Florida Gulf Coast University’s men’s golf team has found its new head coach after Andrew Danna stepped down from the position in June.
FGCU Athletics announced on July 1 that Columbus State’s Lee McCoy would be the fifth head coach in the program’s history. He spent the last three seasons with the Cougars, developing some of the nation’s top collegiate golfers. During his tenure, his players earned four All-Americans, five All-Regions, four All-Peach Belt Conference players and 12 All-Academic honors.
“I am beyond excited to join the FGCU family,” McCoy said in an FGCU press release. “I truly believe that the sky is the limit for this program, and I look forward to building on the foundation that Coach Danna built during his time leading the program. The future of FGCU Golf is extremely bright, and I can’t wait to see the program become a consistent national threat in the very near future.”
In his first season with the Cougars, he led the team to a 90-88-1 (.506) finish, placing sixth in the conference and 18th in Regionals. He followed it up in 2023-24 with a big jump in the standings, posting a 127-56-3 (.691) record for sixth in the conference and fourth in Regionals, advancing to the NCAA Championship and placing 11th. Despite finishing the 2024-25 season with ten less wins, it was arguably his best stretch as he placed second in conference play, sixth in Regionals and sixth in the Championship.
Before coaching golf, he played at the University of Georgia and finished with one of the most decorated careers in the program’s history. He won seven individual victories with the Bulldogs and earned 2016 SEC Player of the Year and three All-American selections. He finished his Georgia career with the program’s second-lowest scoring average of 70.87.
He left Georgia in 2016 to go pro, winning the 2017 PGA Tour Canada Freedom 55 Financial Open and capturing medalist honors at the 2017 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School Finals. In his two-season tenure on the tour, he completed 13 PGA Tour events and recorded a career-best fourth place finish.
McCoy will replace Danna, who coached the team from 2019 to 2026 and will now serve as the head coach at Houston.
During Danna’s tenure, he collected four ASUN Coach of the Year Awards in 2021, 2022, 2025 and 2026. In addition, the Eagles were ranked No. 257 nationally in his first year and jumped to No. 65 within just a season. In his final season with FGCU, he led the team to its first ASUN Championship.
Building on FGCU’s ASUN Championship last season is one of the things McCoy will hope to do as he brings experience leading teams deep into postseason play.
