GCAA Announces its 2026 Hall of Fame Class
NORMAN, Okla. – The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is pleased to announce its 2026 Hall of Fame class. Nick Clinard, Pat Goss, Jake Harrington, and Jamie Howell will be officially inducted at the GCAA Hall of Fame Reception & Awards Dinner on Monday, December 7 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Nick Clinard
"I'm humbled and honored to be chosen to the GCAA Hall of Fame,” said Clinard. “To have my name alongside the best coaches in the history of college golf is quite the honor and privilege. Thank you to all my former players at UCF and Auburn University for being a part of the journey. Thank you to the Hall of Fame Committee for this prestigious honor, and I'm forever grateful for your kindness."
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Clinard is preparing for his 18th season as head coach at Auburn, where his Tigers are coming off one of the most decorated three-season stretches in NCAA Division I Men’s Golf history. Auburn won their final seven tournaments and a program-record 10 of their 13 in 2023-24 en route to the program’s fifth SEC Championship and first national championship. Jackson Koivun and Brendan Valdes were Arnold Palmer Cup selections and PING First Team All-Americans, and Koivun became the only golfer to sweep the three National Player of the Year Awards (Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Fred Haskins) and win the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award in the same season. Clinard earned SEC Coach of the Year and NCAA Division I Dave Williams National Coach of the Year honors while assistant coach Chris Williams was named the NCAA Division I Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award recipient. The Tigers won five times in 2024-25, including their third straight NCAA Regional title (2023 Auburn, 2024 Baton Rouge, 2025 Auburn), and were guided by a program-record six PING All-Southeast Region honorees, four PING All-Americans, and SEC Coach of the Year Clinard. Carson Bacha, Josiah Gilbert, and Koivun were 2025 Arnold Palmer Cup participants while Clinard (Co-Head Coach) and Williams (Co-Assistant Coach) were on Team USA’s coaching staff, marking the first time where more than one player played in the Palmer Cup coached on the same team by their university team’s head and assistant coaches. Auburn tallied five victories in 2025-26, highlighted by the program’s second national championship. Three-time PING First Team All-American Koivun captured all three National Player of the Year Awards again, becoming the first golfer to do it twice. The first men’s golfer in its 51-year history to be named Roy F. Kramer SEC Male Athlete of the Year, three-time SEC Player of the Year and three-time SEC Individual Champion Koivun turned professional after his Co-Low Amateur at the 2026 U.S. Open already having his PGA TOUR card through PGA TOUR University Accelerated. He completed his collegiate career breaking the NCAA record for single-season scoring average (68.20) and career scoring average (68.89) while tying or breaking 14 other program records.
Those three seasons gave Clinard’s Tigers 20 tournament victories, 18 individual wins, 13 PING All-Southeast Region selections, 16 All-SEC honors, 10 PING All-America selections, 10 Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar accolades, five Arnold Palmer Cup alumni, five SEC All-Freshman Team members, and three GCAA Team Academic Awards (two Presidents Special Recognition). Clinard was a finalist for the NCAA Division I Dave Williams National Coach of the Year Award all three seasons, three of his five finalist recognitions at Auburn (2012, 2018, 2024, 2025, 2026). He has been named SEC Coach of the Year three times (2018, 2024-25) and GCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year three times (2018, 2024, 2026). Also SEC Champions in 2018, Clinard has accumulated a program-record and SEC-leading 64 tournament victories and 55 individual medalists since he was hired on June 21, 2009. His 74 career team tournament victories are the most by an active Division I men’s coach and eighth in NCAA Division I Men’s Golf history. The Tigers have earned 56 All-SEC selections, 51 PING All-Region honors, 35 GCAA All-America Scholar accolades, and 24 PING All-America selections under Clinard while making 17 NCAA Regional and 13 NCAA Championship appearances. Eight players of his at Auburn are Palmer Cup alumni, including Walker Cup participants Koivun and Blayne Barber. Clinard has spent time on multiple GCAA committees since arriving on The Plains, such as chairing the All-America Scholar Committee in 2015.
