Michael Blodgett C’10 MPA’10 was hired as the interim head coach for men’s golf in February 2017. Blodgett will lead the program through the spring portion of its 2016-17 season following the resignation of Bob Heintz, who left to take an assistant coaching job at Duke University.
Blodgett is no stranger to the Penn men’s golf program. In fact, he was the first Quakers golfer to win medalist honors at the Ivy League Championships when he took first at the 2008 event. Blodgett also played on the 2007 team that won the Ivy team title and competed in the NCAA Regional in Tempe, Ariz. He was captain of the team as a senior, and then spent his fifth year on campus working as a volunteer assistant coach for the program as he had exhausted his playing eligibility.
“We are glad to have found an alum in Michael Blodgett to lead our program on an interim basis,” Calhoun said at the time of Blodgett's hiring. “Michael is an accomplished player, and his leadership skills as a captain and former volunteer assistant coach for us will prove to be beneficial for our student-athletes. We look forward to an exciting spring season for the men’s golf program.”
“I am very excited and honored to accept the role of interim head men’s golf coach at my alma mater,” said Blodgett. “I know Penn, the Ivy League, and the college golf world extremely well, and I look forward to helping the players excel both on the golf course and in the classroom. The goal of the program has always been to win the Ivy League Championship, and that goal has not changed. Coach Heintz has done a tremendous job leading the Quakers, and I'm looking forward to building on his past success.”
Blodgett earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Penn, and also collected a Master of Public Administration from the University’s Fels Institute of Government, both in 2010. He was an Academic All-ivy pick in the spring of 2008, and as a senior was a nominee for the Penn Athletics Class of 1915 Award.
Blodgett—who played on the eGolf Professional Tour from May 2010 to April 2011—spent the last four years working as the Northeast Region Coordinator for College Golf Fellowship (link to http://collegegolffellowship.com/), pioneering the organization’s presence in the region from his Philadelphia base. In this job he cultivated relationships with college teams along the Northeast Corridor and also led college golf retreats hosted by PGA Tour and NFL players and their families.
