Marcelo Huarte was named the head coach of the women's golf program on May 3, 2023 and will enter his third season at the helm at the start of the 2025-26 season.
Year two under the direction of Huarte, saw South Alabama post the largest turnaround in the nation. After South finished with just a 1-127 record in 2023-24, the Jags posted a 93-29-1 record in 2024-2, and improved their national ranking by 171 spots from 256 a year ago to 85th this season. South Alabama finished inside the Top 5 in nine of 10 events, including four inside the Top 3. The Jaguars also posted their lowest scoring average in program history – 293.5 strokes per round – and had an individual strokes per round of 73.38; a 33.6 stroke improvement from the previous year.
South Alabama's turnaround in 2024-25 was led by a pair of freshman: Katharina and Mercedes Aldana. For her play, Schroll was named both the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year and a first-team all-Sun Belt selection. With the individual honor, Schroll became just the second South Alabama women’s golfer to be named the SBC Freshman of the Year, joining Siti Shaari (2018). Schroll averaged 72.27 strokes per round – a freshman record – and led the team with 91 birdies, while recording four sub-70 rounds this season, including three rounds of 68, which ranked as the 10th lowest single round in program history.
She was twice named Sun Belt Conference Golfer of the Week during the season, and she was named the South Alabama Athletic Department’s Freshman of the Year at the annual Pete Tolbert Night of Champions. Schroll finished the season with 14 rounds at par or under, including 12 under par, which now rank third all-time at South Alabama, and finished inside the Top 10 in eight of her 10 events.
Aldana, who earned second-team, all-league honors, averaged 73.30 strokes per round – the second lowest average by a freshman at South in program history. Aldana recorded 63 birdies and an eagle during the season, while posting 11 rounds at par or under, including five under par. She also finished inside the Top 20 in seven of her 10 events and also posted a pair of Top 5 finishes.
South Alabama also starred in the classroom during the 2024-25 academic year as the group posted a 3.837 GPA during the spring, the highest team cumulative GPA in program history.
Huarte arrived in Mobile after serving as the assistant women’s golf coach at Miami (Fla.) where he assisted with Sara Byrne, helping her to a 1.47-stroke average improvement and career-best six top-25 finishes, four top-15 finishes, and helped her earn an individual invitation into the NCAA Regional Championship.
Prior to his time at Miami, Huarte served as the head men’s and women’s golf coach at Lynn University in 2021-22. During his dual role, he led the women to the final eight at the national championship and final GolfStat ranking of second, holding the number one ranking for 32 weeks. He was named the 2022 South Region Coach of the Year while also coaching a pair of All-Americans.
His first role as a head coach came as the women’s head coach at Lynn in 2018 before taking over the dual role. He led the team to four tournament titles, and the team finished as the national runner-up by one stroke in a tiebreaker. That same year, he helped coach Helen Kreuzer to the individual NCAA Championship. Huarte was named the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year and South Region Coach of the Year while coaching three All-Americans. In his first two seasons, Huarte coached five All-Americans and a pair of top-130 golfers in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. His 2018-19 team finished with the third-highest GPA among all Division II programs in the country.
Huarte broke into the collegiate ranks as an assistant coach at Barry (Fla.) where he assisted the men’s program to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships and a second-place finish in stroke play. The women finished fifth at the NCAA Championships that same year, and Tilda Larson was named the WGCA Division II National Player of the Year. He also helped lead the women to the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championship, while Charlotte Putts was named the WGCA Freshman of the Year. He also assisted the men who earned medalist honors in the NCAA Stroke Play portion of the NCAA Championships.
He also played in various professional golf events including the European Tour Qualifying Tournament and Latin America Tour Qualifying Tournament.