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Clinard spent eight seasons as head coach at UCF (2001-09), winning 10 tournaments. His Golden Knights earned five All-Atlantic Sun Conference and five Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team selections from 2002 to 2005. A-Sun Freshman of the Year Stefan Wistorf was the 2003 A-Sun Individual Champion, winning by five strokes and earning First Team All-Conference honors. Under 2004 A-Sun Coach of the Year Clinard, UCF won the 2004 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship by six shots and was led by A-Sun Golfer of the Year and Individual Champion Barry Roof. Changing conferences to Conference USA in 2005, the Knights had seven golfers combined finish inside the top 20 during the 2006-08 Conference USA Championships and two All-Conference USA honorees, like 2008 Newcomer of the Year and First-Teamer David Johnson, before breaking through in 2008-09. UCF won four times that season, including the 2009 Conference USA Championship by five strokes. The Knights had three players finish inside the top 20, including Individual Champion and Newcomer of the Year Simon Ward. Future Auburn transfer Barber finished second and was one of four 2009 All-Conference USA players from UCF. Barber earned Conference USA Golfer and Freshman of the Year selections. Barber was one of five UCF golfers under Clinard who earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors before he was named a 2009 PING Second Team All-American and 2009 GCAA All-Freshman Team member. In their third consecutive NCAA Regional appearance, the Knights won the 2009 NCAA Southeast Regional to book their first trip to the NCAA Championship in 17 years. Clinard earned Conference USA Coach of the Year as well as GCAA Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors in 2009.
A Gastonia, N.C., native, Clinard won seven AJGA events as well as the North Carolina Junior Championship while attending Ashbrook High School. He was named a 1989 Rolex Junior Honorable Mention All-American as well as a 1987 Rolex Junior Boys 11-14 All-American. He played one year of college golf at SMU before playing his final three years at Wake Forest from 1992-95, where the Demon Deacons were ranked in the top 10 in the nation all three seasons and Clinard was team captain as a senior. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication. While playing professional golf on the NGA Hooters Tour as well as several Nike Tour and Canadian Tour events from 1996-2001, Clinard was an assistant golf professional at Hank Haney Golf Ranch in McKinney, Texas. He worked with Haney during winters and offseasons, helping run events on the Future Collegians World Tour, prior to becoming head coach at UCF.
Pat Goss
"I am incredibly honored to be inducted into the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame,” said Goss. “To be recognized by my peers in this way is truly humbling. Coaching at Northwestern University has been the honor of a lifetime. This recognition is a testament to the extraordinary Northwestern Golf family—the student-athletes and families who chose our program, the coaches I've been privileged to work alongside, and the golf alumni and supporters who built this program's foundation. I'm deeply grateful to Dr. Jim Suttie and Jeff Mory for giving me the opportunity to be part of something so special at Northwestern. I also want to thank the golf coaches who worked with me and particularly Emily Fletcher, David Inglis, Beth Miller, and Steve Bailey – amazing coaches and people. Finally, I want to thank my wife Lindy and our three daughters, Allie, Claire, and Maddie, for their unwavering love and support throughout my time at Northwestern. Coaching at this level demands so much from a family, and their commitment made this entire journey possible. This recognition belongs to them as much as it does to me."
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Currently Chief Operating Officer for Northwestern Athletics as well as the Sport Administrator for Golf, Men’s Basketball, and Football, Goss was Men’s Golf Head Coach at Northwestern 1996-2014 and Director of Golf and Player Development 2007-25. A four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (1997, 1999-2001) and two-time Region Coach of the Year (1997, 1999), Goss’ Wildcats won 34 team and 37 individual tournaments, four Big Ten Championships (1999-2001, 2006), and had five Big Ten Individual Championships (2000-01, 2006, 2009-10). They made 14 NCAA Regional and seven NCAA Championship appearances, recording two of the program’s 10 best finishes at an NCAA Championship.
