GCAA Announces its 2025 Hall of Fame Class
NORMAN, Okla. – The GCAA is pleased to announce its 2025 Hall of Fame class. Mike Cook, Dale Dover, and Trey Jones will be officially inducted at the GCAA Hall of Fame Reception & Awards Dinner on Tuesday, December 9 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Also a 2025 NAIA Hall of Fame inductee, Cook was hired as the first head men’s golf coach at Coastal Georgia in 2010 and has transformed the Mariners into one of the NAIA’s most successful programs. He led the program to back-to-back NAIA National Championships (2014 and 2015) and their current 11 consecutive NAIA National Championship appearances (starting in 2014), including a runner-up finish in 2019. The Mariners have produced 46 team victories, including the 2021 Sun Conference Championship and a school-record eight team wins in 2014-15 season, and 41 individual medalists under Cook. His players have collected 53 All-America honors (28 NAIA, 25 PING) as well as 46 All-Conference (25 The Sun, 21 SSAC), 35 PING All-Region, and 17 GCAA All-America Scholar selections.
Among his standout players, NAIA Jack Nicklaus Award and NAIA Golfer of the Year Mark David Johnson was the NAIA Individual Champion in 2019, receiving the NAIA Arnold Palmer National Individual Champion Award. All-Americans Dylan Freeman (2014), Allen Bradford (2015), and Dillon Board (2016) earned consecutive Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Player of the Year awards, and Chip Thompson won Sun Conference Freshman of the Year in 2018 in Coastal Georgia’s first year in the conference. Eamon Owen was the 2016 SSAC Freshman of the Year and Alastair Tidcombe and Seth Sanders were consecutive SSAC Newcomers of the Year in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Cook’s teams have consistently ranked high, finishing inside the top five at four NAIA National Championships (2014, 1st; 2015, 1st; 2018, 4th; 2019, 2nd). The Mariners earned the No. 1 ranking in every Bushnell/Golfweek and NAIA Men’s Golf Coaches’ Top 25 Poll during the 2019-20 season. Cook was named NAIA Dave Williams National Coach of the Year and NAIA Men’s Golf Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015. He earned South Region Coach of the Year in 2014, 2015, and 2019, and was an NAIA Dave Williams Award finalist in 2019. Cook has been honored as SSAC Coach of the Year twice (2014, 2016) and Sun Conference Coach of the Year twice (2019, 2025). Before Coastal Georgia’s NAIA success, he led the Mariners to a fourth-place finish in the 2011 NJCAA Division II National Championship in his first season, earning Cook NJCAA Region XVII Coach of the Year honors.
Beyond his achievements in Brunswick, Cook served as the Head Coach for Team USA at the 2016 Arnold Palmer Cup at Formby Golf Club. The Cartersville, Ga., native continues to serve on multiple GCAA committees, including the NAIA PING All-South Region Committee and voting on the NAIA Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll. Cook also is and has been for 32 years a Senior Instructor at the Sea Island Golf Performance Center in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Before beginning his coaching career, Cook played collegiately at Georgia (1979-82), graduating in 1983. The First-Team All-SEC and Third-Team All-American selection helped lead the Bulldogs to the SEC Championship in 1982. Cook then competed professionally from 1983 to 1986, including a season on the South African PGA Tour in 1984.
Dover spent 13 years around the Darton State men’s golf program as an assistant coach, the head coach, and director of golf. His Cavaliers captured 51 team victories, including three straight NJCAA Division II National Championships (2005-07) and 12 consecutive Region XVII titles (2003-14).
Darton won the 2005 NJCAA Division II National Championship by 37 strokes, setting the three-round and four-round tournament scoring records by finishing 28-under. Brent Witcher, who still owns the tournament’s three-round and four-round individual records, received the Arnold Palmer National Individual Champion Award after winning by four shots (69-69-67-71, -12). Six of Dover’s players were then named All-Americans by the NJCAA, including four of the five First Team members. The Cavaliers won the 2006 NJCAA Division II National Championship by nine strokes, with three top-10 individual finishers leading the way. After winning the 2007 NJCAA Division II National Championship by 12 strokes that was guided by Arnold Palmer National Individual Champion Bill Jones III’s two-shot victory (65-72-73-68, -10), Dover was named the first-ever NJCAA Division II Dave Williams National Coach of the Year (the GCAA started naming NJCAA award recipients in 2007). Jones III, Coleman Calhoun, and Oliver Turnill received PING First Team All-America honors. Dover was named the NJCAA Division II National Coach of the Year by the NJCAA after each of the 2005-07 national championships.
