Women's Golf
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- j.silverstein@usc.edu
- Phone:
- (213) 740-4555
Justin Silverstein will be entering his eighth season as head coach of the Trojans in the 2025-26 season. Silverstein was previously an assistant coach on the 2013 NCAA champion USC women's golf team and spent two seasons as the associate head coach of the Trojan men's squad,
Silverstein is a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year, most recently earning the 2023 award after leading the Trojans to within a match of a national title. He was also the 2019 Pac-12 Co-Coach of the Year and the 2019 WGCA West Region Coach of the Year.
He has made an immediate impact on the Trojans, leading them to 31 wins in his first seven seasons, including Pac-12 titles in 2019, 2021 and 2023 and three NCAA regional wins in 2019, 2022 and 2024. His debut 2018-19 campaign saw the Trojans win seven times, including victories at the Pac-12 and NCAA Regionals. His golfers have earned a combined 18 All-American honors and 17 All-Conference first team awards.
In 2024-25, Silverstein recorded four wins, including three in the first four tournaments to open the season. The Women of Troy made it to the match play section for the third-straight year. USC earned the No. 5 seed before falling in the NCAA quarterfinals. The 2025 squad included Big Ten Freshman of the Year and WGCA All-American first teamer Jasmine Koo, and fellow All-American first teamer Catherine Park. Koo and Park both earned All-Big Ten first team honors.
In 2023-24, Silverstein led the Women of Troy to three wins including a first-place finish at the NCAA East Lansing Regional, leading to USC's 15th Regional win in program history. The Trojans earned a spot in the NCAA semifinals, after making it to match play as the No. 4 seed and bested No. 5 Clemson in the quarterfinals. The 2024 squad included ANNIKA Award finalist and WGCA All-American first team Catherine Park, and WGCA All-American H.M. Amari Avery. Park picked up USC's first Pac-12 individual title since 2013, as she broke the tournament scoring record at 15-under-par. Park and Avery earned All-Pac-12 first team honors.
Silverstein guided USC to a pair of victories in 2022-23 and to three top 3 finishes in the postseason, which included a Pac-12 team title, a third-place at NCAA Regionals and spot in the NCAA Championships match play final that followed upsets of No. 4 South Carolina in the quarterfinals and over No. 1 Stanford in the semifinals. The 2023 squad included a pair of WGCA All-American honorable mention picks in sophomore Amari Avery and freshman Catherine Park. Park tied for second in the NCAA Championships stroke play, finishing one shot out of first. Avery, Park and sophomore Xin (Cindy) Kou all earned All-Pac-12 first team honors while junior Brianna Navarrosa was an honorable mention selection.
In 2022, Silverstein guided USC to a three-win season, including the 2022 NCAA Stanford Regional, and a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Then-freshman Avery earned WGCA All-American first team honors and was a finalist for the 2022 ANNIKA Award as well as the WGCA Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards. She posted three wins (including at NCAA Regionals) and a tie for second in just the spring semester. Avery also earned All-Pac-12 first team honors while then-freshman Kou and senior Katherine Muzi earned honorable mention honors.
The one-semester 2021 season featured USC's second straight Pac-12 title (there was no championship in 2020) among five wins in nine events, the second time USC won as many events under Silverstein. For the third time in as many seasons, USC featured three All-Americans including a Golfweek first-team nod by Allisen Corpuz and honorable mention honors for Amelia Garvey and Alyaa Abdulghany. All three also earned All-Pac-12 first team honors. Six Trojans played in the second-ever Augusta National Women's Amateur while Corpuz rose to No. 1 nationally during the 2021 season.
The shortened 2019-20 campaign saw USC close the season with wins in its final two events at the Rebel Beach and Bruin Wave Invitationals (the latter with just four players for the entire tournament) as the Trojans ascended to the No. 1 ranking. Corpuz earned WGCA and Golfweek All-American first team honors while Abdulghany and Garvey were honorable mention selections. Troy posted four top 2 finishes in its seven events and five in the top 3.
