Kevin Fillman enters his 29th year at Longwood University heading into the 2025-26 season, the longest-tenured head coach in program history and one of the longest tenured coaches in the athletic department. He additionally served as the school's compliance coordinator during 2002-03, and was the interim assistant athletics director for compliance and budget during 2001-02.
During the team's Division I era, he has helped guide the Lancers to 16 wins, and he has had 27 individual tournament medalists. In addition, his teams have finished second 21 times while garnering 34 third-place finishes.
In 2024-25, he again guided Justin LaRue to Big South Player of the Year honors. LaRue led the Big South in scoring average, medaled four times and led the league in top 10 finishes as well. He played the two lowest 54-hole in team history, and he has six of the best 11 tournament scores over a 54-hole event in team history.
The Lancers entered the Big South Tournament as the top seed as well, a program first. Longwood won three events as a team as well.
In 2023-24, he guided Justin LaRue to the NCAA Regional as Longwood’s first individual qualifier in more than two decades. LaRue carded a top seven finish in each of the team’s nine tournaments during the year en route to being named the Big South Men’s Golfer of the Year, a program first. LaRue posted a 69.94 scoring average in 32 rounds of golf.
LaRue’s average led the Big South, and he won or was tied for first twice while posting five top 10 finishes. He set the program record with a 68-67-68—203 (-11), the lowest raw score in team history, at the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate. He won the event by seven strokes.
LaRue finished the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional tied for 42nd after coming back from an injury that prevented him from playing the final day of the Big South Championship.
The Lancers, meanwhile, posted three top three finishes in 2024, and the team was narrowly edged for a chance to defend their Big South title after an untimely injury on the final day of Big South Championship stroke play.
At the Big South Championship, the Lancers tied a team record with a 273 in the second round, tying the best 18-hole round in team history.
In addition to LaRue being named to the All-Big South First Team, Nick Rakes garnered All-Big South Second Team honors while Scott Jordan was an Honorable Mention. Freshman Matthew Lyons also earned a spot on the Big South All-Freshman Team. All four finished in the top 20 in scoring average in the Big South.
In 2023, he led the program to its first Big South title. The Lancers finished stroke play in a tie for second place before a pair of thrilling wins in match play to win the Big South Championship and the program’s first berth in an NCAA Regional since 2007.
The Lancers advanced to the NCAA Salem Regional and placed 13th over the course of three days of stroke play at The Cliffs at Keowee Falls. The team’s opening round 284 matched its best round on the season.
Scott Jordan fired an opening-round 64 that tied the Big South record for lowest round at an NCAA Regional that was originally set by Dustin Johnson during his time at Coastal Carolina. Jordan wound up finishing in the top 20 in the field.
Fillman was named the Big South Coach of the Year, and five golfers finished in the top 20 in the Big South in scoring average for the year. The team posted a 289.94 scoring average that was a record-low scoring average by nearly two strokes.
Nick Rakes (All-Big South Second Team) and Brendan Dunphy (All-Big South Honorable Mention) earned postseason all-conference honors.
During the 2023 season, the Lancers were consistently fighting for first throughout the spring. The team finished in the top five of all five tournaments it played. Justin LaRue tied for first in the Big Blue Intercollegiate to win a tournament, the first time a Lancer has won a tournament since 2018.
In the 2021 Big South Championship, he coached the Lancers to a program-best finish in the stroke play portion, as the Lancers tied for first to advance to match play for the first time since joining the league.
During the 2019-20 season, Fillman's squad recorded a record-low scoring average of 291.50.
In the 2016-17 season, Fillman led the Lancers to two team wins as a part of nine top-10 finishes across 10 regular season tournaments. Longwood's two victories in the spring of 2017 was the first time the program accomplished that feat since the 2011-12 campaign, the Lancers' last as a Division I Independent.
In 2015-16, the Lancers shot their way to three top-10 finishes capped off by a 6th place finish in the Big South Tournament that tied for the best team result as a member of the league at the time.
Fillman and the Lancers' 2014-15 season saw three top-10 finishes including two in back-to-back weekends to close out the fall season.
