WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  Veteran college coach Kyle Gallo, an accomplished  amateur and professional golfer for the past 25 years and a member of the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame, has been named head  men's golf coach at Eastern Connecticut State University, it was announced today by Director of Athletics Lori Runksmeier.

Gallo becomes the program's third part-time head coach in five years after the program was re-instated in the fall of 2020 after a 38-year hiatus. Marc Senia (2022-23, 23-24) and Chris Wojick (2020-21, 21-22) were the program's previous two head coaches, having led Eastern to Little East Conference championships each year. The Warriors competed in the NCAA Division III national championship both years under Senia after the LEC champion was granted an automatic berth in the fall of 2022.

"I'm super-excited to have Kyle join us as our next golf coach," stated Runksmeier. "Kyle's reputation in the Connecticut golf world is exceptional, and I think that he is the right person to bring our successful program to an even higher level."

A Kensington native and four-time Connecticut Open champion and 2013 New England Open champion, Gallo has served as a collegiate coach for five years at three different institutions, most recently as an assistant men's and women's coach and recruiting coordinator at Division I College of the Holy Cross last year.

For three years beginning in the fall of 2015, Gallo directed the Division I program at Central Connecticut State University, where, as an undergraduate, was named CSGA Golfer-of-the-Year in 1998 and had achieved first-team All-New England status as a player three times. In his final season as head coach at CCSU in 2017-18, Gallo was named Northeast Conference Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Blue Devils – the New England Division I Team-of-the-Year -- to their first NEC title in 13 years and into the NCAA Division I  tournament.

After the CCSU men's golf program was eliminated due to budget constraints after the 2017-18 season, Gallo moved on to Division III Western New England University for the 2018-19 season. At WNE, Gallo directed the Golden Bears to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship in the fall of 2018 and a sixth-place finish among 23 teams at the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association (NEIGA) Championships in October.

In 2019, Gallo was inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame for Distinguished Golf Achievement. A winner of 26 professional golf tournaments between 1998 and 2014, Gallo won the 1997 Connecticut Public Links championship and placed second in the 1995 Connecticut Amateur. In 2004, Gallo missed qualifying for the PGA Tour by one stroke at qualifying school but went on to play in the Nationwide Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour) – the developmental tour for the PGA Tour -- the following two years.

Eastern opens the 2024-25 season Sept. 11 at the Mitchell College Invitational, with the Little East Championship scheduled for Oct. 2-3 and the NEIGA Championship Oct. 19-20.