6 tournament wins • 44 top-fives • 26 top-threes
4 straight NCAA Regional Championships (2001-04)
28 Academic All-Big 12 Team • 9 NGCA All-Scholars
1 Big 12 Player of the Year
9 individual championships from 5 different individuals

Kristi Knight is in her 13th year as head women’s golf coach at Kansas State. Knight came to K-State as the school’s first full-time women’s golf coach in the fall of 1995 after playing at the University of Oklahoma.

“I never saw myself as a coach,” Knight said. “I loved college athletics and my goal was to be an athletic director. My coach at Oklahoma is the one who encouraged me to go into coaching. I am glad she did.”

A native of Crockett, Texas, Knight graduated from Norman (Okla.) High School. Knight played collegiate golf at Oklahoma from 1985-88. Knight was a consistent player for the Sooners, lettering three years under head coach Carol Ludvigson. As a senior, Knight was named team co-captain and selected as a Scholastic All-American.

After earning her bachelor’s degree, Knight began working at the prestigious Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond, Okla., and then went on to earn her master’s degree in sports administration from Oklahoma in 1993.

“Coaching is always a challenge but at the same time very rewarding,” Knight said. “It has taken me places I never would’ve gone. The relationships you build and the friendships you make with everyone are great.”

Knight has guided the Wildcats to six collegiate wins. The first was at the Northern Iowa Classic, Sept. 23, 1996. The Wildcats claimed the team title at the Mountain View Collegiate, March 24, 2002, at the Sunflower Invitational, Oct. 15, 2002, and when hosting the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational Oct. 13-14, 2003. K-State also took the trophy at the Texas A&M Mo'Morial March 1-2, 2004.

Since her arrival in 1995, the Wildcats have placed in the top five at 44 tournaments and in the top three 26 times. Under Knight, Trisha Hoover became K-State’s first all-conference women’s golfer in 1996. Christine Boucher finished second in the Big 12 Conference Championship in 2002, the highest ever for a Wildcat in a conference championship and grabbed Second Team All-Big 12 honors. She was named to the first team in 2003, and in 2004 Boucher was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year.

“It is fun to watch these young ladies develop not only as players but people,” Knight said. “This is an important time in their lives. When they arrive, many of them are unsure what they want to do or what they think they can do. I want to make sure they know they can accomplish anything they put their heart and mind to. Of course, you see their golf develop and see them experience success, but you also see them develop as a person.”

Under Knight, the Wildcats qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships four straight years, from 2001-04. Knight also guided Boucher to the NCAA Championships in 2003, the first Wildcat to qualify.

K-State’s team and individual scoring records have come under the watch of Knight.

The top 18-hole and 54-hole team scores were set by the 2002-2003 team in the Edwin Watts Intercollegiate at Oak Point G.C. in Kiawah, S.C. That team shot a 286 on day two to the set the 18-hole record and totaled three rounds of 874, the 54-hole record, for the two days.

At the same tournament, Boucher claimed the top individual scores for a Wildcat in school history. She posted a 64 on day two of the tournament for the best 18-hole score. She shot a three-round total of 204 to take home first-place honors and set the Wildcat individual 54-hole best.

Knight was asked to serve on the NCAA Central Regional Selection Committee from 2004-2006 and was selected by the NGCA to serve on the Awards Committee since 2006.