Bio

Keilee Bessho enters her second season as an assistant coach with the CMS women's golf program in 2023-24, after earning the National Assistant Coach of the Year Award from the Women's Golf Coaches Association in her debut season.

Bessho helped CMS finish third at the NCAA Division III Championships in 2022-23 in her first season with the program, while helping the Athenas establish several new scoring records. CMS had the lowest single-round score ever (-5) at the Claremont Classic in the fall, then had the lowest 54-hole score ever (-8) at the SCIAC Championships in the spring. Individually, the Athenas also had the first two single-round 67s in program history from Stella Cheng and Esther Lee, with Lee earning hers on the final round of the SCIAC Championship to set a league record with a -10 over 54 holes. Lee was also named the WGCA Freshman of the Year, while Lee and Cheng both earned All-America honors. 

Bessho joined the Athenas after a successful stint at Redlands as both a player and a coach. She has served as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs for three years, and helped the team to a No. 2 national ranking during the 2021-22 season. 

As a player, Bessho was a second-team All-American and All-West Region selection for the Bulldogs. She earned a 3.88 GPA as a philosophy major and earned Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-SCIAC distinction. As a senior in 2019, she earned a 13th place finish at the NCAA Division III Championship with a four-round total of 308, which was the lowest score for the Bulldogs, who finished in 10th place as a team.  

Since graduating from Redlands, Bessho has gone on to earn her master's degree in philosophy from Long Beach State, earning a spot on the Graduate Dean's List, while also serving as a graduate teaching assistant and a golf shop assistant at Glendora Country Club. She is currently pursuing her PhD in philosophy from UC Riverside.