His head coaching tenure was catapulted with the signing of future 2009 Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Luke Donald (1997-2001). Donald left Evanston as the most decorated golfer in school history with four All-America honors, including a First Team selection his final three seasons, three Les Bolstad Awards for having the lowest season scoring average in the Big Ten (1999-2001), three Big Ten Player of the Year honors (1999-2001), and two appearances each in the Walker Cup (1999, 2001) and Palmer Cup (1998-99). While winning the 1999 NCAA Individual Championship, Donald led the Wildcats to a third-place team finish for the program’s best result at an NCAA Championship since 1945. He swept the National Player of the Year Awards (Jack Nicklaus, Fred Haskins) that year, and his 13 tournaments won at Northwestern also include two Big Ten Individual Championships (2000-01) that helped guide the Wildcats to three consecutive Big Ten Championships (1999-2001). Donald turned professional in August 2001 after going 3-1 to help Team GB&I retain the Walker Cup for the first time, and Goss was his swing coach for 17 years while still maintaining his Northwestern Athletics responsibilities. Donald collected 17 professional wins in that span, played in four Ryder Cups, and reached World No. 1 for 56 total weeks. 2011 was a banner year for Donald, where he won five times and became the first English golfer to win PGA TOUR Player of the Year, the Vardon Trophy from the PGA of America for leading scoring average on the PGA TOUR, and the Mark H. McCormack Award for being No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking the most weeks all in one calendar year. He was also the first to earn the top ranking before a career win or runner-up finish in a major championship and the first to earn the most on both the PGA and European Tours in the same season.
Goss was head coach for 11 All-America selections, more than half of the program’s 20 all-time. After finishing T3 at the 2000 NCAA Championship, Jess Daley joined Donald as a 2000 First Team All-American. Two-time All-American Tom Johnson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2001, and 2012 Honorable Mention All-American Eric Chun was Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Individual Champion in 2009. 1998 Honorable Mention All-American and 1998 NCAA Central Regional Champion Matt Seppanen was Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1995 when Goss was an assistant coach. Already a two-time All-American with 1994 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and 1995 Les Bolstad Award selections, Scott Rowe completed his collegiate career with 1997 Honorable Mention All-America honors in Goss’ first season. David Lipsky, who will be inducted into the Northwestern Athletics Hall of Fame on October 23, was the 2010 Big Ten Individual Champion before becoming a 2011 PING Honorable Mention All-American. Jack Perry received the Les Bolstad Award and PING Honorable Mention All-America honors in 2013. All are included in the 28 All-Big Ten, eight Big Ten All-Championship Team, 57 Academic All-Big Ten, and 20 GCAA All-America Scholar recognitions during Goss’ tenure. Two-time All-Big Ten selection David Merkow was the 2006 Big Ten Player of the Year.
While head coach, 2012 Labron Harris Sr. Award recipient Goss guided multiple players who have had success in professional golf. Having won the 2013 U.S. Amateur just one month prior, Matt Fitzpatrick enrolled at Northwestern in September 2013 and played one semester under Goss, where he was co-champion with Perry at the Rod Myers Invitational and played in the 2013 Walker Cup. Fitzpatrick has won 14 professional events since 2015, winning the 2023 U.S. Open to become the 13th golfer to win the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open in their career. He’s participated in four of the last five Ryder Cups (2016, 2021, 2023, 2025), winning the last two under European Captain Donald. Lipsky was the first American golfer since 1985 to win the European Masters in 2014, helping him finish the season leading the Asian Tour Order of Merit that got him exempt into the 2015 Open Championship. He has been a full-time PGA TOUR member since 2021. Johnson earned his PGA TOUR card in and for the 2007 season after progressing through the 2006 PGA TOUR Q-School and Nationwide (now Korn Ferry) Tour. He is now Director of Instruction and Player Development at The Stanwich Club, recently playing in the 2025 PGA Championship. 2006 Big Ten Individual Champion and two-time All-Big Ten selection Chris Wilson earned his PGA TOUR card for the 2010 season through PGA TOUR Q-School and played in 26 tournaments. He won the Web.com (now Korn Ferry) Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship in 2012.