The Cavaliers finished runner-up at the next two NJCAA Division II National Championships (2008-09). Woo Chung, Evan Hanna, and Matthew Smith were named 2008 PING First-Team All-Americans, while Lon An was a 2009 PING First-Team All-American. Dover coached three PING All-Americans in 2010, including First-Teamer Taylor Welborn. Welborn was also a member of the first NJCAA Division II GCAA All-Freshman Team in 2010. Darton then moved up to NJCAA Division I, won two District IV Championships, and qualified for the next four NJCAA Division I National Championships, finishing T5 and fifth in 2011 and 2012, respectively. 2011 individual runner-up Joe Sakulpolphaisan was a 2012 PING First-Team All-American and PING All-District IV honoree, and Welborn earned his second PING All-District IV honor in 2011. Dover retired after Darton State finished fourth at the 2014 national championship.
In the time Dover was coaching the Cavaliers, the school was Darton Junior College until 2012, when it transitioned from a two-year to a four-year institution and changed its name to Darton State College. Then, in 2015, Darton State College agreed to merge with Albany State University, where the former Darton State campus became Albany State’s West Campus and the location of the Darton College of Health Professions in 2017. The merger was the first in the state of Georgia to combine an HBCU (Albany State) with an institution that traditionally had a higher white population. Albany State’s HBCU status was dropped with the consolidation.
Dover coached at least 35 All-America (11 PING, at least 24 NJCAA) and 14 PING All-Region/District selections while at Darton, also earning him 2008 East Region Coach of the Year and 2014 District IV Coach of the Year honors from the GCAA. A 2013 NJCAA Golf Coaches Hall of Fame and 2024 Albany State University Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Dover never had more than one scholarship between the team each year he coached and had to raise $30,000 per year to fund his program. Every player that played two years in Dover’s program and wanted to continue their academic and athletic careers at a four-year institution did so. Dover continues to be a member of the Georgia State Golf Association, a membership he’s carried since 1984. A Toccoa, Ga., native, Dover has lived in Camilla, Ga. for the past 58 years.
Hired as the fifth head coach in program history in 2004, Jones is in his 23rd year as head men’s coach and Director of Golf at Florida State. Jones’ men captured four team victories in 2024-25, including the 2025 NCAA Tallahassee Regional. They were led on the course by PING All-Americans Luke Clanton and Tyler Weaver. Clanton won the 2025 Ben Hogan Award presented by Baird and 2024 Mark H. McCormack Medal, and Weaver was a 2025 Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar while competing for Team GB&I at the 2025 Walker Cup and the victorious Team International at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Cup. Jones was a Team USA Assistant Coach at the 2025 Palmer Cup and will be a Team USA Co-Head Coach when the 30th playing of the Palmer Cup takes place at Tralee Golf Links July 3-5, 2026.
The Seminoles have competed in a program-record 19 consecutive NCAA Regionals under Jones, including qualifying for the NCAA Championship five straight years, and were the 2024 NCAA Runner-Up for the best NCAA Championship finish in program history. Jones, a Cullman, Ala., native, has been named ACC Coach of the Year three times (2008, 2015, 2024) and has coached the most team victories (41) in program history. The third win, coming April 20, 2008, was the Seminoles’ first ACC Championship. Jonas Blixt (2007), John Pak (2021), and Frederik Kjettrup (2024) have won ACC Individual Championships under Jones. He has also coached 41 All-America honors, 12 GCAA All-America Scholar selections, eight Palmer Cup alumni, both of the program’s Ben Hogan Award recipients (Clanton and Pak, 2021), and two FSU Athletics Hall of Fame inductees (Blixt and Brooks Koepka) while at Florida State. Pak also won the Jack Nicklaus Award in 2021 while becoming the sixth player in college golf history to sweep all three ‘National Player of the Year’ awards.
As head coach at Georgia State (1995-2003), Jones led the Panthers to seven team victories, including the program’s first three conference championships (1998, 2000, 2001 Trans America Athletic), and nine individual medalists, such as 2001 TAAC Champion Allen Thompson. He also led the program to their first NCAA Regional appearance (1999), first NCAA Championship appearance (2000), and highest national ranking (20th in 2000). The three-time TAAC Coach of the Year (1998, 2000, 2001) coached 17 All-TAAC/All-Atlantic Sun honors, including three-time First Team All-TAAC Jack Croyle, three GCAA All-America Scholar honors, and 2003 PING All-Southeast Region selection Ty Harris. Jones had responsibilities that encapsulated the entire Georgia State men’s golf program while coaching, including budgeting, public relations, strength and conditioning, scheduling, and recruiting.
Jones was an assistant coach at Wallace State Community College (1992-95) and North Alabama, his alma mater (1991), to begin his coaching career. He earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education with a minor in business administration from North Alabama in 1991. A GCAA member since 1993, Jones has served on multiple GCAA and other national committees, including the GCAA National Advisory Board.
About GCAA Hall of Fame
In 1980, the GCAA began inducting outstanding men’s college golf coaches into the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame. Since then, the hall has grown to include more than 160 members. To be selected to the Hall of Fame, a coach must be nominated by their peers and then selected by the GCAA Hall of Fame Committee. Selection criteria not only include a coach's record on the golf course, but also their contributions to the game, student-athletes, and school. For more information, please visit www.collegiategolf.com/awards/hall-of-fame.