FARMINGTON, Utah (May 1, 2026) – Northern Arizona’s Brad Bedortha has been named 2025-26 Jeff Smith Women’s Golf Coach of the Year, the Big Sky Conference office announced today.
The award is named in honor of former Weber State head coach Jeff Smith.
The Lumberjacks claimed the 2026 title by shooting a 5-under 847 across all three rounds of the Big Sky Championship to finish five strokes ahead of the field. By doing so, they claimed their first conference team title since 2022.
For Northern Arizona, this was their 10
th Big Sky Conference title in program history. They also snapped a streak of three-consecutive Big Sky titles by Sacramento State.
This marks Bedortha’s fifth Coach of the Year Award from the Big Sky Conference, and his first since the ‘Jacks last won the league’s title.
NAU is currently ranked No. 77 in the entire NCAA, which sandwiches them between a pair of Power 4 programs in Brigham Young University and Nebraska. Across 30 rounds, they had a scoring average of 293.4 and racked up three team victories. They also collected eight top-10 victories over the course of the season.
Earlier this week the Lumberjacks were selected to the Waco, Texas Regional hosted by Baylor. Regional play will take place from May 11-13.
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