Mike Cato - Women's Golf Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

Mike Cato

Title:
Assistant Coach Men's & Women's Golf
Email:
catom21@ecu.edu
Phone:
(252) 737-2900

Mike Cato begins his third year as an assistant coach at East Carolina, a position he accepted on August 16, 2021.

Cato, who was named a full-time assistant coach at ECU on July 3 of 2023, begins his third year with the Pirates where he has helped the program claim three tournament titles and five top three placements over the last two campaigns. During his initial year, Cato helped coach the program to a third-place finish at the ECU Intercollegiate with a score of 888 while three golfers claimed top five finishes in A.J. Beechler (second/Wolfpack Intercollegiate; t3rd/Wake Forest Invitational), Stephen Carroll (t3rd/Wexford Intercollegiate; t5th/ECU Intercollegiate) and Tyler DeChellis (t3rd/Wexford Intercollegiate)

Last year the Pirates’ won three events (Ironwood Collegiate Classic, ECU Intercollegiate and Cutter Creek Intercollegiate) and placed second at the River Run Collegiate. Freshman Lucas Augustsson became the seventh different (ninth overall) Pirate too earn American Athletic All-Conference honors after finishing tied for third at The American Championships with a four-under par 206 – the lowest score for ECU in AAC Championship history.

Augustsson posted a team-best 72.78 stroke average and recorded four Top 10 finishes in 12 events. The Halmstad, Sweden earned a pair of individual wins at the ECU Intercollegiate (213) and Cutter Creek Intercollegiate (213) in consecutive weeks becoming the first Pirates to win two events in the same season since Tim Conover during the 2016-17 campaign. For his win at the ECU Intercollegiate, Augustsson was named AAC Golfer of the Week, a first for a Pirate since Blake Taylor won monthly honors in 2019.

Prior to ECU, Cato served as the golf operations manager and head pro at Bradford Creek Golf Course in Greenville for 18 years (2000-18). He joined the staff at Bradford Creek as the assistant golf pro in 1999 and was promoted to head pro the following year and then added operations manager to his duties in 2003. He implemented the first junior golf program at course and has instructed more than 1,000 players, including 29 whom played collegiate golf.

As president of the Eastern North Carolina Junior Golf Association for 17 years (2000-17), Cato helped organize more than 25 clubs across the region. In 2008, Cato was awarded the Junior Golf Leadership Award by the Carolinas PGA. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Carolinas PGA REACH Foundation.

A four-year letterman at UNCW, Cato helped the Seahawks to a pair of Colonial Athletic Association runner-up finishes. He finished 10^th at the 1996 CAA Championships and fifth the following season. After graduating in 1997, Cato spent nearly two years as the assistant golf pro at The Witch Golf Links in Myrtle Beach.

A native of Kinston, Cato and his wife Anne are the proud parents of sons Brennon and Landon.