In its second season on campus, Central Michigan University golf will look to create the program's foundation in Cheryl Stacy's first full year as head coach.

Stacy replaces former Head Coach Tom Beidleman, who was fired for lying to CMU's athletic department about credentials on his resume.

Stacy was a two time All-American at Ohio State and saw success as the head coach of the University of Michigan’s women’s golf team from 2009 to 2013. She has already started the process of creating a culture for the program and building personal bonds with her players.

“Team bonding and building that trust was initially what we worked on,” Stacy said. “This year we are starting new. For me, this is a full season. The girls have had all summer to work on their games and they should be ready to play, but we did do some team bonding. We did some kayaking down the Chippewa River and they came over to my house for a barbecue.”

Now in her second season, Rochester sophomore Chloe Guschewski said the team is looking for the steadiness of a solidified, trustworthy head coach this season.

“(Beidleman) did a lot of things that were really surprising to all of us when we found out about it,” Guschewski said. “All of us trusted the school to hire a coach that was qualified, who didn’t have any of the problems that Coach Beidleman did. A lot of the things were unsaid—little bits and pieces came out at different times."

Guschewski said her trust in the program is beginning to be reestablished.

“(The relationship with Stacy) is a lot better because we know she is going to be here for a while," she said. "We can have that personal connection with her and she is really supportive.”

Battle Creek senior Hannah Matthies said the team is also adjusting well to Stacy’s coaching style.

“(Practices last year) were so lax. We could do whatever we wanted,” Matthies said. “But now we have a lot of structure.”

Sophomore Grand Blanc native Kristen Wolfe said spending the second half of last season with Coach Stacy created better communication between players and coaches, helping both sides become well acquainted.

One “Coach Stacy-ism” Wolfe mentioned is what the team calls “controlling the controllables."

“There’s things in golf you can control and things you can’t control,” Stacy said. “So, we’re trying to control those controllables. You can control your attitude. You can control your preparation. You can’t always control your score.”

After coming in last place last week at the Mary Fossum Invitational, Stacy said she is trying to train her team mentally, while improving and building momentum for the spring season.

“Golf is weird because we have two seasons," she said. "The spring season is our championship season because we have our (Mid-American Conference) championship, but fall and spring are equally important I think as far as what you want to accomplish,”

Stacy said the fall portion of the season is when the team can improve their rankings, putting themselves in better position for the MAC and NCAA Tournaments in the spring.

"I’m just trying to see improvement every day, come out here and not make the same mistakes over and over," she said. "Once they can start doing that and we see improvement there, I think you’re going to see our scores go down.”

The Chippewas are without Georgia native Arielle Roberts, who transferred to Florida Atlantic. As a freshman, Roberts tied the school record for the lowest tournament round at 75 and broke the school record with the top three-round score, in addition to making the Dean's List.

The team finished 14 out of 16 teams at the Cardinal Classic, earlier this week. After a week off, they will travel to The Catawba Island Club in Toledo, Oct. 5-6.