Arizona's new women's golf coach Giovana Maymon has deep connection to Wildcat great, Lorena Ochoa

UA athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois had a tall task in front of her after Laura Ianello, Arizona’s longtime women’s golf coach, left the Wildcats to take over the Texas program at the beginning of June.

How would she replace an alum who had a hand in two national championships — one as a player and one as a coach? Someone who was a two-time Pac-12 coach, who took the program to the national semifinals of match play in the 2018, 2019 and 2021, the only team in the country to do so.

During the hiring process, she even contacted former UA legendary coach Rick LaRose, to ask him about going with a “sitting head coach versus (going with an) up-and-coming absolute star.” LaRose was part of the team that was involved in bringing in Ianello.

Reed-Francois took in all the information and went with her instinct in hiring Giovana Maymon.

“My third thought was to think back about Coach Gio,” Reed-Francois said after being sad that Ianello was leaving and connecting with the golfers.

“I had been following her career for a number of years when she was at Texas A&M. At the University of Missouri, we did a golf search about two years ago and she came up on our radar then. She was my first call (for this position). While we had a great pool, a great process, she stood out her energy, her enthusiasm, her recruiting prowess.

“She was a recruiting machine, her ability to connect. … She is a rising star in this industry. She is a well-respected coach, and I’m excited about the future and the trajectory of Arizona women’s golf.”

Maymon also had something else: a connection to Arizona. Actually, to one of the programs’ greats: Lorena Ochoa.

Growing up in Huixquilucan, Mexico, Maymon started carrying around a golf club and playing around the age of 3. With her grandmother being the president of the Mexican Golf Federation, Maymon met Ochoa at a young age. Ochoa has also been involved in working with junior and professional golfers in Mexico.

Maymon started watching Ochoa win at Arizona and then on the LPGA Tour. Maymon looked up to and was mentored by Ochoa.

Once Maymon got the job, Ochoa was one of the first calls she made.

“(She told me) ‘This is amazing. You’re going to do a great job bringing the Mexican roots back into the program with how much you work hard just jumping into new opportunity and just going for it,’” Maymon said.

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“She has meant a lot to me professionally and personally in coming here into a program that has meant so much for her. It’s an honor.”

As a golfer, Maymon played on the Mexican National team for a few years and went to Baylor. She was on the 2015 national runner-up team.

Maymon played professionally for a short time before getting into coaching because she wanted to make a difference in golfers’ lives. She wanted to help them through the ups and downs during their college years and help them get to the next level.

She was a grad assistant at South Alabama for two years before going to Texas A&M three years ago as an assistant. During her tenure as an Aggie, they sent five golfers to the prestigious Augusta National Women’s Amateur, had eight All-SEC performers, two Arnold Palmer Cup selections and five WGCA Scholar All-Americans.

With the Wildcats off competing this summer in tournaments around the world, Maymon hasn’t met the players in person just yet, but she has talked to all of them on Zoom. She said that two former UA golfers, Gile Bite Starkute and Maya Benita, have been helpful as she is learning about the team. Maymon added that everyone — Charlotte Back, Carolina Melgrati, Julia Misemer, Lilas Pinthier, Nena Wongthanavimok and Maria Cabanillas — is returning.

She is also having in-person interviews with a few candidates next week for the assistant position.

When it comes to recruiting, Maymon brought in top-ranked recruits at Texas A&M — both in-state and internationally. She expects to expand Arizona’s footprint into Mexico and Latin America. Once again, it goes back to Ochoa, who is developing junior golfers and this may be the start of a pipeline for Arizona.

Maymon truly understands the tradition of the Wildcat program — from Annika Sorenstam to Ochoa to Haley Moore and beyond. When Reed-Francois called her, she jumped at the chance to take her first head coaching position “at a wonderful place.”

“This is a program (where) you can win,” Maymon said. “For me that was my first thing was like I’m coming into a program that is great. Thanks to what the coaches, coach Laura (Ianello) did a great job here and it’s an honor to follow her legacy. … You can do so many great things here. You have the facilities, you have the support, you have the family, you have the golf courses, the team, so I’m really excited to be here and I think great things are to come.”

Chip shots

The very first time Maymon toured the new William M. “Bill” Clements Golf Center at Tucson Country Club, she said she was “smiling the whole time.”

“We have everything we need to build to keep winning and to be a great program,” Maymon said. “The technical aspect of it, everything’s there. The Trackman range — Stanford and us are the only two programs that have it. That’s an advantage. … When I saw it, I knew that we can be the best of the best because of what we have, the resources and the people that we have around us.”