Goss was named Director of Golf and Player Development for both Northwestern golf programs on October 18, 2007 and was in the position until he transitioned into his current Chief Operating Officer role July 10, 2025. David Inglis has been head coach of the men’s program since Goss promoted him to the position in September 2014. Since the promotion, Inglis’ Wildcats have appeared in 11 NCAA Regionals, with a current streak of 10 consecutive, and six NCAA Championships. Highlighting Northwestern’s 12 team victories with Inglis at the helm is the 2024 Big Ten Championship, where the Wildcats won by five strokes and Inglis was named 2024 Big Ten Coach of the Year. Also winners of the first three Gantner Cup matches against Michigan State (2024-26), Northwestern has collected 22 All-Big Ten recognitions and 21 PING All-Midwest Region selections, including at least one every year since 2016. David Nyfjäll (2019) and Daniel Svärd (2023) received Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, and the pair also won three consecutive Big Ten Individual Championships from 2022 to 2024. Nyfjäll won in 2022 and Svärd in 2023 and 2024, becoming the first Wildcat to repeat since Donald 2000-01. Nyfjäll earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor and Byron Nelson Award in 2023. Ryan Lumsden also received the Big Ten Medal of Honor and Byron Nelson Award in 2019, and Dylan Wu was a 2017 PING Second Team All-American. 62 Academic All-Big Ten and 41 GCAA All-America Scholar selections have been made with Inglis in charge.
Goss announced the hiring of women’s golf head coach Emily Fletcher on May 13, 2008. Fletcher has led Northwestern to 16 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances and representation in 11 of the last 13 NCAA Championships. Her 22 team victories at the helm are highlighted by three program firsts. The first team win in the Fletcher and assistant coach Beth Miller era was the 2013 Big Ten Championship, the program’s first Big Ten Championship and first team victory since 2007. Northwestern then won consecutive Big Ten Championships in 2015 and 2016, setting a then-Big Ten-record with their 12-under 852. Being guided by medalist Janet Mao, the Wildcats then won the 2016 NCAA Shoal Creek Regional for the first regional title in Northwestern Golf history (men or women). Having to get through defending champion Stanford and their lineup filled with top-20 ranked players, the Wildcats defeated the Cardinal 3-2 to win Northwestern Golf’s first team national championship in 2025. Sarah Cho’s first collegiate victory came at the 2015 Big Ten Championship as a freshman, joining Alice Kim (2006) as Wildcats to win the Big Ten Individual Championship. Fletcher has earned Big Ten Coach of the Year six times (2011, 2013, 2015-16, 2023-24) and was the 2024-25 Division I Jackie Steinmann WGCA National Coach of the Year, while Miller is a two-time Division I WGCA Assistant Coach of the Year (2015, 2025). Both were Co-Assistant Coaches for Team USA at the 2026 Palmer Cup. Seven of their players have earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, with all seven coming in a 12-year span from 2013 to 2024. 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Hannah Kim, 2016 recipient Stephanie Lau, and 2020 recipient Irene Kim were all also later named Big Ten Golfer of the Year at least once. Hannah Kim was the 2015 and 2016 Big Ten Golfer of the Year Kim and first in program history to be named First Team All-Big Ten in four consecutive seasons. A two-time Mary Fossum Award recipient for having the lowest season stroke average in the Big Ten (2016-17), Kim was a three-time WGCA All-American (2016-18), given the 2018 Big Ten Medal of Honor, and will be inducted into the Northwestern Athletics Hall of Fame with Lipsky on October 23. Lau and Irene Kim were the 2019 and 2021 Big Ten Golfer of the Year, respectively, and Kaitlin Park (2013), Lauryn Nguyen (2022), Dianna Lee (2023), and Ashley Yun (2024) also received Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. WGCA All-America honors have also gone to Lau (2016 Second Team), Irene Kim (2021 Second Team), Nguyen (2024-25 Honorable Mention), Yun (2025 Honorable Mention), and 2015 First Team All-Big Ten selection Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (2015 Honorable Mention). Fletcher and Miller’s players have earned 52 All-Big Ten, 102 Academic All-Big Ten, and 51 WGCA All-American Scholar selections. The 2009-10 team earned a WGCA All-Scholar Team Award.
