Eastern Michigan made a historic run to the semifinals of the women’s college golf championship in 2026. One of the university’s top boosters apparently went all-in on NIL money.
The Eagles roster is a perfect representation of the modern era of collegiate athletics.
Previously irrelevant programs are able to compete with perennial powerhouses if they spend enough money. Especially if they pump it all into a single program like women’s college golf.
Eastern Michigan is a women’s college golf school!
Founded in 1849, Eastern Michigan University enrolls approximately 12,000 students with 10,000 undergraduates. It is located on a campus of 800 acres in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The Eagles claim 15 national championships.
However, none of them were on the D-I level of competition. They won 13 NAIA championships and two NCAA Division II titles. Baseball finished as the Division I runner-up in the College World Series in 1976. Men’s cross country team finished as the Division I runner-up in 1940.
The women’s golf team also made a deep run to the national semifinals on Tuesday. It was historic.
Prior to 2026, the Eastern Michigan women’s golf program had never even made a regional as one of the top 72 teams in the country. It was ranked No. 227 just two years ago. Josh Brewer was named as the head coach in May 2024 to lead the remarkable turnaround. He previously spent 12 years at Georgia.
The Eagles earned the No. 5 seed for their first-ever NCAA Championship appearance in Brewer’s second season at the helm. They knocked off the Texas Longhorns during the match play quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon to advance to the semifinals at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
EASTERN MICHIGAN ADVANCES!
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 26, 2026
They defeat Texas in the matchplay quarterfinals in their first ever NCAA tournament appearance 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XgHjXQBj40
Unfortunately, Eastern Michigan ran into a buzz saw in the semifinals. It lost to Stanford on Tuesday evening. But that should not take away from the incredible accomplishment! To finish as one of the four-best teams in women’s college golf in your first NCAA Championship appearance is a remarkable feat.
The Eagles went all-in on NIL.
There was a lot of chatter about the women’s golf program at Eastern Michigan during its Cinderella run. Much of the conversation focused on the Leovao sisters.
Jasmine and Janae Leovao, twins, spent three years at Long Beach State. Jasmine, who is one minute younger than Janae, won the Big West Conference title and qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual in 2024. Her sister tied for third at the Big West Championships and competed in the NCAA Regional competitions twice.
They took a huge leap of faith and transferred to a completely unproven (and historically terrible) program during the offseason. Brewer convinced them both to join him in Ypsilanti.
Janae ultimately defeated NCAA individual champion Farah O’Keefe in the match play semifinals. Jasmine ultimately made the final putt of the match to secure the win over Texas. It worked out!
Unfortunately, critics tried to twist the Eagles’ accomplishments as a negative. The Leovao sisters are everything that is wrong with college sports today.
Except that is not entirely true. The Leovaos spent the majority of the year in Ypsilanti. They, like most other student-athletes who compete in college golf, just so happen to spend a lot of time on the road during the season. A majority of the Eastern Michigan roster has been out of the state for 8+ weeks.
Therefore, because of the busy travel schedule, it is easier to take online classes. That is true for most college golfers in the United States. They don’t have the ability to attend an in-person lecture multiple times per week. They take most (if not all) of their classes online during the season. Not unusual.
However, the Eagles are still a good representation of the NIL era of college sports. Money talks!
According to Tony Paul of the Detroit News, the most prominent boosters at the university decided to go all-in on golf. GameAbove, a privately held global investment company backed by CapStone Holdings Inc., put a lot of money into the program.
The strategy worked. It hired Brewer. It landed multiple high-profile transfers. Eastern Michigan was just a few shots away from competing for a national title in women’s college golf.