Joe Tesori, Jr. enters his fifth season as Cortland's women's golf head coach in the fall of 2016. He was named the program's head coach in 2012 after serving as an assistant coach the previous spring. Tesori also serves as the academic monitor for the Cortland athletics department and is the Div. III representative for the NCAA golf statistical committee.
Tesori's squad captured the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division II/III title in the fall of 2015. During the 2013-14 season, Tesori's squad was ranked in the top 30 nationally in Div. III. In addition, the Red Dragons featured All-American and All-East Region golfer Rebecca Studin, who became Cortland's first-ever NCAA Div. III Championship individual qualifier. Studin also won the Div. III Women's Golf NCAA Elite 89 Award as the golfer with the highest GPA among those competing at the NCAA Championships. Tesori's 2014-15 squad placed in the top four in four different tournaments, while his 2015-16 team earned six top-four showings.
In the 2012-13 season, Tesori led the Red Dragons to a top ranking of 24th nationally in Div. III and as high as fifth in the East Region. Cortland broke three school scoring records and had one player, Studin, named to the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division III All-East Region team.
Tesori was an assistant golf professional at Lake Shore Yacht and Country Club in Cicero, N.Y., from 2008-10. He has also served as a PGA Tour caddie on both the Canadian and Nationwide Tours, and at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He is a member of the National Golf Coaches Association.
Tesori graduated from Le Moyne College in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in business management and received a master’s degree in sport management at Cortland in 2014. A standout golfer at Le Moyne, Tesori earned Northeast 10 Player of the Year honors during the 2005-06 season. As a senior, he made the Ping All-Region Team, won the ECAC Division II individual title and helped the Dolphins capture the ECAC team crown as a team captain.
A Syracuse native, Tesori graduated from Jamesville-DeWitt High School in 2004. He played six years of varsity golf and two years of varsity football. He served as a team captain as a senior and was part of the winning Section 3 championship squad during his sophomore year.
Tesori’s father, Joe Tesori, Sr., is the head men’s golf coach at Le Moyne, a former PGA Tour player and a member of the Central New York PGA and Greater Syracuse Sports Halls of Fame.
