Billy Aune is entering his 30th season as the Head Men’s Golf Coach, and his 19th season as the Head Women’s Golf Coach at the University of Northwestern in the fall of 2024. Coach Aune wears many hats at Northwestern. In addition to his responsibilities leading the golf programs, he is the Equipment Manager for the entire UNW Athletic Department and has been an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach for over thirty years.
Coach Aune is the longest tenured coach in both program’s histories by a large margin. He has had success within the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference on both the men’s and women’s sides. On the men’s side, Coach Aune has a UMAC Championship, and has been named the UMAC Coach of the Year four times. Aune also led the men to their first-ever birth into the NCAA Tournament in the 2016-2017 season. In the 2001 season, Coach Aune’s men’s team won the NAIA Region III Tournament and appeared in the NAIA National Championship.
On the women’s side, Coach Aune’s squad has won the UMAC Championship three times, and he has been named the UMAC Coach of the Year three times. In the fall of 2022, Coach Aune was named the UMAC Coach of the Year on both the Men's and Women's side.
2021 was a historic season for Aune's Women's Golf program. It was the best season in Northwestern history, as the women won every meet they competed in. The team entered the UMAC Championship at Pebble Creek as the favorites to win the championship, and after two days of competition, the Eagles held a commanding 17 stroke lead. However, on the final day of the meet, Minnesota-Morris played their best golf of the season and stormed back to take a one stroke lead late in the match. However, the Eagles stayed composed, and made some big shots down the stretch, and won the championship by a single stroke. In May of 2022, the Eagles competed in the NCAA Division III National Tournament in Houston, Texas.
In 2023, Northwestern once again rewrote the record books as it blended experience with young talent. Freshman Paige Johnson shot a 77 in the first tournament of the season to break the school record for lowest individual round. Her classmate, Morgan Eckman, tied the mark nine days later, broke it two days after that with a 75, then reset it again the next week after firing a 74. The freshman phenoms joined a trio of seniors to lead the Eagles to another UMAC Championship by a conference-record 97 strokes. All five Eagles that participated finished in the top nine, earning them First Team All-Conference recognition. Coach Aune was named UMAC Coach of the Year for the third year in a row. Eckman, who was the conference medalist in addition to being named Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the UMAC, went on to become an NCCAA All-American after finishing in fifth place at the 2023 NCCAA National Championships. The following spring, UNW once again participated in the NCAA Division III National Tournament in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Coach Aune is a graduate of Northwestern, and currently resides in New Brighton with his wife Miriam and their children Marley, Isaac, and Ezra.
