Head Coaches
Dusty Smith
Head Men's Golf Coach
Formerly one of the nation’s top assistant coaches, Dusty Smith starts his fifth season with the Bulldogs as head coach. Since his MSU head coaching debut, Smith has coached his players to four individual wins, two team victories and 15 Top-5 team finishes.
During the short fall 2020 portion of Smith’s fourth year as head coach, Ford Clegg matched the school’s 54-hole total record of 198 (15-under), carded a new low round of 63, and claimed his second career-individual win.
During the spring season, Smith guided his team to their lowest finish of the season at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship with a score of 854 (10-under). In April of 2021, Smith led the Bulldogs to their third NCAA Regional appearance under his rein.
During the 2019-20 season, the Bulldogs won the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational while Ford Clegg claimed his first career victory. The Bulldogs finished second at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate as Garrett Johnson finished second individually.
In March 2019, Smith led State to the victory at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate and Garrett Johnson’s first career-individual win, the first Bulldog to win a title since 2017. His 70.81 stroke average set during the 2019-20 season stands as second-best in program history.
He delivered the program's first NCAA Regional appearance since 2014 after Director of Athletics John Cohen tabbed the Vanderbilt assistant as the eighth head coach of Mississippi State men's golf in May 2017.
Under Smith’s instruction, 2019 GCAA/PING All-Region Team and 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup International Team member Peng Pichaikool went on to play professionally on the Asian Tour. His 71.40 career stroke average stands as the school’s record.
In his debut head coaching season with MSU in 2017-18, Smith led the Bulldogs to six Top 5 finishes and the program's 10th NCAA Regional appearance. In March and April of 2018, the team took four consecutive Top-5 finishes, which included a fourth-place finish at State's home event, the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship.
In April of 2018, Smith's squad set the third-lowest 54-hole score in team history. The Bulldogs shot an 834 at the Bighorn Invitational in Palm Desert, California, as the team carded a season-best second place finish.
The team's performance at the Bighorn Invite bested its season-opening total by one stroke. To start the Dusty Smith era, the Golf Dawgs shot an 835 at the Bearcat Invitational, which sits as the fourth-best score in MSU history. State also finished third in the September tournament.
Smith's first year at the helm concluded with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Bryan Regional hosted by Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas.
In his final season as assistant coach in 2016-17, Smith and head coach Scott Limbaugh took Vanderbilt to a program-record fourth consecutive NCAA Championship, where it won the stroke play portion of the championship by 12 shots and advanced to the semifinals of match play.
The Commodores advanced to the NCAA Championship in Sugar Grove, Illinois, after tying for second place in the NCAA College Grove (Tenn.) Regional and capturing the program’s first SEC Championship.
Since joining Vanderbilt in 2011, Smith assisted the Commodores to 12 team tournament titles, with 10 players earning individual medalist honors. While at Vanderbilt, seven of his golfers earned All-America status, highlighted by three first-team selections. He also tutored 11 players to All-SEC accolades, with four earning First-Team All-SEC honors.
Smith and Limbaugh also had three Vandy players named to the Palmer Cup, while another was selected to play in the Walker Cup. The duo also coached the Commodores’ first SEC Player of the Year (Hunter Stewart) in 2015 and the program’s first SEC Freshman of the Year (John Augenstein) in 2017.
Stewart and another of Smith’s players, Matthias Schwab, went on to earn exemptions into PGA Tour events.
The outstanding 2016-17 campaign came after the Commodores finished both 2015 and 2016 No. 4 in the final Golfstat rankings. Both of those squads finished four rounds of stroke play at the NCAA Championship in the Top 8 to advance to the match play portion of the event.
The 2007 Lamar graduate made the move to Nashville after spending three seasons as the assistant men’s and women’s coach at his alma mater.
With the Cardinals, he helped the men’s team to the 2009 Southland Conference championship and a second-place finish in 2011. Lamar advanced to an NCAA Regional during each of his three seasons.
