SMU men’s golf added Cory Donnell to its staff as assistant coach (2024-25). He enters his second season with the team in 2025-26.
In his lone year on the Hilltop, DOnnell helped the Mustangs to two tournament victories at the Vaqueros Intercollegiate and the Hal Williams Collegiate. The team advanced out of the stroke play portion of the ACC Championship in their first year in the conference. The Mustangs captured three individual crowns (Will Sides-Stephens Cup, Zach Kingsland-Trinity Forest Invitation & Hal Williams).
Donnell spent the previous season at Baylor. With Donnell on staf at Baylorf, the Bears reached the NCAA Championship in 2024 advancing past the 54-hole cut. The 14th-place national showing was the Bears’ third best all-time finish. They won a team title at the Aggie Invitational and finished in fourth at the Big 12 Championship, their best performance in 21 seasons.
Prior to Baylor, Donnell spent two seasons as assistant coach at Charleston Southern. In 2022-23, The Buccaneers won a team title at the VCU Shootout and finished one stroke shy of a conference championship. In 2021, after winning a conference title, the Bucs earned a bid to the 2021 Palm Beach NCAA Regional the program’s first NCAA appearance since 2015.
Prior to joining the collegiate coaching rankings, Donnell spent two seasons as an assistant pro at Firewheel Golf Park in Garland, his hometown.
Donnell competed at Abilene Christian where he saw action in five tournaments over the course of two seasons. While at ACU, Donnell earned a Bachelor of Science in 2019.
Prior to ACU, Donnell spent two years at McLennan Community College from 2014-16. He was an All-American both seasons.
Donnell is married to Lydia Donnell who he met playing golf at McLennan.
