Bill Winter enters his fifth year at the helm of the Pilot men's golf team with high expectations. Over the past few years, the Pilots have shown continuous improvement and Winter expects much of the same for the upcoming season.
Winter is a Portland Pilot through and through. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in business administration. He was a four-year letterwinner on the Pilot baseball team for former coach and current athletic director Joe Etzel. During the next nine years, Winter worked as an account manager for Nike in corporate sales. He gained six years of coaching experience among a variety of sports before taking on the head coaching duties with the men's golf team at Portland.
Coach Winter remains active as a player taking part in several golf tournaments throughout the year. A scratch golfer, Winter has advanced to Sectional Qualifying for the United States Open Championship in both 2004 and 2005. He finished tied for second place at the regional qualifier in June of 2005 with a 2-under par 70 at Riverside Golf & Country Club in Portland, Ore. In 2004, Winter shot a 67 in preliminary qualifying at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis, Ore. to advance to Sectionals.
He went on to place 12th at the 2005 Oregon Open Invitational after an even-par 216 (73-71-72) at Aspen Lakes Golf Course (Sisters, Ore) in early June.
Winter holds the unofficial course record (62) for members at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. He has also had several Top-10 finishes in 2003 amateur events.
Born in Spokane, Wash., Winter attended La Salle High School in Portland. He also stays busy at home as he and his wife Patti are the proud parents of four children: Alexa (13), Kaylee (11), Garrett (11) and Sam (4).
Quoting Winter: "As a former Pilot student-athlete, I'm dedicated to teaching life skills to my team by drawing from my past experiences both in the classroom and on the golf course. I want to instill pride into the program and improve to the point of gaining an NCAA regional bid."