Billy Aune is entering his 31st season as the Head Men’s Golf Coach, and his 20th season as the Head Women’s Golf Coach at the University of Northwestern in the fall of 2025. 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 is in his 37th season as an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach.
Coach Aune is the longest tenured coach in both programs' 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 won four conference championships, and has been named the UMAC Coach of the Year four times. Aune also led the men to their first-ever berth 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 four times, and he has been named the UMAC Coach of the Year seven 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 an 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 Championships at Pebble Creek Golf Club 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 its best golf of the season and stormed back to take a one-stroke lead late in the round. However, the Eagles stayed composed, hit some big shots down the stretch, and won the championship by a single stroke. As a result, in May of 2022, the Eagles competed in the NCAA Division III National Championship in Houston, Texas for the first time.
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 Championship in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
The Eagles' Women's Golf dominance continued in 2024 as Eckman and Johnson continued to light it up on the course. Northwestern once again cruised to a conference title, this time by 76 strokes, with Eckman and Johnson once again finishing 1-2 in the medalist competition and all five Eagles competing earning All-Conference recognition. Eckman also earned NCCAA All-America status for the second time in as many years after another impressive individual showing at the NCCAA National Championships in Palm Coast, Florida. In the spring, UNW competed in its third NCAA Division III National Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Eagles finished 31st out of 34 teams, its best showing to date, and Eckman finished 39th, just four shots off the individual cut line.
On the hardwood, Coach Aune has helped preside over the most successful eras of Northwestern Men's Basketball. During his tenure, the Eagles have won 22 conference championships, 13 conference tournament championships and two NCCAA National Championships (2010, 2021). They have also made nine appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament and six appearances in the NCCAA Division I National Tournament, in addition to a pair of NAIA Division II National Tournament showings. The 2014-15 Eagles made it to the DIII Tournament Sweet 16, the farthest any UNW athletic team had made it to that point, and appeared in the Round of 32 in 2019.
Coach Aune is a graduate of Northwestern, and currently resides in New Brighton with his wife Miriam. The Aunes have three children, two of whom are currently attending UNW.
