Former Oklahoma State, Jacksonville State and Kansas State assistant coach Cullen Carstens began his duties as men's golf head coach at the University of North Alabama on July 31, 2017.
Carstens led the Lions through their final season in the NCAA Division II in 2017-18 and into their first season of Division IÂ competition in 2018-19.
UNA recorded its first tournament win as a Division I program in the spring of 2019 as the Lions won the North Alabama Spring Classic, defeating a field of 11 other Division I programs. The Lions were led by Aaron Jackson, who was medalist at the event.
In the shortened spring of 2020, the Lions got their second individual win of the Division I era as Jackson Wedgeworth was medalist of the Tiger Invitational by Jason Dufner at Auburn.
Carstens came to UNA after three seasons as an assistant coach with the Kansas State men's golf program and followed former UNA golfer Jason Vaughn as the Lions' head coach.
The 2015-16 team at K-State tallied the third-best team stroke average in school history at 291.51, while the Wildcats tied for seventh in school history with five top-five finishes.
Prior to arriving in Manhattan, Carstens spent two seasons as an assistant coach for both the men's and women's programs at Jacksonville State. He also previously worked in the Big 12 as a volunteer assistant coach at Oklahoma State from 2009-11, traveling with both the men's and women's teams to numerous events as well as helping with recruiting efforts and developing various practice drills and competitions to help player development for both programs.
Between stints at JSU and OSU, Carstens gained professional experience as he was a caddy for Peter Uihlein on the European Professional Golf Association and European Challenge Professional Golf tours. In addition, Carstens caddied at the 2011 Transitions Championships, 2011 AT&T National and the 2012 Puerto Rico Open PGA tour events.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Carstens played collegiately for his father, Randy, at Missouri Baptist University. He was named an NAIA National Scholar Athlete in 2006 and 2007 in addition to being a first-team All-American Midwest Conference selection in 2004 and 2007. He also earned first-team All-NAIA Region V honors in 2004 after claiming medalist honors at the regional tournament.
Carstens graduated from MBU with a Bachelor's of Marketing/Business Administration in 2007. Following graduation, he worked as an operations intern with the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) as he coordinated and directed 10 national junior golf tournaments across the nation and was in charge of volunteers at events and served as a rules official during those tournaments.
Carstens is married to the former Kelsey Vines.
