Avery Papalia was named the Head Men's Golf Coach at La Salle University in June 2024.
"We are excited to welcome Avery into the La Salle family," Puri said. "He brings remarkable passion for golf and student-athlete development, and we look forward to partnering with him to grow our men's golf program."
In just three seasons as a head coach, Papalia has coached four individual tournament champions and has quickly established himself as one of the rising coaches in collegiate golf.
Papalia made an immediate impact on the program in his first season, guiding the Explorers to a pair of third-place finishes at the 2024 Temple Intercollegiate and 2024 Matthews Auto Intercollegiate. Ben Battye captured medalist honors at both events, including a 7-under-par performance at the Matthews Auto Intercollegiate. La Salle also recorded a fifth-place finish at the Red Bandana Invitational hosted by Boston College. At the 2024 City 6 Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, Armand Loscalzo finished as the runner-up with a score of 74. The Explorers later posted a season-low team round of 283 (-5) at the 2025 Battle at Rum Pointe, continuing the program's upward trajectory under Papalia's leadership.
The following season, the Explorers continued their improvement, moving from a fifth-place finish at the 2024 Red Bandana Invitational to a fourth-place finish at the 2025 event, highlighted by Colin Ferrick placing tied for fourth in his first collegiate tournament. Later that fall, La Salle tied for first at the 2025 Temple Invitational, led by Kyle Virsik, who earned the first of two Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors during the season. Three different Explorers shot even par or better in the final round of the 2026 Carpetbagger Classic, helping La Salle secure a second-place finish at the event.
Papalia arrived at La Salle after serving as the Head Men's Golf Coach at Wagner College during the 2023-24 season. Named to the position in July 2023 at just 24 years old, Papalia became one of the youngest Division I head coaches in the country. He guided the Seahawks to an eighth-place finish at the 2024 NEC Championship, with two players tying for 12th individually. During his time at Wagner, Papalia coached Thomas Choi to a victory at the 2023 Metropolitan Intercollegiate and Tyler Galantini to an individual title at the 2024 Carpetbagger Intercollegiate. He also hosted and ran the Metropolitan Intercollegiate at Montclair Country Club. Under Papalia's tutelage, the Seahawks earned the 2023 Mark Laesch Award for the largest improvement in team scoring average.
Prior to his coaching career, Papalia was a member of the Saint Francis University men's golf team from 2017-23. He served as team captain from 2019 onward and was a six-time NEC Prime Performer. His best season came during his junior year, when he posted a 73.1 scoring average, the second-lowest mark in the Northeast Conference. That season included a standout performance at the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate, where he shot 78-69-68 while playing his final 30 holes bogey-free.
Papalia earned his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Sports Management from Saint Francis in 2023 after completing his undergraduate degrees in 2021. He holds two Bachelor of Science degrees in Strategic Communications and Digital Media, along with a minor in Marketing. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Papalia spent much of his childhood in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he attended East Forsyth High School. He was a three-time All-Conference golfer and qualified for the North Carolina High School State Championship.