Silverstein was named the 2019 Golf Pride Grips WGCA West Region Coach of the Year and the 2019 Pac-12 Co-Coach of the Year. USC's seven wins were the most ever under an NCAA Division I women's golf head coach in their debut season while the total tied for second on USC's season wins list. He hit the ground running, leading the Trojans to three fall victories, including the program's third title at the East Lake Cup. USC maintained its momentum in the spring with four more wins, including a victory at the PING/ASU Invitational leading up to dominant conference and regional victories en route to the top seed in the 2019 NCAA Championships.
At nationals, USC finished third in stroke play – the Trojans finished third or better in every stroke play event this season – before bowing out in the NCAA Championships match play quarterfinals to defending champion Arizona. Silverstein's golfers received numerous honors, highlighted by five All-American selections (tying the most in school history). Sophomore Jennifer Chang was a first-team pick, sophomore Gabriela Ruffels and freshman Malia Nam were second teamers while sophomores Abdulghany and Garvey were honorable mention.
Six Trojans earned All-Pac-12 honors, including four first-teamers in Chang, Garvey, Ruffels and Nam and honorable mention picks Abdulghany and then-junior Corpuz. Chang was among 10 finalists on the WGCA Player of the Year Watch List while Nam was among six listed on the WGCA Freshman of the Year Watch List. Chang was also an ANNIKA Award finalist.
Silverstein, 37, replaced Andrea Gaston, who left USC to become the women's head coach at Texas A&M after 22 seasons at Troy.
In his two seasons (2017-18) as its associate head coach under then-head coach Chris Zambri, the USC men were an NCAA Regional champion and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2017 and then won the Pac-12 Championships in 2018. During that time as USC won seven tournaments, the Trojan men produced two All-American first teamers (Rico Hoey and Justin Suh) and four All-Pac-12 first teamers, as well as the 2018 Pac-12 Player of the Year (Suh) and Freshman of the Year (Kaito Onishi).
Before that, Silverstein served four years under Gaston, the first two years (2013-14) as USC's assistant coach and the last two as its associate head coach (2015-16). During that span, the Trojans won the NCAA crown in 2013 with a dominating 21-stroke win, finished second in 2014 by two strokes, made the NCAA semifinals in 2015 and repeated as an NCAA match-play quarterfinalist in 2016. USC won 27 tournaments, including Pac-12 titles in 2013 and 2016 and finishing first at the NCAA Regional tournaments all four years.
Eight different Trojan women earned a combined 15 All-American honors during Silverstein's time with the program and nine Trojans garnered a combined 18 All-Pac-12 awards, including 2013 NCAA champion Annie Park (a 2013 Honda Sports Award winner) and 2014 NCAA champion Doris Chen (a 2014 Honda Sports Award finalist).
Silverstein came to USC after coaching four seasons (2009-12) at his alma mater, Arizona, the last three as a women's golf assistant and the previous one as a volunteer assistant.
In 2012, the Wildcats won three events and reached the NCAA Regional Championships. In 2011, Silverstein helped guide an Arizona team that won two events, posted three Top 8 finishes that included a tie for second at the Pac-10 Championships, and reached the NCAA Championships finals. Arizona also won two events in 2010.
Silverstein was a member of the Wildcats' men's golf team from 2006 to 2009, but a wrist injury suffered as a freshman limited him to two career appearances. He finished with a 74.83 career average and a low round of 69.
He graduated from Arizona in May of 2009 with a bachelor's degree in regional development and a minor in business. He was employed by the I.R.I. Golf Group before joining the Wildcat staff.
An accomplished prep golfer, Silverstein helped Torrey Pines High in San Diego, Calif., to a pair of state titles and was a four-time all-conference selection. He also participated in the 2003 United States Amateur Championship in Oakmont, Pa.
