COACHING
- Kansas: Assistant Men’s Golf Coach 1999-2001
- Vanderbilt: Assistant Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach 2001-2002
- Kansas: Assistant Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach 2002-2006
- Colorado: Head Men’s Golf Coach 2006-current
- Best finish for both the men’s and women’s team in SEC History in 2002
- Coached first-ever men’s All-American in Brandt Snedeker
- Coached first-ever women’s All-American in Nicki Cutler
- Highest final national ranking for men’s team
- First-ever berth in NCAA Finals for women’s team
- Women’s team reached rank of #1 in fall 2001
- Men’s team was ranked #1 in fall 1999
- 1999 Big 12 Champions
- Men’s NCAA Regional 2003, 2004, 2005
- Coached All-Americans Kristoffer Marshall and Gary Woodland
- Coached Big 12 Player of the Year Amanda Costner
- One of three finalists for the GCAA Jan Strickland Assistant Coach of the Year in 2005
- NCAA Championship appearances in 11 seasons
- Coached All-Americans Pat Grady, Derek Tolan, Jeremy Paul, Yannik Paul, and Dylan McDermott
- 20 Major Tournament Team Victories
- All-time winningest coach in Colorado Golf history
- 22 Individual victories
- Named as one of the 20 best coaches in college golf by Golfweek
- 21st place – 2023 NCAA Championship Finals
- 3rd place – 2023 NCAA Central Regional & 2025 NCAA Northwest Regional
- All 42 seniors on his teams have graduated
- Coached in 6 NCAA Championship Finals (2001, 2002, 2008, 2015, 2023, 2025)
- 19 total team appearances as assistant or head coach
PGA TOUR
- Brandt Snedeker
- Gary Woodland
- Nicki Cutler
- Yannik Paul
- Yannik Paul
- Jeremy Paul
- Daniel O’Loughlin
- Derek Tolan
- Jeremy Paul
- Yannik Paul
- Luke Symons
- Michael Baird
- Pat Grady
- Justin Bardgett
- Derek Fribbs
- Ryan Schmitz
- Colorado: Pat Grady, Philip Juel-Berg, Spencer Painton, John Souza, Daniel O’Loughlin,Victor Bjorlow, John Paterson, Kristoffer Max, Jack Holland, Justin Biwer
- Kansas: Casey Harbour, Kevin Ward, Pete Krsnich, Luke Trammell, Jennifer Bawanan, Chelsey Pryor, Amanda Costner
- Vanderbilt: Joni Gossett, Meredith Ward
Roy Edwards is in his 20th season as head coach of the University of Colorado men’s golf team, having been named to the position on July 14, 2006, following in the footsteps of the only two coaches the program had ever known over a span of six decades. Among the 306 Division I programs, he’s tied for 52nd coaching longevity (20th among 135 FBS schools), and with CU returning to the Big 12 Conference for the 2024-25 season, he is third in tenure in the conference behind BYU’s Bruce Brockbank (34th season), Texas Tech’s Greg Sands (25th),
Edwards, 49, is just the third full-time men’s golf coach in Buffalo history. He came to CU with an impressive pedigree, joining the Buffaloes from his alma mater, the University of Kansas, where he had served as the assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs for the previous four years (2002-06). He held the same position at Vanderbilt University for a year prior to returning to KU.Edwards replaced the late Mark Simpson, who passed away from complications due to lung cancer in December 2005. Simpson had held the post since 1977, when he followed in the footsteps of his college head coach, Les Fowler. Fowler took over as player-coach in 1948 and remained on board until Simpson, his assistant, replaced him. Thus, Edwards is only the program’s third full-time head coach since 1948.
Each of his predecessors had to lead the Buffaloes into stronger conferences, Fowler into the Big Seven in 1949 and Simpson into the Big 12 in 1996; but Edwards was faced with the most daunting task in CU golf history. He led the charge when the Buffaloes joined the Pacific-10 Conference on July 1, 2011 (making it the Pac-12), with Colorado becoming a member of the most prestigious men’s golf conference in the nation at the time.
But with CU returning to the Big 12, along with traditional top national programs in Arizona and Arizona State, the Big 12 should hold its own among the national elite. Just six schools remain from the original Big 12, and with the reshuffling, nine new ones have been added since 2011, with one (CU) coming back to its roots since the middle of last century.
In a 2015 summer poll by Golfweek of golf coaches nationwide, asking them to rate their peers, Edwards came up as No. 18 on the list. The publication commented about Edwards, “If you have ever spoken with Edwards at length, you know he is a student of the profession.”
