By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Erika DeSanty sat at Princeton University’s new employee orientation with Molly Marcoux.
Marcoux, the new Director of Athletics, spent her undergraduate years at Princeton and couldn’t be any more thrilled to be back. DeSanty had never walked on the Princeton campus before her job interview, yet she sounds just as thrilled to be a part of the Tigers athletics staff as the new women’s golf head coach.
”Just walking around campus today and yesterday has been thrilling for me,” DeSanty said on her second official day on the job. “It’s like I have to pinch myself. I’ve been encouraged to apply elsewhere when I was at Williams and there were only a couple places I would leave Williams for. Princeton was one of them. I felt like I was shooting for the stars. The words can’t describe how excited I am. I’m pretty lucky.”
Over the past five years, DeSanty groomed the Williams College women’s golf program into a Division III powerhouse. Williams finished in the top 10 in the NCAA Division III championship in each of her five years, and posted top-five finishes in each of the past three years. DeSanty’s final year at Williams was highlighted by a program-best third-place finish at nationals led by Georgiana Salant, who won the individual championship.
DeSanty takes over a Princeton program that finished second in the Ivy League Championships last spring. Kelly Shon, who was named Ivy Player of the Year for the second straight year, graduates from the team, but the Tigers do have back second-team All-Ivy honoree Hana Ku, who will be a sophomore. DeSanty is stepping into a situation like she had when she took over at Williams.
”It’s unbelievably similar,” DeSanty said. “I feel as though I’ve gone back in time with so much more talent. It seems like I’m in the same place I was five years ago with the team dynamic and so many other things. The level of talent here is much greater than what I was walking into at Williams at the time.
”It’s a matter of growing together and building a culture where everyone is working toward the same goals. If we do that, the ability to improve will be even faster than the rate was at Williams. And what we were able to do at Williams in five years was incredible. If I do my job and the players work, we can work to grow the program.”
DeSanty sees all the pieces in place to orchestrate the same sort of success at Princeton that she enjoyed at Williams. Princeton was always on her short list of places to coach.
”I looked at it from afar as a place I’d be willing to come,” she said. “The similarities are unbelievable. In so many ways, Princeton seems like a larger scale of Williams. Excellence is across everything — academically and athletically. Students are passionate about what they’re doing. The beauty of the campus. It’s amazing how much they look alike and feel alike.
”Growing up loving Williams and then finding a school like that, and it’s one of the best institutions in the world, it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”
DeSanty didn’t always figure to be a part of a golf program. She played four years of college basketball, not golf, for Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. She was an assistant basketball coach at Elmira College after graduation while earning her master’s degree in education. She moved to Williams to become an assistant basketball coach for two years, but then had a big choice to make.
”Basketball was my first love,” DeSanty said. “I started playing in second grade. But I was first girl on my high school golf team. I’ve been passionate about basketball my whole life. The speed of the game and the competition that basketball offered, I loved it.
”At Williams, I was prepared to move on. I finished my second year as coach, and I met with Harry Sheehy, who’s now the athletic director at Dartmouth. He said, I think there will be an opportunity opening up here, you have to decide whether you want to wait to be a head basketball coach or be a head golf coach here at Williams. Making the decision to be head women’s golf coach has changed my life in so many great ways.”
DeSanty has dived into her new sport. She earned her LPGA Teaching and Club Professional certification in 2011 and is in the process of getting her Class A certification, the highest level from the LPGA. DeSanty could have had success as a basketball coach, but she is only looking ahead to what she can do for the Princeton golf team.
”In a lot of ways, I believe coaching is coaching,” DeSanty said. “It’s a matter of genuinely caring about student-athletes. You’re still trying to build a team. Those things came to me, I wouldn’t see easily, but naturally.”
DeSanty is encouraged by what she sees in her new team. Princeton has the potential to be a championship caliber team soon.
”I think we have a really solid core coming back, players who are talented enough to score really low,” DeSanty said. “And they’re eager to start again. I’m excited about the group. They’re re-energized about the season and looking forward to seeing how well we can do.
”We have two incoming first years will look to compete right away, but we’re returning enough talent that if every player can improve a little, we’ll put ourselves in good position in the Ivies.”
Five years of consistent building and success with Williams put DeSanty in a good position. She used her first experience as a head golf coach to look for the right fit. She found it in Princeton, and was counting down the days until she could start.
”I was so excited,” DeSanty said. “I knew about the institution, heard about how beautiful the area is. A graduate of Williams is in her last year of graduate studies here and she told me about it. I’ve known and heard so many great things about Princeton.”
Erika DeSanty is able to experience them for herself now. It’s an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up, and she’s off and running in her new capacity and happy with her new home.
”I’m figuring everything out,” DeSanty said. “I’ve been running around a little bit crazy, but last night I opened my last box from moving.”
