Isabel Jimenez will embark on her seventh season as the head coach of Tarleton Women’s Golf for the 2024-25 season.
She has guided the Texans through their first four years of being an NCAA Division I program and members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) as well as their last two seasons as a Division II program.
In 2023-24, Jimenez's team closed the season with the program's best individual and team finish at the WAC Championships. Senior Sofia Rodriguez shot a seven-over-par, 220 to finish tied for second. As a team, the Texans fifth-place finish was the best in program history which included a pair of under 300 scores for the first time. Lou Deltombe landed in the top 20 in her first postseason experience as a Texan, making it the third time in four WAC Championships that Jimenez's team had a pair of individuals finish in the top 20.
In the 2023-24 spring and fall seasons, the Purple and White finished in the top five in four of its 10 tournaments. The Texans earned their first championship title in the first annual Texan Match Play. Tarleton defeated Texas Southern, 5-0 to reach the title bout, where they defeated Stephen F. Austin, 3-1-1. In the end of the fall season, Lou Deltombe claimed the first Texan individual title since 2021 at The Judson 2023. Deltombe started the three-round event with a 67, followed by a pair of 73's to card a season-best three-under par. Across both the fall and spring seasons, the Texans produced 14 top-20 performances and six top-10 finishes.
During the 2022-23 season, the Texans played in nine tournaments, posting two top-five results. They took fourth at the Utah Tech Zupas Trailblazer Invitational at Green Spring Golf Course in St. George, Utah, shooting +43. Then in the penultimate event before the WAC Championship, Tarleton shot +46 at the Oral Roberts Spring Invitational at The Club at Indian Springs in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, good for fifth place. Tarleton competed in the WAC Championship as a team for the first time, finishing 10th at +75 in Blaine, Washington, at Semiahmoo Golf and Country Club.
Ahead of the WAC Championship in 2022-23, the Texans were ranked sixth in the WAC out of 12 programs, despite five of their seven-woman roster being underclassmen, including two freshmen. One of those freshmen, Rebeca Fernandez, turned in the best individual result of the year, placing tied-2nd at +4 (73-75) at the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational. Fernandez earned Tarleton’s first WAC Women’s Golfer of the Week award for her effort there. Also this past season, Jimenez landed a highly coveted prospect in Elle Fox, who earned Tarleton’s lowest round scores of the year (two 70’s), coached sophomore Mathilde Brogens into the best scoring average on the team (75.8), and had three players play all 26 rounds of competition (Brogens, Fox and Sofia Rodriguez).
In 2021-22, Tarleton competed in nine tournaments, posting their best finish in the last regular season tournament at Lamar’s Cardinal Challenge, placing second at +82. They competed as individuals in the WAC Championship, unable to compete as a team due to the reclassification process, and posted a would-be team score of +17 in the third round, finishing a would-be fifth out of 12 participating teams in the tournament at +62 overall. Jimenez coached her top freshman Brogens to lead the team with an average score of 76.5. Brogens finished second in one tournament, in the top-10 three times and in the top-20 four times.
In Tarleton’s inaugural NCAA Division I campaign in 2020-21, the Texans played in five tournaments, including the WAC Championships as individuals due to NCAA transition rules. Tarleton won its first D1 tournament on March 16, 2021, when the Texans shot +66 (930) at the Prairie View A&M Invitational to take home the trophy. The Texans defeated Western Illinois by 20 strokes for the victory. Jimenez’s five-player roster combined for 11 top-20 finishes and six top-10 finishes individually on the year. Rodriguez and Alejandra Cambronero each tied for first at the PVAMU Invitational to claim the first individual NCAA Division I championships in program history. Rodriguez also placed 12th at the WAC Championships to lead the Texans.
In Year 2 for Jimenez (2019-20), she guided the Texans to four top-5 finishes in six tournaments in a season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jimenez and the Texans had one of the best tournament wins in program history when they came back from an 11-stroke deficit to win the Oklahoma Intercollegiate for the second year in a row on Oct. 15, 2019. It was the second tournament win of Jimenez’s career.
In her first season as head coach (2018-19), Jimenez guided the Texans to four top-five finishes, including her first career tournament win. Jimenez and the Texans won the Oklahoma Intercollegiate in Lawton, Oklahoma, back on Oct. 23, 2018, with a score of +26 (594). Jimenez had the Texans ranked No. 25 in the WGCA in her first season leading the team. The Texans advanced to the LSC Championship Tournament and placed sixth while Junie Khaw was selected to compete in the NCAA Regional Tournament in Amarillo as an individual. Khaw and Casey Leatherman were named all-conference that season while Khaw and Breanna Smith were named WGCA Academic All-Americans.
The most successful golfer in Tarleton history took the reins of the women’s golf program in 2018 from the most successful head coach in program history. Athletic Director Lonn Reisman named Jimenez the head coach for Tarleton Women's Golf, replacing Jerry Doyle, who announced his retirement in 2018.
"I didn't have to look very far to find a new head coach for our women's golf team," said Reisman. "Although you can't fully replace someone like Jerry Doyle after what he has accomplished here, you also can't find someone more accomplished as a player than Isabel Jimenez. I have full confidence in Isabel's ability to lead this storied program that she was so instrumental in establishing."
"I'm very excited for the opportunity that Tarleton and Lonn Reisman are giving me," said Jimenez. "I know I made a great decision of choosing Tarleton six years ago because I couldn't have found a better coach, mentor and friend than Coach Doyle. I know I have big shoes to fill, but I believe Coach Doyle has prepared me for the challenge."
Jimenez spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach under Doyle after an illustrious four-year playing career for Tarleton.
During her time at Tarleton from 2012-16, Jimenez was a four-time All-American and the No. 1-ranked Division II player in the nation her senior year, which led to her being named the PING Women's Golf Coaches Association National Player of the Year – the first in Tarleton and Lone Star Conference history.
The Madrid, Spain, native, rewrote the Tarleton and LSC record books during her time on the golf course. Jimenez is the only four-time LSC Player of the Year for women's golf in conference history. She was also named the LSC Female Athlete of the Year her senior year and a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year.
Jimenez was a nine-time LSC Golfer of the Week in her career and won 12 tournaments in her four years, which includes winning the individual title at the NCAA West Regional twice. Jimenez has the best individual finish at the NCAA Championships in program history, finishing in third place after carding a -3 (285) in 2016. She ended her playing career with five school records, all set in the postseason.
During her career, Jimenez led Tarleton to three Lone Star Conference Championships and three NCAA West Regional Championships.
Jimenez earned both of her degrees in kinesiology from Tarleton, a Bachelor of Science in 2016 and Master of Science in 2018. Jimenez is married to former Tarleton Track & Field athlete, Phillip Hayes.