Goss’ coaching tree includes current Marquette Head Coach Steve Bailey. Bailey was assistant coach from 2005-08 and associate head coach from 2008 until 2010 when he was named head coach at Marquette. Merkow, after winning two gold medals at the 2008 Pan American Maccabi Games and making stops on select professional tours, was Bailey’s assistant coach at Marquette from for two years (2010-12). Johnson assisted the UC Davis men’s golf team 2014 to 2016.
A Crystal Lake, Ill., native, Goss is a Class A PGA Member with the Illinois PGA Section and has been named Illinois PGA Teacher of the Year (2012) and multiple times a Top Teacher in Illinois and the USA by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. He is Co-Owner of the Wildcat Golf Academy, Co-Inventor of The Putting Board, and has served on the Board of Directors for the First Tee of Greater Chicago since 2008, serving as Board President (2016-19). Goss, who played college golf at Northwestern, served as the Interim Senior Deputy Director of Athletics for Northwestern Athletics & Recreation before being permanently appointed as the department’s Chief Operating Officer.
Jake Harrington
“I am very thankful and humbled to be selected as an inductee into the GCAA Hall of Fame,” said Harrington. “Golf has given me so much in my life and being a college coach is a career I never knew I wanted until I became one. The ability to positively affect the lives of hundreds of young men through education and the game I love is what dreams are made of. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish any of this without the young men that believed enough in me to call me a coach and their parents that trusted me with their most precious gift, and for that, I am forever grateful!”
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Harrington was named Head Coach at New Mexico on July 31, 2023 and is about to begin his fourth season at the helm. His Lobos have recorded four team and seven individual victories thus far with eight All-Mountain West and three PING All-West Region selections. They were co-champions of the season-opening The Wohali and won the ASU Thunderbird Collegiate by four strokes in 2025-26, finishing the season ranked No. 26 for the program’s best in over 10 years. New Mexico had four individual medalists last season, including ASU Thunderbird Collegiate Champion Johnnie Clark, for the program’s most in one season in 12 years. Clark, Emil Albers, Mesa Falleur, and Thayer Plewe earned All-Mountain West honors, tying the program record for the most All-Mountain West selections in one season, and Plewe was the program’s seventh Mountain West Freshman of the Year. Clark and Falleur were named PING All-West Region, and Falleur was a 2026 PING Honorable Mention All-American. The 2023-24 Lobos won the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate and National Invitational Tournament with a school-record 51-under 813 for 2024 Mountain West Coach of the Year Harrington before making an NCAA West Lafayette Regional and NCAA Championship appearance. Bastien Amat won the Alister MacKenzie Invitational and John Burns Intercollegiate before being named Mountain West Golfer of the Year, PING All-West Region, and a 2024 PING Third Team All-American. Amat also participated in the 2024 Palmer Cup and 2023 World Amateur Team Championship. Academically, New Mexico has received 11 Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar and three Presidents Special Recognition GCAA Team Academic Awards under Harrington, who signed a new five-year contract on June 22 to remain under contract through the 2030-31 season.
