David Taebel starts his eighth season
as UW-La Crosse head women's golf coach in 2025-26. Named the Eagles' head coach on March 14, 2018, Taebel led UWL to nine invitationals in 2018-19, its first varsity season since 1982-83. Women's golf was a varsity sport at UWL from 1970-71 through 1982-83. It was suspended at the conclusion of the 1982-83 season and became a club sport.
David Taebel starts his seventh year as head coach in 2024.
The 2024-2025 season started with the Eagles finishing second at the UW-River Falls Invitational, winning the UW-Eau Claire Invitational and coming in second at its own UWL Fall Invitational. With its third place finish at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships, UWL has now finished no lower than second place since the 2020-2021 season including tying fo the Championship in 2022. Individually, Jenna Wiebke finished tied for third while Haley Thoeny was tied for seventh at the WIAC Championships. For their efforts, Wiebke was named First Team All-WIAC while Thoeny was named WIAC Honorable Mention.
UWL finished second at the 2023 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships. The Eagles won the 2024 Viterbo University (Wis.) Spring Invitational and recorded three second-place tournament finishes. At the 2023 league championships, four student-athletes finished in the top-10.
Andrea Schleeper tied for fourth while
Haley Thoeny was seventh,
Allison Balduzzi tied for eighth and
Grace Ellison 10th.
UWL tied for first at the 2022 WIAC Championships as Taebel was named the WIAC Coach of the Year. Six golfers finished in the top-25 at the league championships.
Molly Larsen placed fifth, Schleeper tied for seventh,
Maija Tanberg 13th,
Sophie Denure tied for 18th,
Erin Rosencrantz 23rd and
Abby DeMoe 25th. The Eagles captured seven team tournaments in 2022-23, winning the UW-Eau Claire, UWL, Viterbo (Wis.) and UW-Stevens Point Invitationals in the fall. UWL won the UW-Oshkosh Match Play in the spring season as well as the Viterbo (Wis.) and UWL Invitationals.
UWL placed second at the 2021 WIAC Fall and Spring Championships. The Eagles finished sixth at the league championships in 2019 and seventh in 2018.
Four golfers finished in the top-12 at the 2020 championships. Ellison
placed seventh overall while Larsen and Schleeper tied for ninth and Tanberg tied for 11th. In 2021, four golfers recorded top-20 finishes with Larsen (fifth), Schleeper (tied for seventh), Tanberg (13th) and Denure (tied 18th).
UWL won three meets during the 2021-22 season, including the UWL Invitational, Viterbo University (Wis.) Invitational and UWL Eagle Invitational. The Eagles were second at the UW-Oshkosh Invitational and Northfield (Minn.) Challenge.
The Eagles captured four team titles during the spring 2021 season, including the Valley High Golf Invitational, Trempealeau Mountain Invitational, Turtleback Invitational and UWL Invitational. Along with finishing second at the 2021 WIAC Championships, UWL placed second at the UW-Whitewater Spring Invitational.
The Eagles competed in six invitationals during the fall 2019 season, including placing sixth at the WIAC Championships. UWL captured the 2019 Saint Mary's University (Minn.) Invitational featuring six teams. The team was second (six teams) at the 2019 Luther College (Iowa) Invitational, third (six teams) at the UWL/Viterbo University (Wis.) Invitational as well as fourth at the UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout Invitationals.
UWL's spring 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 public health threat.
UWL placed seventh at the 2018 WIAC Championships. The team finished second at the 2018 Viterbo (Wis.) Invitational and third at the 2019 Saint Mary's (Minn.) Spring Invitational.
Taebel was head girls' golf coach at Holmen (Wis.) High School in 2017 while creating a large junior golf program. He also serves as a sixth grade science teacher in Holmen (Wis.).
Prior to coaching at Holmen (Wis.), Taebel was the head girls' and boys' golf coach at Stoughton (Wis.) High School. He served as boys' head coach from 2000-17, leading the team to a fifth-place finish at the 2013 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) Division I State Tournament. Taebel started the Stoughton (Wis.) girls' golf program in 2002, leading the Vikings until 2017. He served as an assistant boys' golf coach at Stoughton (Wis.) from 1997-2000.
A member of the WIAA Golf Advisory Board and past board member of the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin, Taebel had numerous golfers from Stoughton (Wis.) compete at the collegiate level. He started the Stoughton (Wis.) Fairway Club, a non-profit junior golf organization. Stoughton (Wis.) High School maintained one of the largest rosters in the state under Taebel's tutelage. He also served as a science teacher at Stoughton (Wis.).
He was a golf instructor at Coachman's Golf Resort in Edgerton, Wisconsin from 1998 to 2017. Taebel earned his bachelor's (1993) and master's (2008) degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A native of La Crosse, he graduated from La Crosse Central High School in 1988.
