by a return to the postseason in the spring of 2023. WCU won seven tournament titles since 2018, including a program record four team wins during the 2022-23 season.
Following a remarkable 2022-23 season, Gunter was named the 2023 Southern Conference Coach of the Year. Three Catamount players – Brie Mapanao (73.63), Elizabeth Lohbauer (73.70) and Madison Isaacson (74.37) – broke the program’s single-season scoring record, as well as earned All-Southern Conference Team honors. Mapanao was also named the league’s Freshman of the Year. That squad posted five top six 54-hole scores in program history and with the successful regular season, earned an at-large berth into the inaugural Golfweek National Golf Invitational, which was the first postseason bid for the school since 2007.
Gunter came to Western Carolina after two seasons at Coastal Carolina from 2016-18. She helped lead the Chanticleers to the first Sun Belt Conference title in program history in 2018. Four of her golfers were named to the All-Sun Belt team, including three First Team selections, while Malene Krolboll Hansen was named the Sun Belt Golfer of the Year.
Before her time in Conway, South Carolina, Gunter was an assistant coach at East Carolina for three years, while earning a master’s degree in sport management. She helped lead the Pirates to an NCAA Regional berth each of the three seasons she was at ECU.
Gunter played collegiately at North Carolina (2009-13) for a team that won five team titles, as well as recorded 20 top five finishes, appeared in four NCAA Regionals and advanced to two NCAA Championships.
During her sophomore season playing for the Tar Heels, UNC won the ACC title and finished tied for eighth at the NCAA Championship. Gunter was tabbed a 2010 National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-American, a 2010 All-ACC honoree and a two-time All-ACC Honor Roll member (2010 and 2012).
The Matthews, North Carolina, native was a four-time all-conference choice and three-time Player of the Year at Porter Ridge High School. Her high school won four consecutive championships and three state titles during her prep career. As an amateur golfer, Gunter won the 2011 Carolinas’ Amateur and was tabbed the 2008 Carolinas Golf Association Female Golfer of the Year.
Gunter earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and exercise and sport science from UNC in May 2013.