He helped mentor eight All-Southland Conference Team selections during his time at his alma mater, led by the SLC Player of the Year M.J. Daffue in 2011.
Under his watch, the Lady Cardinals earned six tournament victories, including a second-place showing at the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament. Five women’s golfers earned All-SLC accolades in his three seasons, while Therese Nilsson and Stine Pedersen were named Southland Student-Athlete of the Year in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
The coaching success he has experienced as a coach carried over from a sensational playing career that saw him earn Ping All-America honors and three All-Southland Conference selections while guiding the Cardinals to four-consecutive NCAA Regionals from 2004-07 and a pair of NCAA Championship berths in 2006 and 2007.
The Woodlands, Texas, native earned All-America accolades as a junior as he tied for 10th individually and helped Lamar to a tie for ninth at the 2006 NCAA Championship in Sunriver, Oregon.
As a senior, he notched All-SLC whonors for the third time as the Cardinals went on to post the program’s best NCAA Championship finish with a tie for third in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2007.
Smith inked with Lamar after a stellar prep career at The Woodlands High School that included a 2002 Class 5A state title.
Smith and his wife, Janie, have a five-year old daughter, Ella, a two-year old daughter, Scottie, and a six-month old daughter, Caroline.
What They’re Saying On Dusty Smith:
“We are excited to welcome Dusty, Janie and Ella to the Bulldog family. Integrity, work ethic, recruiting prowess and student-athlete development were of the utmost importance throughout our search for a new men’s golf coach. We feel Dusty fits all of these criteria.”
- John Cohen, Director of Athletics, Mississippi State University
"Coach Smith is a class act who stands for things that are right. He has an exceptional eye for seeing talent and player development. I know he will establish a vision for taking the program as far as it can go. He also understands our jobs are to help them become men that can have a positive influence in life. He, Janie, and Ella will fully embrace this new venture. I know they will have a ton of success, and we are so happy for them. They have forever left their mark on this program and will be missed by our entire Vanderbilt golf family."
- Scott Limbaugh, Head Coach, Vanderbilt University
“Dusty Smith has been successful at all levels as a player and coach. Playing on two teams at Lamar University that finished ninth and third in back-to-back NCAA Championships is quite an accomplishment. He then carried his momentum into his coaching career in helping Vanderbilt become a golf powerhouse. Mississippi State has hit a home run with Dusty Smith, another great hire in the SEC golf community.”
- Brad McMakin, Head Coach, University of Arkansas
“Dusty is a fine young coach, and I'm sure he will do well at Mississippi State. He has learned from one of the best in Scott Limbaugh, and the two of them have put Vanderbilt on the map. Dusty has the ability to lead, motivate and inspire his players to reach their goals. He knows what it takes to win and will make a tremendous impact on the Mississippi State program."
- Chris Haack, Head Coach, University of Georgia
Charlie Ewing
Head Women's Golf Coach
The 2021-22 season marked the first full season for head coach Charlie Ewing, following his Dec. 2020 hire. Entering his first full season as the Bulldog's head coach, Ewing added Lauryn Whyte, now Lauren Lapa, as an assistant coach on July 12, 2021. The two created a strong coaching staff that helped propel Mississippi State into the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2014.
During the 2021-22 campaign, Ewing guided the Bulldogs to four top five finishes and three additional top 10 finishes, highlighted by a team championship at the Westbrook Invitational, his first as a head coach and the programs first team title since 2020. State also concluded the year ranked 31st nationally by both Golf Stat & Golfweek.
In the Spring of 2022, Ewing guided Julia Lopez Ramirez to the programs first-ever SEC Freshman of the Year honor. Under Ewing’s guidance, Lopez Ramirez was also named to the All-SEC First Team and was a member of the SEC All-Freshman Team. Lopez Ramirez shined in her first collegiate season, winning three individual titles that included an event championship in her collegiate debut at the Sam Golden Invitational.