He came to Albuquerque after 10 seasons as Director of Golf at Little Rock. Hired July 31, 2013, Harrington guided the Trojans to program firsts and program records. They won 13 tournaments, with at least one coming in seven of his 10 seasons and eight during his last three seasons. In the 2021 NCAA Stillwater Regional, the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance in 20 years, Little Rock broke seven NCAA event program records en route to booking the programs first-ever trip to the NCAA Championship. Anton Albers and Logan Pate earned 2021 All-Sun Belt Conference honors while Albers was selected to his first PING All-Central Region team. They picked up where they left off in 2021-22, winning three tournaments and the Sun Belt Championship in their final year as a member of the conference. The conference championship was the program’s third and first since 2001. Little Rock made their second straight NCAA Regional appearance at the NCAA Palm Beach Gardens Regional and were led by three of Harrington’s 12 All-Sun Belt honorees, including the first in program history to be named Golfer of the Year Albers. He was once again named PING All-Central Region to become the first back-to-back PING All-Region Trojan and was a 2022 PING Honorable Mention All-American for 2022 Sun Belt Coach of the Year Harrington. Little Rock won the 2022-23 Ohio Valley Conference Championship in its first year as a member. Albers and Jansen Smith were OVC All-Tournament Team selections, and Smith was the OVC Player of the Year for 2023 OVC Coach of the Year Harrington. A program that had only qualified for the NCAA postseason twice in its history before his arrival, the Trojans earned their third consecutive NCAA Regional trip at 2023 NCAA Bath Regional. Albers was one of six Ohio Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Award recipients and a finalist for the 2023 Byron Nelson Award. Little Rock broke the program record for single-season scoring average multiple times under Harrington, including with a 286.59 in 2022-23. His players compiled 25 GCAA All-America Scholar selections, including a program-record five in 2023, and a GCAA Team Academic Award all 10 seasons (Presidents Special Recognition in 2020-21).
One of the most successful men’s golf coaches in NJCAA history, Harrington was head coach at South Mountain Community College for six seasons (2007-13). A six-time NJCAA Division II West Region Coach of the Year, his Cougars won 41 team tournaments, highlighted by NJCAA Division II Championships in 2010, 2012, and 2013. Also runners-up in 2011, 19 of Harrington’s 23 PING All-America and 20 of his 27 PING All-West Region honors came during those four seasons. Harrington was named the NJCAA Division II Dave Williams National Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2012. Jimmy Kozikowski (2011), Jake Argento (2012), and Will Twitty (2013) were NJCAA Division II Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award recipients, and Kozikowski (2012) and Argento (2013) each earned NJCAA Jack Nicklaus Awards. Before completing his collegiate career at Grand Canyon, Kozikowski was a PING First Team All-American as well as a member of the All-Nicklaus Team in 2012 and 2013. Argento, who finished his college golf at UT Arlington, was also a PING All-American and All-Nicklaus Team member those two years, and Twitty and Ben Seward joined Kozikowski as 2013 PING First Team All-Americans. Seward was also a 2013 All-Nicklaus Team selection. South Mountain was crowned GCAA NJCAA Division II Academic National Champions each of those four years, and the Cougars also captured four NJCAA Region I Division II and four Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) Championships. Four players won NJCAA Region I Division II individual titles, 21 earned All-ACCAC honors, and 10 received NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Awards. Harrington was ACCAC Coach of the Year four times (2009, 2011-13), a 2017 ACCAC Hall of Fame inductee, and an inaugural recipient of the NJCAA Coaches Legacy Award in 2025 for being one of the winningest coaches over the NJCAA’s 90-year history.
Harrington has been a GCAA member since 2007 and involved in various GCAA and NJCAA committees. At South Mountain, he was the NJCAA Division II Golf Coaches Association Secretary (2010-11), Vice President (2011-12), and President (2012-13). He was on the Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award Selection Committee from 2017 to 2022, chairing the committee in 2022, and the Central PING All-Region Selection Committee from 2014 to 23 while at Little Rock. Internationally, Harrington has coached Team USA in three Toyota Junior World Cups, first in 2013 for a team that featured eventual 2015 NCAA Division I Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award recipient Scottie Scheffler and 2016 Patriot All-America Invitational Champion Cameron Champ. Team USA was runner-up in 2024 and tied for second under Harrington this past June at Chukyo Golf Club.
