Colorado State University Athletics
An Interview With: Angie Hopkins
3/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
Head Women's Golf Coach Angie Hopkins is the youngest head coach on the Colorado State staff. Hopkins is in her third year at Colorado State and media relations intern, Tim Bilobran had a chance to sit down with Hopkins to find out a little more about the women's golf coach.
The Ram Report: Thanks for sitting down with me today. I just have some questions to ask you. First, we?ll get the informational part out of the way. How did you get started with golf?
Angie Hopkins: I was an athlete as a kid and I wanted to play basketball in college and I wanted to be a student-athlete, and my dad knew I wasn?t going to be very tall, and he knew I wasn?t going to be very tall, and he introduced me to golf.
TRR: So you started in college or before college?
AH: I started when I was twelve. I started playing competitively. My parents dropped me off at 8 am on their way to work and they picked me up at 5- I literally spent my entire day every summer at the golf course. I was fortunate that I had good friends to play with. My grandparents took me to tournaments every week and I traveled all over. Fortunately I got a scholarship to the University of New Mexico. I was very fortunate to play all over. My freshman year I was ranked 38th in the nation. My senior year we finished at Nationals in eight place, that was the lowest we?ve ever done.
TRR: What?s your craziest story from your undergrad career.
AH: I can?t reveal those things. No, I?m kidding. Ok, we played the WAC championship at Laramie Wyo. my sophomore year. It was so cold and windy it was freezing. That night it snowed horribly, and we woke up to three feet of snow, and the tournament was canceled and we won after 1 round.
When El Nino hit my senior year in California, they had trucks, like big pick up trucks, that took us from tee to tee. We had huge trucks that would take us from tee to tee because you couldn?t cross the bridge because the water was so high and the bridge was so dangerous.
TRR: What the craziest story from your coaching career? Weather Conditions? Team pulling prank?
AH: At UNM when I was an assistant, TCU kinda started a war with our team. They doused our coach with water and confetti. To get back at them, we went and bought fish at the market and put them in the TCU golf bags, in the little pocket no one looks in. Those girls didn?t figure it out until the summer, and this was in March or April and they didn?t realize it until the summer. Needless to say, no ones ever started a prank war with me again.
AH: With CSU, well, no? I can?t tell that.
TRR: C?mon, you can tell that!
AH: No, I CAN?T tell that!
With CSU, they made the freshman wear a tutu and wear a tiara. They put a sign on the freshman asking them to sing the school song. I can?t tell you how many times those girls sung the song. They were singing it in the bathroom on the airplane because some lady asked them to sing it.
TRR: How long did it take for the girls to learn the song?
AH: Y?know, they knew it before the day. We had a little reference card so they knew it already, and they could reference it. Megan Chapman and Chelsea Benton were good, they were good sports. And On the plane they sand it over the intercom as well.
TRR: Oh, that?s funny.
AH: Yea.
TRR: Have you ever played a prank on them.
AH: Umm?.Uhhh?No? I haven?t.
TRR: I think you personally should. Maybe you should get them out running at 5 am like in the movies.
AH: Yea, they?d be excited for that. I?ve helped them with pranks, but I?ve never played a prank on them.
TRR: Oh I have one more coaching thing I can tell you.
AH: Oh, that you can tell me..?
I am the only coach I know of that has ever gotten a flat tire at a golf tournament. I got a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere at UNLV and I had to call the clubhouse and have them, pick me up in the middle of nowhere. It was dark and I didn?t see the curb. I have a tendency to take shortcuts.
TRR: Did your team taunt you mercilessly after the flat tire? Did you get any nicknames?
AH: Oh yes. No nicknames. They know I?ve have a tendency to take shortcuts. I?ve high-centered the cart before and had to go up to parents and say ?Can you guys help me push this. I?m kinda in a hurry!?. It was a little embarrassing. I have one final story.
TRR: Alright, what?s your final story.
AH: My first year here, the year of the blizzard when they told me it didn?t snow much here, we took a road trip to Lincoln, Neb. for a tournament and we hit a bug storm. Huge bugs, they just plastered all over the windshield. I?ve never been in that situation before, so I think ?I?ll just turn on the windshield wipers and wipe them off?. This smears the bugs all over the windshield, so now I can?t see. The genius that I am, I think I?ll stick my head out the windshield and pull over, and ended up eating who knows how many bugs. I pulled over, and I?m driving a 15 passenger van and since I?m only 5-2 I can?t reach the windshield, so I?m jumping and all my girls are laughing. Needless to say, we?ve never taken another road trip.
TRR: Alright, to wrap it up, got any other things you?ve learned that you won?t do again?
AH: We don?t do road trips for sure, and we?ll never play at the university of Oregon?s tournament again because it rains. There?s defiantly never a dull moment.
TRR: Alright, well I think that?s all my questions. That?s for sitting down with me today.
AH: No problem. I enjoyed it.