It took less than three years for Edwards to put his stamp on the CU golf program, perhaps in no bigger way than completing the dream of both Fowler and Simpson. One of the few major golf programs in the nation without its own true home golf course and facilities, Edwards played an integral part in working with Colorado alum Steve Kerr in the latter’s acquisition of Vista Ridge Golf Club in Erie in 2009. The club was renamed Colorado National Golf Club and has since served as the official home for the university’s men’s and women’s golf teams. In 2012, the George Boedecker Jr. CU Golf Practice Facility, a 5,600-square foot state-of-the-art indoor complex was constructed at CNGC, one that matches any in the nation.
He also initiated the Colorado Partners program, a group that quickly grew to well over 100 members who contribute financially to augment the school’s golf budget, and established the Colorado Golf Day which is an annual celebration and fundraiser for the golf program for fans and alumni alike.
On the course, under Edwards the Buffaloes have appeared in 17 out of a possible 18 NCAA Championships, 11 times as a team and six times with individuals earning selections. Through the 2024-25 season, his CU teams have won 20 major tournaments, the most under one coach in school history as he surpassed Simpson’s 16 when the Buffs won two fall ’19 events. In addition, the Buffaloes have 29 runner-up finishes in his tenure and his golfers have captured 22 medalist honors. In his tenure against Division I competition (through the ’24-25 season), CU owns a head-to-head record of 1,971-1,409-51 (a 58.2 winning percentage), and as a member of the Pac-12, the Buffs finished 1,325-916-40 (59.0).
A capsule look at some of Edwards’ top CU teams:
- His 2024-25 Buffalo team was his best of his 19 seasons – and arguably the best in program history, or at least one that didn’t win a conference title. A squad that featured five talented seniors, including Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott, who combined to set 44 school records between them (and tying 17 others), while the team established 25 team records and tied two others. Some of those records included recording the best stroke averages across the board: 71.50 for the season, 70.53 in the fall and 72.18 for the spring, bolstered by a run of 17 consecutive rounds of par or better (blowing past the previous high of 12 set during the ’13-14 season). Over 55 percent of the individual rounds were subpar (107) or even-par (41), or 148 out of 269, including a record 76 in the 60’s. The assault on the record book led to 29 team rounds of par or better (out of 40), and 10 top five finishes in major tournaments, topping the nine occasions twice previously – with nine of those top three efforts. Biwer alone set nine scoring average marks, including season (70.08) and career (70.95), along most career rounds of par or better (101), while McDermott wrapped his career with the most scores in the 60’s (50), and the two longest streaks of the consecutive rounds at or under par (15 as a senior, 13 as a junior). Biwer claimed the only medalist honor – tying for first in CU’s Mark Simpson Invitational, during which he set another outstanding mark – 61 straight holes of par or better (eclipsing the record of 59 set by CU associate head coach Derek Tolan during the fall of 2008). The Buffaloes finished sixth in their return to the Big 12 Championship, then had an outstanding regional, placing third in the Northwest/Bremerton, Wash., event. That advanced CU to the NCAA Championship Finals where the team struggled a bit but still finished 23rd.
- The 2023-24 Buffaloes fell a little short of expectations, partly due to a slow start out of the gate in the fall and playing one of the tougher schedules in recent years. Still, there were moments: CU won the Wyoming Match Play Championship, and post a pair of runner-up finishes in its own Simpson-CU and the San Diego Lamkin invitationals. In the final Pac-12 Championship, the Buffs finished eighth; junior Justin Biwer tied for 15th in the event and earned an individual invite to the NCAA Regionals.
- The 2022-23 Colorado team was arguably his best team to date, and was also the first Buffalo squad to qualify for the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time since the 2001-02 season. The team gradually peaked at the right time; though CU didn’t win any tournaments, it had three runner-up finishes and nine top five efforts led by a fairly young team (regulars of one senior, five sophomores and a freshman). One of those sophomores, Dylan McDermott, led or tied for the team lead in 36 statistical categories, including setting 10 school records, earned first-team All-Pac-12 Conference honors (just CU’s second first-teamer) and was an honorable mention All-American; his final ranking by GolfStat as the No. 43 player in the nation was the fourth-highest by a Buff since those rankings were created in the late 1990s. With four rounds in the 60s, his second-place finish led the Buffaloes to a tie for third place in the Pac-12 Championships (one stroke out of second, 14 back of titlist Stanford); sophomore Justin Biwer had a pair in the 60s, three other Buffs had one sub-70 score and sophomore transfer Tucker Clark had three straight 1-under 70s that kept CU in the hunt from start to finish. Biwer, freshman Hunter Swanson and sophomore Jack Holland all finished in the top 16 in the Norman Regional to enable Colorado to finish third (five out of the lead), while Clark and McDermott were back a bit but still finished even par. The end result was CU heading to the NCAA Finals for the first time in 21 years, where CU was three behind the cutline at the midway point, but couldn’t gain any ground and finished 21st after the field was reduced after three rounds. McDermott did advance individually and tied for 48th.
