Aimee Ponte

University of Cincinnati Director of Athletics John Cunningham announced on June 22, 2023 the hire of Aimee Ponte (pronounced like Pont) as the ninth head women's golf coach in UC history. 

The 2024-25 season, Ponte's second at UC, saw the Bearcats achieve outstanding marks in both the fall and spring portions. The top-two rounds in program history, as well as the best 54-hole score, came at the FIU Pat Bradley Invitational, finishing second overall. Cincinnati's final event before the Big 12 Championships was a third-place showing at the 16-team Purdue Boilermaker Spring Classic, ranking ahead of multiple top-50 teams along the way.

This past season also saw an outstanding growth of depth, as three individuals combined for eight top-10 finishes over the course of the season. The Bearcats had four by two different golfers in Ponte's first season.

Ponte guided the Bearcats’ transition from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 in her first season at UC in 2023-24. Ponte was instrumental in the development of Paola Rosario, who broke the program's 54-hole scoring record at seven-under 209 at the Pat Bradley Invitational on Oct. 16, 2023. Rosario also claimed the individual title at the Sea Best Intercollegiate, marking UC's first individual title win since the 2015-16 season. 

Ponte, who led the University of the Incarnate Word to back-to-back second-place Southland Conference Championship (SLC) finishes, arrived in Clifton following a two-year stint as the head women's golf coach of the Cardinals. 

"I'm excited to hire one of the nation's top young golf coaches in Aimee Ponte to lead our women's golf program," Cunningham said. "Aimee has already found tremendous success as a head coach. Her ability to engage, teach and identify talent at a high level has separated her from her peers and made her the perfect fit for the Bearcats. I can't wait for Aimee to get started and am looking forward to the future of UC women's golf with Aimee at the helm."

Ponte joined the Incarnate Word women's golf staff as an assistant coach in November 2019 and was promoted to interim head coach in August of 2021 before taking over the program as the full-time head coach in July of 2022. 

"I'm honored to be the next head coach at the University of Cincinnati and excited to begin working with the student-athletes and competing in the Big 12," Ponte said. "We're going to compete for championships here at UC, but we're also going to hold ourselves to a high standard off the course and prepare our young people for life after college. I fell in love with this city and this campus the minute I visited, and I believe this program is ready to do great things."

The reigning Southland Coach of the Year, Ponte led UIW to six top-five finishes during the 2022-23 season. The Cardinals averaged a 295.74 score in nine tournaments and ended the season ranked No. 75 by Golfstat, their best ranking in program history.  

Ponte was instrumental in the development of Alex Giles who became the second-ever SLC individual champion in program history in 2023. She clinched the Cardinals' second consecutive individual championship and advanced to the NCAA Regionals.

Led by Giles, Ponte coached four UIW athletes to all-conference accolades in 2023, as well. 

As interim head coach during the 2021-22 season, Ponte led the program to its first-ever tournament victory in NCAA Division I history at the New Mexico State Aggie Invitational. 

She also guided the Cardinals to a program-best second-place finish at the SLC Championship. Ellen Nicholas claimed the conference individual title and became the first UIW women's golfer in program history to advance to the NCAA Regionals.

Five athletes earned SLC all-conference honors and Ponte topped the record book in several categories as the team finished the season with 339 birdies and seven eagles. 

Ponte joined the Incarnate Word women's golf staff as an assistant coach in 2019. The team recorded 11 top-10 finishes over her two seasons (2019-21) as an assistant. 

Off the course, she guided six student-athletes to SLC All-Academic honors while Nicholas was named SLC Student-Athlete of the Year in 2022.

Ponte came to Incarnate Word following more than two years as an assistant golf professional at Oak Hills Country Club. 

Additionally, Ponte was enrolled in the PGA program at the qualifying level. She was a member of the women's golf team at UTSA from August 2013-17 where she competed in 28 events.

The St. Peter Port, U.K., native graduated with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology, health and sports psychology from UTSA in December 2017.