Under Ewing’s leadership, the 2021-22 season saw numerous team and individual records fall. As a team at the Paradise Invitational, State broke the record for the lowest first round in school history with 15-under par (273). State's 15-under par is also the second-lowest round in team history (18-under par in 2020). MSU finished third shooting 23-under par (841) for the tournament. (23-under par is the second-lowest team score after 54 holes in school history.)
In his first full season, Ewing led his team to just their third NCAA Championship appearance in program history. Ewing guided the Bulldogs through a strong field at the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee, Fla. where State scored an even-par on the last six holes as a team to build a five-stroke cushion and secure the fourth-place finish needed to advance to the NCAA Championships. in Scottsdale, Ariz.
With State's advancement to the NCAA Championships, Ewing became the first Mississippi State women's golf head coach to advance to the championship round in their first full season as head coach. Ewing is just the second coach in MSU history to make the NCAA Championship Round in their NCAA Tournament debut.
Ewing, considered one of the top rising coaches in golf, was named Mississippi State’s seventh head women’s golf coach by Director of Athletics John Cohen on Dec. 2, 2020.
Ewing took over the helm for the Spring portion of the 2020 season. Ewing's 2020 spring was highlighted by an incredible performance in the SEC Championship. The Bulldogs finished stroke play 15-under par to place fifth and earn a spot in match play. State's 15-under par marked the fourth-lowest team score in program history. In stroke play, Mississippi State caught fire, beating two top-5 teams (No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Ole Miss) to earn the program's first-ever trip to the SEC Championship finals, where MSU finished second to ninth-ranked Auburn.
Prior to being named the head women’s coach at Mississippi State, Ewing served as the assistant coach for the Mississippi State men’s golf program under head coach Dusty Smith, beginning in the 2017-18 season. While working as an assistant with the men’s program, Ewing helped to build an active streak of back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances in the first two seasons of Smith’s tenure. He is the husband of former MSU women’s golf All-American and LPGA Tour member, Ally McDonald.
While with the men’s program, the Bulldogs experienced growth and improvement on the course every season. The Bulldogs claimed two team titles during the last two years, snapping a winless skid that went back to the 2014 season.
In March 2019, State won the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate title, while Garrett Johnson claimed his first-career individual win and became the first Bulldog to medal in an event since 2017. Ewing’s time with the men’s program finished with an individual win by current Bulldog Ford Clegg at the 2020 Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in November. Clegg tied a school-record 54-hole total of 198 (15-under par) for his second-career win.
Clegg, Johnson and former Bulldog Peng Pichaikool, who now plays professionally on the Asian Tour, have all played under Smith and Ewing, and they all recorded single-season stroke averages that ranked inside the top 10 in program history. Johnson’s 70.81 score during the 2019-20 season placed second, while Pichaikool’s 71.40 career stroke average stands as the MSU record.
Mississippi State men’s golf also saw great success in the classroom during Ewing’s time with the program, earning five Golf Coaches Association of America Academic All-America selections over the three completed seasons as well as 10 SEC Academic Honor Roll picks following each of those campaigns.
Ewing, a Dallas, Texas native, was a four-year letter winner at Vanderbilt under Smith from 2010-14. He was a four-year All-SEC Academic Honor Roll member while playing 114 rounds and posting a 73.96 scoring average. During his time at Vanderbilt, Ewing claimed one individual title at the Arkansas State Red Wolf Intercollegiate in 2012, four top-five finishes and 10 top-10 finishes.
After graduation, Ewing spent the 2016 postseason as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater and helped the Commodores advance to the quarterfinals of the match play portion in the NCAA Championships.
In the 2016-17 season, Ewing served in the volunteer assistant role for Texas Tech men’s golf on its way to a No. 14 finish in the Golfstat rankings and an NCAA Regional appearance.
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