During the 2013-14 campaign, Longwood placed in the top-10 seven times including a win at the Lafayette Invitational in a field of 18 teams. Longwood '16 graduate Clayton Forren led the Lancers with a second place 36-hole score of 145.
Longwood completed 2012-13 with one top-five effort among five top-10 finishes overall in 10 events, averaging 306.27, and finished 10th at the Big South Championship. The Lancers completed 2011-12 with two tournament wins among five top-five finishes with seven top-10 team efforts overall while establishing a new school-record scoring average of 294.72. Longwood finished 2010-11 with one tournament win and two third-place finishes among 10 top-10 team efforts overall. The Lancers closed 2009-10 with one tournament win among its eight top-10 team finishes in 11 tournament competitions with a runners-up finish as well. Longwood won three tournaments to go along with two runner-up efforts while enjoying nine top-10 efforts among 11 tournament dates during 2008-09.
Fillman led his program to a 2007 NCAA East Regional appearance in its first year of Division I eligibility, finishing 27th. The team was led by a new individual scoring average record established by Adam Webb ’10 (73.46). Fillman was named the 2007 Coach of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic Region by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), as well as the 2007 Division I Independent Coach of the Year. That team posted 11 top-10 team finishes in 11 events, including one win and four runners-up efforts. His 2007-08 team posted three tournament wins and three runner-up finishes among 12 top-10 efforts in 12 tournaments.
Longwood established new school-records during 2005-06 for team 18-hole scoring (277), 36-hole scoring (563), and 54-hole scoring (852). That squad had nine top-10 efforts in 10 events, including a runners-up finish. Prior to Longwood’s four-year Division I Reclassification, he had led the Lancers to consecutive NCAA Regional appearances (2003, 2002), and four post-season NCAA appearances overall either as a team or individually. Longwood placed seventh at the Atlantic Regional in 2003; fourth at the Atlantic Regional in 2002; and 12th at the North Regional in 1998. The Lancers sent two individuals to the NCAA South Regional in 2001.
A 1990 cum laude graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism, Fillman participated in three NCAA Division III Championships as a member of the Battling Bishop golf team. He was selected as an All-America Scholar by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) as a senior, when Ohio Wesleyan finished as national runners-up. Fillman also earned first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honors that year.
A standout player at Ohio Wesleyan under the direction of legendary coach Dr. Richard Gordin, a charter member of the College Golf Coaches Hall of Fame, Fillman helped the Bishops to three consecutive NCAC team championships as well as eight other tournament titles from 1988-90. In addition to helping Ohio Wesleyan to a second-place finish at the 1990 NCAA Division III Championships, he competed for teams that recorded respective fourth- and third-place showings at the 1988 and 1989 NCAA Division III Championships.
Prior to joining the Longwood coaching staff, Fillman served as sports information director at Goucher (Md.) College from 1991-97. During that time, he stayed involved in golf by working with the Goucher club team as well as with several Baltimore-area high school and junior programs. While at Goucher, Fillman also spent one season as the men's tennis coach and served as the main athletics administrator for a seven-month period. A competitive player since age 13, Fillman continues to play a limited schedule of amateur events at the local, state, and national levels.
A native of Newcomerstown, Ohio, Fillman (50) led Newcomerstown High to respective fifth- and fourth-place finishes at the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) Championships as a junior and senior. He was a three-time first-team All-Inter Valley Conference and all-district selection and was a medalist at both the sectional and district tournaments en route to being named Eastern District Player of the Year as a senior. Fillman also earned letters and postseason honors in basketball and baseball.
Fillman received his master of education degree in health and physical education from Frostburg State (Md.) University in 1991, where his thesis was entitled, "The Use of Proper Preshot Behavioral-Mental Techniques to Improve Performance in Competitive Golfers." He also served as an assistant sports information director while at Frostburg State.
Coach Fillman is a member of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and the United States Golf Association (USGA). He previously served as a member of the GCAA Records Committee. In addition to playing a limited tournament schedule, Fillman serves as a coach and instructor at junior golf camps during the summer, including the Central Ohio Golf Academy at Ohio Wesleyan.
Kevin and his wife, Joanna, have two adult sons: Ross and Cole.
