Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Jon Lester enters his 12th season as head men's golf coach and enters his fourth season as the head women's golf coach for the 2025-26 academic year.

Lester has led a historic revitalization of the men's golf program, culminated by Rose-Hulman winning its first conference championship since 1998 during the 2021 season.  Rose-Hulman also made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Men's Golf National Championships in 2021, bringing home a 21st-place finish in the 37-team field.  Golfers Max Gogel and Jack Speedy were ranked in the individual national top 50 during the team's two rounds at the NCAA Championships.The team returned to the NCAA National Championship in 2024 after winning the HCAC title for the second time under Lester's leadership. The Fightin' Engineers earned a 19th place team finish with Owen King earning the highest individual finish in school history placing 69th individually. 

Lester also led the Fightin' Engineers women's golf team to their third consecutive trip to the Division III National Championships in his first season in 2023. The team brought home a top-20 finish, besting their 21st place finish in 2022. The team then made their fourth consecutive trip to the Division III National Championships in 2024 placing 20th overall. 

The NCAA appearance capped a 2021 men's season that featured numerous school records.  The team recorded four all-conference golfers for the first time in program history.  Rose-Hulman also set school records for single-round, 36-hole tournament and 54-hole tournament team scores relative to par.  The 36-hole team tournament scoring record (578, +2) and 54-hole tournament scoring record (876, +12) also fell during the season.

Lester also leads a women's golf program that won its 5th straight HCAC championship and 4th straight NCAA Division III Championship appearance in 2023-24.  The women's golf squad has national finishes of No. 14 in 2021, No. 21 in 2022, No. 20 in 2023, and No. 19th in 2024 at the NCAA Championships.

Under Lester's leadership, Sanders Park graduated in 2016 as the all-time leader in career scoring average at 75.25 strokes per round.  The team has also recorded 10 of the top 17 rounds in school history under Lester, highlighted by a school record 66 from Park in the fall of 2014.

Lester previously served as part of a Rose-Hulman men's basketball coaching staff that recorded eight consecutive winning seasons, eight HCAC Tournament appearances and three trips to the conference tournament championship game from 2015-22.  Rose-Hulman also won a share of the 2018 HCAC men's basketball regular season championship and compiled a 135-88 record while he served on the basketball coach staff.

Lester previously spent three seasons as assistant men's basketball coach at NCAA Division III Millikin University in Illinois. His efforts included recruiting, coordination of practice and travel schedules, fundraising, budget management, film exchange, and monitoring academic progress. Lester also served as assistant coordinator for the Big Blue Golf Outing which featured 120 players annually.