CC Buford - Women's Golf Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

CC Buford

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
bufordc19@ecu.edu
Phone:
(252) 737-1423

The 2022-23 season is CC Buford’s fourth as head coach of the Pirates after taking the reigns in May 2019 to become only the third coach in program history.

Despite coaching through a global pandemic each of her first two seasons, Buford has continued to carry the torch of success in women’s golf.

In the 2021-22 season, Buford guided the Pirates to a fourth consecutive Pirate Collegiate Classic title in the fall and a strong spring where the team finished in the Top 5 three times and in the Top 10 in each of the six regular season tournaments. Kathryn Carson earned her second appearance on The American All-Conference Team and finished her Pirate career with a stroke average of 74.85 which ranks fourth all-time in program history. Oda Sofie Kilsti was named AAC Women's Golfer of the Month in the fall of 2021 after earning her first collegiate victory in the Pirate Collegiate Classic.

Buford led the Pirates to three victories and six Top 3 finishes during her first two seasons which consisted of just 13 tournaments. Under her tutelage, ECU student-athletes captured individual medalist honors twice, recorded eight Top 5 finishes and 13 Top 10s.

Dorthea Forbrigd captured medalist honors at 2021 American Athletic Conference Championships and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. Forbrigd was one of two players, along with Julie Boysen Hillestad, to be named to The American all-conference team in 2021. Forbrigd was also named 2020-21 American Athletic Conference Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The Pirates have continued to thrive academically under Buford. Nine women’s golfers have been named an All-America Scholar by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA), while the 2019-20 squad was recognized by the organization as having the 11^th-highest collective team GPA among 264 women’s golf programs. Twelve players earned academic all-conference status the past two seasons as well.

In Buford's first tournament as the Pirates' head coach, ECU finished second at the Minnesota Invitational before it claimed victory in her second event at the helm, Pirate Collegiate Classic. Five more tournaments were held before the 2019-20 season was halted in March by COVID-19. The Pirates didn't resume competition until February 2021 and recorded a trio of Top 3 finishes in six events, including triumphs at the River Landing Classic and the ECU Easter Invitational.

Buford’s appointment marked the end of a two-year stint as an assistant women’s golf coach at Campbell University.

During her two years in Buies Creek, Buford helped the Camels win consecutive Big South Conference championships and earn a pair of NCAA Regional bids. She assisted in the development of 2018 Big South Golfer-of-the-Year Annelie Sjoholm and 2019 Big South Golfer-of-the-Year Emily Hawkins, who was also tabbed the league’s Freshman-of-the Year, while tutoring eight all-conference selections.

As a member of the Campbell coaching staff, Buford helped the Camels earn a final No. 23 Golfstat ranking in her final season after finishing the year at No. 45 in 2018.

She began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach at College of Charleston, following a four-year playing career.

While on the staff at CofC she helped lead the Cougars to a runner-up finish in the 2017 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship, while also mentoring senior Laura Fuenfstueck, who finished in the top 25 at the NCAA Championship after earning an individual berth to the Athens, Ga. Regional.

As a player, she was a member of a pair of CAA title-winning teams in 2014 and 2015 that went on to compete in NCAA Regional play. She qualified for the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Nassau Country Club. Buford also earned the 2015 J. Steward Walker Cup, which is presented annually to one CofC senior student-athlete based on academic, athletic, volunteer and community service. She earned her bachelor's degree in exercise science from The College in 2015.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Buford’s father, R.C., is the CEO for Spurs Sports and Entertainment and the organization former general manager. Her mother, Beth Boozer Buford, was an LPGA Tour golfer, who played in the U.S. and British Open Championships.

Her older brother, Chase, was a four-year letterman on the basketball team at Kansas from 2007-11, while former ECU Head Men's Basketball Coach Joe Dooley was an assistant coach for the Jayhawks.