Kayla Bandy enters her 5th year as a volunteer assistant coach for Women's Bowling in 2025-26.
Bandy finished her time with the Hawls with four Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) titles, a USBC semifinals appearance and a pair of NCAA semifinal appearances.
With the 2020-21 bowling season lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bandy chose that time to leave the program to focus on a new chapter in her life and a new business, while giving the administration time to search for her successor. She left the Hawks with a .684 overall win percentage during her career and was just the third coach in the program's storied NCAA history.
In 2013-14, her first season as head coach, Bandy led the program to a seventh Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship and an 11th straight NCAA Championship appearance. Her team made it all the way to the semi-finals of the NCAAs falling to eventual champion Sam Houston State to finish in third place. They put together a 95-23 record and were 28-2 in conference play.
An eighth MEAC title came the following season (2014-15) as the Hawks finished 29-1 in MEAC play. They went 29-1 in league play and 96-43 overall, the second most wins of any team in the NCAA that season. They won 70-percent of their matches played, including five tournament titles, three in the MEAC North, the MEAC Championship and the Mid-Winter Classic hosted by Arkansas State. They also bowled the third perfect Baker game in program history.
In 2015-16, the team finished 71-41 (18-6 MEAC) despite featuring eight new faces to go with returners Thashaina Seraus and Melanie Copey. The team finished in first place in the MEAC North Division and Bandy won MEAC Coach of the Year. Seraus MEAC Bowler of the Year as well as being named runner-up for the International Bowling Media Association’s National Bowler of the Year.
While they did not gain an NCAA tournament berth, a late season run saw them make the semifinals at the USBC Championships. The Hawks finished the season ranked 12th in the National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) final poll. A strong recruiting class and the unexpected return of Seraus — after gaining back a year of NCAA eligibility — laid the groundwork for another good campaign.
In 2016-17, The Shore qualified for the USBC Championships once a again, while Jacqueline Rhoda qualified for the Individual Championships where she would go on to reach the semifinals.
Then things came together even more at the end of the season as the Hawks pulled off a 4-1 victory in best-of-seven Baker format in the MEAC Championship match against North Carolina A&T State. At the NCAA Championship, the Hawks reached the quarterfinals against Nebraska losing a tough battle 4-3 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Just one week later in the same bowling center, the Hawks took on the USBC field once again.
During the 2017-18 season, Eastern Shore finished 79-44 including 18-6 during the MEAC regular season. The Hawks again qualified for USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships. The Hawks made it to the finals of the MEAC Championship, but fell to North Carolina A&T State 4-1 in the best-of-seven Baker format. Juniors Alexandra Hernandez and Rhoda finished the season with First-Team All-MEAC honors.
The 2018-19 season saw the Hawks win two events (The Caldwell Classic & North East Invite), while also claiming the MEAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed at the MEAC Championship. The Hawks won the New Jersey USBC Sectional and freshman Chloe Skurzynski qualified for the USBC Individual Championships.
The Shore pulled out a 4-3 victory in the MEAC Championship game to win their second conference title in three seasons, while also earning another berth to the NCAA Tournament, where they reached the semifinals for the second time under her tutelage.
Eastern Shore finished the regular season with an 84-29 record including an undefeated 23-0 run through conference play. The Hawks won the MEAC regular season title, but saw the season cut short when the MEAC Championship, NCAA Championship and USBC Championship were all canceled due to precautions with the COVID 19 virus spreading in the U.S. The Hawks finished the season ranked No. 6 in the final NTCA poll of the year and the team was No. 1 in the country in win percentage (74.3 %) for the year.
The 2020-21 season was also lost to the COVID 19 Pandemic.
Bandy’s teams excelled off the lanes, winning the NTCA All-Academic award for having the highest GPA among all women’s bowling teams in the nation in 2014-15 (a first for the Hawks) while capturing the Maryland Eastern Shore Team of Scholars Award (highest team GPA of any team at the school) for each of her first three seasons.
She earned her USBC Silver coaching certification in April of 2015.
Since 2015, she has also bowled professionally as a PWBA member where she had a 201.17 average in 12 events in 2019, reaching the television round of the Go Bowling! PWBA Regional Showdown where she finished third. She cashed in four of the five regional events she competed in this season. Her best career finish was third place at the 2015 PWBA Minnesota Open. On the tour, she is sponsored by Turbo, Kameleon and Storm.
Bandy came to the Hawks from the University of Pikeville, where most recently she served as the assistant coach for the Bears.
While Pikeville bowls as an NAIA school, they are all too familiar to the Hawks. In 2008, Bandy bowled lead-off on the squad that topped Eastern Shore in the semi-finals of the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Team Championships. It was one of the most intense matches ever in the event, ending in favor of Pikeville 4.5-3.5. The Bears went on to win the school’s second national championship in the final match. UMES had to settle with just one title that year as they were coming off of their first NCAA National Championship a week earlier. Five years later in 2013, she was on the bench coaching when UMES topped Pikeville for the Hawks’ fifth National Championship and second USBC Collegiate title.
As a bowler, Bandy is a two-time Junior Team USA Member (2005-06) and bowled at Pikeville from 2005- 2008. She was a four-time All-American, was named Rookie of the Year in 2005 and was the Collegiate Bowler of the Year by the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association (NCBCA) and the then Bowling Writers of America (BWAA) in both 2007 and 2008. At the time, she was just the fourth woman ever to win multiple Player of the Year awards. Her senior year she amassed an average of 202 on the difficult sport patterns.
Bandy graduated from Pikeville in 2008 with a B.S. in Psychology.
She not only served as the Assistant Coach at Pikeville, but also worked as its Director of Residence Life, Student Activities Coordinator and Upward Bound Coordinator during her tenure.
Bandy was inducted into the Pikeville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014, the same year she entered the Danville (Va.) USBC Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the Virginia State USBC Youth Hall of Fame. Bandy now resides in Delmar, Maryland and is the daughter of Pamela and David Bandy of Danville, Virginia.
