Coaching Experience
Head Coach/Head Pro, Cornell (2000-pres.)
Interim Head Coach/Head Pro, Cornell (April 2000-November 200)
Assistant Golf Pro, Cornell (1997-2000)
Assistant Golf Pro, Persimmon Hill Golf Course (1996-97)
Education
B.S. Alabama, '93
At Cornell
Matt Baughan has served as the head men's golf coach at Cornell since 2000, also holding the dual role of head golf professional and course manager at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course on campus. In his more than two decades leading the program, Baughan has guided Cornell to two of its three all-time runner-up finishes at the Ivy League Championship — including a program-best showing at the 2017 championship — and directed the Big Red to a 4th-place finish at the 2025 Ivys, Cornell's best result since 2018.
Among the highlights of Baughan's tenure is the back-to-back individual medalist run produced by the Graboyes brothers. Luke Graboyes '17 captured Ivy League medalist honors in 2016, and one year later his brother Mike Graboyes '18 won wire-to-wire in 2017 — making them the first consecutive individual champions in program history and the first Cornell medalists since 1986. Mike Graboyes went on to become the program's first three-time All-Ivy League honoree, and six first-team All-Ivy selections have come under Baughan's direction.
As head golf professional, Baughan oversees the day-to-day operations of the RTJ Course, directs the physical education golf program, and manages course personnel. He first joined the Cornell staff as assistant golf professional in 1997 before being named interim head coach and head pro in April 2000 and earning the full-time appointment that November.
Prior to Cornell, Baughan served as assistant golf professional at Persimmon Hill Golf Course in Tampa, Fla. (1996–97) and Laurel View Country Club in Hamden, Conn. (1994), directing pro shop operations and running tournament programming at both stops. A 1993 graduate of the University of Alabama (business administration and marketing), Baughan competed professionally on the Moonlight Golf Tour from 1994 to 1997, winning twice at the World Woods complex in April and December 1995.
Prior to Cornell
Before he arrived in Ithaca, Baughan was the assistant golf professional from 1996-97 at Persimmon Hill Golf Course in Tampa, Fla. He directed all inventory of merchandise and provided individual and group lessons. He also served as assistant golf pro at Laurel View Country Club in Hamden, Conn., in 1994. At Laurel View, Baughan was responsible for directing all pro shop sales and buying, as well as scheduling staff and the planning and execution of tournaments.Â
A 1993 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in business administration and marketing, Baughan was a professional tournament player from 1994 to 1997 on the Moonlight Golf Tour, winning the Pine Barons at the World Woods tournaments in April and December of 1995.Â
