NORMAN, Okla. – Fighting Illini men's golf head coach Mike Small was named the 2023 Golf Pride Grips Midwest Region Coach of the Year for NCAA Division I by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) on Wednesday.
The award is the 12th GCAA regional coach of the year honor for Small who just completed his 23rd season at the helm of the Fighting Illini program.
Small and the Illini closed out 2022-23 with the No. 1 rating in the final Golfstat rankings, a testament to the team's consistency throughout the entire year. The Illini compiled an NCAA Division I-leading head-to-head record of 172-9-3 in 13 stroke play events, and the team's win percentage of 94.3 percent also ranked first in the country.
Small, who also earned his record 13th Big Ten Coach of the Year award and was a finalist for the GCAA's national coach of the year honor, led the program to its eighth consecutive Big Ten title – and 13th of the last 14 overall – to secure one of seven tournament wins on the year, also the most in the nation.
The Illini were the top seed in the NCAA Bath Regional where they advanced through to the NCAA National Championship for the 16th time overall under Small's tutelage, and the 14th time in the last 15 championships dating back to 2008. The team was the No. 3 overall seed entering the championship at Grayhawk and led stroke play after 36 and 54 holes, before finishing tied for second with three individual top-10 finishers in Jackson Buchanan, who tied for second, and the first-team All-American duo of Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl, who tied for seventh. It marked the only time in the NCAA Championship's three-year run at Grayhawk that a single program produced three top-10 finishers in stroke play.
Small closed the year by guiding the Illini to the match play portion of the championship for the eighth time since the format was adopted in 2009, breaking a tie with Texas' John Fields for most match play appearances as a head coach. The Illini's match play berth also secured a fifth-place tie for the Orange and Blue in the final NCAA Championship standings with the team's eight top-five national finishes under Small ranking second in the country during that same time frame.
The award is the 12th GCAA regional coach of the year honor for Small who just completed his 23rd season at the helm of the Fighting Illini program.
Small and the Illini closed out 2022-23 with the No. 1 rating in the final Golfstat rankings, a testament to the team's consistency throughout the entire year. The Illini compiled an NCAA Division I-leading head-to-head record of 172-9-3 in 13 stroke play events, and the team's win percentage of 94.3 percent also ranked first in the country.
Small, who also earned his record 13th Big Ten Coach of the Year award and was a finalist for the GCAA's national coach of the year honor, led the program to its eighth consecutive Big Ten title – and 13th of the last 14 overall – to secure one of seven tournament wins on the year, also the most in the nation.
The Illini were the top seed in the NCAA Bath Regional where they advanced through to the NCAA National Championship for the 16th time overall under Small's tutelage, and the 14th time in the last 15 championships dating back to 2008. The team was the No. 3 overall seed entering the championship at Grayhawk and led stroke play after 36 and 54 holes, before finishing tied for second with three individual top-10 finishers in Jackson Buchanan, who tied for second, and the first-team All-American duo of Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Tommy Kuhl, who tied for seventh. It marked the only time in the NCAA Championship's three-year run at Grayhawk that a single program produced three top-10 finishers in stroke play.
Small closed the year by guiding the Illini to the match play portion of the championship for the eighth time since the format was adopted in 2009, breaking a tie with Texas' John Fields for most match play appearances as a head coach. The Illini's match play berth also secured a fifth-place tie for the Orange and Blue in the final NCAA Championship standings with the team's eight top-five national finishes under Small ranking second in the country during that same time frame.
