Evans, Fruhwirth picked for NGCA Hall of Fame

The National Golf Coaches Association announced today an impressive pair of individuals--Kim Evans and Amy Fruhwirth--for its Hall of Fame Class of 2008. Formal induction will take place Jan. 13 during the NGCA's annual convention in New Orleans.

In her 14th year as the women's coach at Auburn, Evans has added five SEC Championship titles to the Tigers' trophy case and has seen her squads earn six top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championship, including a T-2 in 2002 and a third in 2005. Evans has coached six SEC players of the year (Margaret Platt,Marci Clemons,Robin Cook,Celeste Troche,Nicole Hage and Maria Martinez). Since 2000, Auburn has won 23 tournament titles. Evans is the 41st coach selected for induction.

Fruhwirth, the 51st player picked for the hall, was a three-time All-American at Arizona State, where she helped the Sun Devils claim the school's first NCAA championship in 1990. In addition to two individual college wins before graduating from ASU in 1991 with a General Business degree, Fruhwirth also won both the U.S. Women's Amateur and U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links titles.

The two will be joined for induction in New Orleans by Edean Ihlanfeldt,Carol Semple Thompson and Christa Johnson, members of the 2007 Hall of Fame class.

Seeing Fruhwirth's, Thompson's and Johnson's names among the NGCA honorees provides me a bit of food for thought: How come the Golf Coaches Association of America (the organization that oversees coaches in men's college programs) doesn't have a players wing for its Hall of Fame? I know it's something GCAA executive director Gregg Grost has had discussions about in the past but it might be a worthwhile venture to look at again down the road, one that could bring more attention to college golf.