SUNY Cortland Athletics

Kalin Merkley enters her third season as head coach of the Cortland women's golf program in 2026-27. She was promoted to head coach of the team in August 2024 and also serves as the Cortland Athletics Coordinator of Academic Support.

In her two seasons as head coach, Merkley has led the Red Dragons to a pair of Northeast Women's Golf Conference (NWGC) titles, along with NCAA Div. III Championship appearances in both seasons. In 2025-26, Merkley mentored the NWGC Player of the Year in Gina Milazzo, who won the individual conference, while three Red Dragons were all-conference selections by virtue of top-10 finishes at the NWGC Championship. Merkley also repeated as the NWGC Coach of the Year. 

In 2024-25, Merkley guided Cortland to the NWGC title for the fifth time in the past six seasons, as well as the program's third NCAA Div. III Championship berth. Merkley also claimed NWGC Coach of the Year honors and coached Gina Milazzo to NWGC Rookie of the Year honors in her first season, and three Red Dragons earned all-conference honors.  

A Cortland alumna and former player, Merkley was the program’s assistant coach in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 and previously served as a volunteer assistant in 2013-14. Cortland also earned an automatic berth into the national championship tournament in 2022-23.

Merkley's playing highlights at Cortland included a tie for second at the St. Lawrence Invitational, a third-place showing at the Cortland Martin/Wallace Invitational and a tie for fourth at the Williams Spring Invitational in her senior year, as well as first-place finishes in tri-match and dual-match events and a third-place St. Lawrence Invitational showing as a junior.

Merkley earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Cortland in December 2013 and a master's degree in physical education leadership from Cortland in May 2018. A Sarasota, Fla., native, Merkley attended Seminole State College of Florida prior to transferring to Cortland. She's a 2009 graduate of Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School, where she was a golf captain, four-time team MVP, and the Class 1A District runner-up as a senior, in addition to a soccer letterwinner.

Merkley previously was a physical education teacher at Cazenovia High School and taught K-12 physical education for five years at Alexandria Central in Alexandria Bay. A member of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (NYS AHPERD), Merkley has coached JV soccer and has been a volunteer assistant varsity girls' golf coach for eight years. She also served as a volunteer assistant women's golf coach at Le Moyne College in 2022.

(updated 7/27/2026)