Wally Goodwin, one of the nation's most well-known collegiate golf coaches, took over Northern Colorado's men's program in 2003. In his time in Greeley, Goodwin proved invaluable in the Bears' transition to the NCAA Division I level. He now serves as the program's Coach Emeritus. A member of the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Goodwin was hired as Northern Colorado's director of golf and head men's coach on April 15, 2003 -- just three years after his retirement from Stanford, where he coached, among others, Tiger Woods. In his first three years at Northern Colorado, both team and individual scores lowered, and the Bears performed at a higher caliber than they had in some time. The 2004-05 squad was ranked last in the national rankings entering the season, but the team finished the year with a #93 national ranking. The Bears also had three individuals earn NCAA Division I All-Independent honors that year, including senior Chris Ellis, who was a first-team selection. The Bears finished the 2006-07 season ranked 104th in the nation and had four players earn spots on the NCAA Division I All-Independent squad. Northern Colorado also claimed the title that year at the NCAA Division I Independent Championship tournament, which the Bears hosted at Pelican Lakes Golf & Country Club. "Taking the job at Northern Colorado was maybe the most important decision I have ever made about coaching," Goodwin has said. "I am at a time of my life when most people my age are thinking about fishing and tomorrow's round of golf. But I was happy to have been asked, and as long as I am healthy, I want to be here coaching golf. There is nothing better than working at a place that you enjoy ..."

Goodwin was head coach of Stanford University's men's golf team from 1987-2000. He helped lead the Cardinal to the 1994 NCAA national championship, while garnering national coach-of-the-year honors. That squad, which tied an NCAA record for fewest strokes in the championship event, featured Notah Begay III and Casey Martin, who both went on to play as members of the PGA Tour. The next season, a freshman Woods entered the picture, and Stanford finished as national runner-up to Oklahoma State. Goodwin helped Woods to a fifth-place individual finish that season and a individual national championship in 1996, when Stanford finished fourth in the country. In his tenure, Goodwin's Stanford teams also finished ninth (1992) and 15th (1991) in the NCAA. He led the Cardinal to conference titles in 1992 and 1994, and he was rewarded both times by being honored as Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year. In all, he led Stanford to 21 tournament wins, 10 runner-up finishes and seven third-place finishes. In his 14 years at Stanford, Goodwin coached eight all-Americans, 18 all-Pac-10 performers, three Pac-10 individual champions and 17 all-academic selections. Prior to his time at Stanford, Goodwin served from 1981-87 as head golf coach at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. With the Wildcats, Goodwin coached Jim Benepe to first-team All-America status in 1986. Benepe later went on to earn PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors in 1988 after winning the Western Open, his first professional event. Overall at Northwestern, Goodwin coached two players to all-Big 10 Conference honors. Prior to Northwestern, Goodwin served from 1978-81 as assistant basketball coach at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. He started coaching golf at Robert Lewis Stevenson High School in Pebble Beach, Calif. He was at Robert Lewis Stevenson from 1970-78 and held many positions, including director of athletics. He also coached Bobby Clampett at Robert Lewis Stevenson. Clampett later played 15 years on the PGA Tour and now workds for CBS Sports. Goodwin has ties to Greeley. He attended Northern Colorado (then Colorado State College) from fall 1947 to spring 1949. While at UNC, he was a member of the varsity swimming team. He finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia in 1951. Goodwin and his wife Nancy split time between their family ranch in Wyoming and Greeley. They have two adult children and four grandchildren.
In 2004 Wally Goodwin returned to Stanford for a reunion with some of his former all-Americans. Pictured with Goodwin are Joel Kribel, from left, Casey Martin, Notah Begay III and William Yanagisawa.