Larry Hughes will enter his sixth season as head coach of the Drury women's bowling team in 2020-21.
Hughes helped found the program as well as the men's bowling team (competing as a non-NCAA program) in March of 2015. He transitioned the women's team into the NCAA, and they competed in their first conference season as a member of the MIAA in 2016-17. Drury finished third in their first year in league membership, then finished fourth in 2018, and fourth in 2019 but managed to advance four rounds deep in the league tournament that season.Â
In 2019-20, the Panthers won their first major conference award when Sydney Horton was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year. The conference and national tournaments were canceled that year due to the coronavirus pandemic.Â
Coach Hughes has bowled for more than 40 years in sanctioned leagues in Springfield, Missouri, and Wichita, Kansas, as well as various tournaments around the country. He bowled for Missouri State during his senior year and helped the Bears to a sixth-place finish nationally. Hughes is a member of the Springfield Bowling Hall of Fame and has seven 300 games in his career and a high series of 793.
He coached for three years at Nixa High School and was a part of three consecutive Missouri High School championship teams.
Hughes has been married to his wife Kim for more than 30 years, and the couple has two grown sons, Brad and Wes.
