This feature originally appeared in the 2024 Fall edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
 
Sofie Aagaard and Michael Wilson helped lead the California women's and men's golf programs to tremendous heights as student-athletes two decades ago.
 
Now, fueled by the same competitive drive that made them flourish as golfers, the two alumni are back in Blue and Gold as their respective programs' head coaches, and tasked with leading the Golden Bears into a new era as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
 
"There's a pursuit of excellence built into the walls at Cal," Aagaard said. "There's an expectation that you're here to be great. It's an energizing feeling."
 
Different paths led Aagaard '06 and Wilson '07 back to Berkeley within a two-month span of one another this summer – Aagaard was hired on June 6, Wilson on July 22 – following successful stints as collegiate head coaches elsewhere along the West Coast. But a mutual respect for Cal's unique student-athlete experience was always shared by the pair, and proved to be a driving force behind the return to their alma mater.
 
Aagaard and Wilson first crossed paths as members of the women's and men's teams, respectively, during an overlapping three-year span between 2003-06 in which both were quickly identified as leaders by their former coaches and Cal Athletics Hall of Famers — Nancy McDaniel and Steve Desimone. Aagaard, a three-time All-American, helped lead the Cal women to three consecutive top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships, while Wilson, the 2003 Pac-10 Conference Co-Freshman of the Year, played a key role on the Cal men's 2004 NCAA championship squad, won three individual tournament titles and was a three-time All-America Scholar.
 
Cal golfers would often flock to Richmond Country Club on off days to get in extra work around the putting greens during those years, and it was there that Wilson took notice of Aagaard's commitment to the game.
 
"So many of the faces I'd see at Richmond on our free days, particularly on the women's team, went on to become today's leaders in the game of golf – Sofie, Ria Scott, Sarah Huarte, Anna Temple, Anne Walker – they were out there all the time," Wilson said, referring to other Cal alums who have gone on to become Division I head coaches. "It's a testament to the culture that Steve Desimone and Nancy McDaniel created and the types of young men and women they recruited to Cal."
 
The collective work ethic carried over to the biggest stage, as the two programs reached new heights in 2004. Cal's women earned their best finish at the NCAA Championship, placing fourth behind Huarte's individual national title and then-NCAA record 10-under-par 278 – Aagaard finished sixth individually – at Grand National Lake Course in Opelika, Alabama. Just two weeks later, the Cal men rallied on the final day of their NCAA Championship to capture the national title with a six-stroke victory over UCLA at the Homestead Resort's Cascade Course in Hot Springs, Virginia. Wilson, then a sophomore, shot third- and fourth-round scores of 69 and 71, respectively, to help Cal win its lone NCAA golf team championship.
 
"As a coach, sometimes you're so focused on your own team and the goal of an NCAA Championship that you don't realize how connected the men's and women's teams are," said McDaniel, who retired this past spring after 29 seasons as the founding head coach of the Cal women's golf program. "It's often an energy that runs through the programs and links them with a feeling of inspiration. I recall Des telling me how our team's performance lit a fire under the men's team and opened up a world of possibility to the guys – both programs share that special year of 2004 in their memory and want it back."
 
The student-athlete experience Aagaard and Wilson had at Cal laid a foundation for their eventual coaching careers. After both finished playing professionally – Aagaard in 2012 after earning four career top-10 finishes on the Symetra LPGA Tour, and Wilson in 2010 after three years on the Canadian Professional Golf Tour – the two quickly rose through the ranks to become successful head coaches.
 
Aagaard started as a volunteer assistant coach at Cal Poly in 2012, where she returned to as head coach in 2015 after a two-year stint as an assistant coach for McDaniel and the Golden Bears in 2013-15. She was a four-time Big West Coach of the Year for the Mustangs before taking the helm at Washington State, which she led to back-to-back NCAA Regionals in 2023 and 2024. Wilson got his coaching start as an assistant coach at Washington in 2014 and later became the head coach at Long Beach State, where he was named 2021 Big West Coach of the Year after guiding the Beach to an NCAA Regional and its first conference title in 52 years.
 
He most recently led Colorado State to back-to-back NCAA Regionals, as well as an NCAA Championship berth in 2023.
 
"Michael and Sofie always had those instincts to be great," said Desimone, a 2017 Cal Athletics Hall of Fame inductee who guided the men's program for 37 years from 1979-2016. "They have all the right intangibles that made them coachable golfers and, now, have made them outstanding leaders of young men and women. They're going to take these programs up, up, up, and I'm thrilled for both of them."
 
The influence of Desimone and McDaniel on Wilson and Aagaard can't be quantified. Cal's two newest head coaches pull inspiration from their former mentors and recognize the positive long-term impact that can be made in the coach-athlete relationship.
 
"It's an incredible honor to get to pay it forward," said Aagaard, who is just the second head coach in Cal women's golf history. "It's a countless list of things I've learned, earned and achieved from having been a Cal student-athlete. I'm who I am thanks to my education here, and the coaching I received from Nancy and (former Cal assistant coach) Anne Walker. The opportunity to give back to this program is tremendous."
 
Wilson's relationship with Desimone has remained strong two decades later. As Wilson has progressed through the coaching ranks, now in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach, he's identified the importance of having a strong culture at the core of a team. The Cal men's 2004 championship roster was comprised entirely of golfers ranked outside of the top 400 in the amateur rankings, but a collective chip-on-the-shoulder approach led the team to greatness.
 
"Des told me during my recruiting process that it was more than just a four-year relationship, and he's honored that to this day," Wilson said. "He was a great role model to me and so many others. The culture he created for my teammates and I is the same culture I take pride in building. I'm doing what I do today in large part because of my experience as a Golden Bear."
 
The Cal golf programs will be well equipped heading into their new era under Aagaard and Wilson. A transformational $23 million gift – the largest gift to Cal Athletics to date – was provided by an anonymous donor this summer, which will fully endow the men's and women's teams and provide Cal golfers with a new home at Stonebrae Country Club in Hayward. A driving range, short game and putting areas, coaches' offices, meeting rooms, locker rooms and student-athlete lounges are all part of the investment.
 
The Stonebrae-based facility will establish a true shared space for the programs, further solidifying their bonded step into a new chapter as members of the ACC.
 
"There should always be a healthy relationship between the men's and women's programs; it's fun," Wilson said. "If one team is doing well and winning consistently, the other program has the pressure to keep up with the pace. We can only get better and stronger when we do it together."