A Chandler, Ariz., native, Harrington played one season at South Mountain (2001-02) before transferring to then-NAIA member Holy Names. He was the first golfer to be inducted into the Holy Names University Athletic Hall of Fame in March 2013. Holy Names Athletics transitioned to NCAA Division II in 2016 and was a member until the university closed in 2023.
Jamie Howell
“To be even mentioned in the same room as the coaches who came before us and made the possibility of coaching into today’s world a profession, the GCAA Hall of Fame would be the pinnacle of anyone’s career,” said Howell. “When you receive the call, you are not prepared for the emotion that comes with the news. You are humbled as you take a moment to reflect on what has gone into the journey and you need that moment to collect yourself. We as coaches have a responsibility to lead by example so that the next generation of coaches carries forward the tradition of integrity the GCAA is known for in the collegiate world. Recognizing that coaching world is a limited fraternity, the Hall of Fame is the patriarch of that group”.
Howell is entering his 25th season as Head Golf Coach at Eastern Florida State College. He has coached the men’s program since 2002, advancing to the NJCAA Division I National Championship all 24 seasons and leading the Titans to 58 team victories and 10 NJCAA District (District IV/Southeast) Championships (2007-09, 2013, 2015-17, 2019-20, 2023). At the time of his hire, the college was Brevard Community College until it was officially renamed Eastern Florida State College in 2013. Over 80 of Howell’s players have transferred to four-year colleges on golf scholarships/aid. Kerry Sweeney, who completed his collegiate career at Ole Miss, won the NJCAA Jack Nicklaus Award back-to-back in 2015 and 2016 to become the first of now two NJCAA players to win multiple Nicklaus Awards. He also won the 2015 NJCAA Division I Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award and was a PING First Team All-American and All-Nicklaus Team member in 2015 and 2016. Jacob Davis (2004), Bill Anderson (2011), and Sweeney (2016) won NJCAA Division I Individual National Championships under Howell, with Davis continuing his career at Florida State and Anderson at Florida.
Eastern Florida State has received 15 PING All-America honors since the GCAA began naming NJCAA awards in 2007, including seven First Team selections. David Johnson was the first in 2007 before finishing his collegiate career at UCF under Clinard. Johnson is now an Assistant Coach at Auburn for Clinard. After Anderson and Sweeney, Bradley Bawden was named to the First Team in 2017 before continuing his collegiate career at Memphis. Thomas Matthews became a full-time amateur golfer back home in Wales after receiving 2020 PING First Team All-America honors, and Jamie Smith was a 2026 PING First Team All-American and PING All-Southeast District and GCAA All-Freshman Team honoree. The Titans have seen at least one player on a PING All-District Team every season since 2008, totaling 39 selections, and Sweeney (2015), Matt Gauntlett (2021), Adam Vermut (2023), and Smith (2026) have been GCAA All-Freshman Team members.
A 2019 NJCAA Men’s Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee and the 2019 Labron Harris Sr. Award recipient, Howell has earned District IV Coach of the Year from the NJCAA 10 times (2006-09, 2013, 2015-17, 2020, 2023). After the Titans posted a program-best runner-up finish at the 2015 NJCAA Division I National Championship, he was named the 2015 NJCAA Division I Dave Williams National Coach of the Year. He was again a finalist for the award in 2016 and the Golf Pride Grips District IV Coach of the Year after a T4 finish at the National Championship. 2019 was the first year NJCAA players were eligible for GCAA All-America Scholar recognition, and since then, Eastern Florida State has received 14 selections. They had three All-America Scholars each in 2020, 2022, and 2023, and among the recipients are Gauntlett (2022) and Vermut (2024).
Howell has also been the head golf coach for the Eastern Florida State women’s program since 2017. He’s guided the Titans to five consecutive trips to the NJCAA Division I National Championship, the program’s only-ever appearances, finishing inside the top eight each time. They carded program-best sixth-place finishes in their first trip in 2022 and their most recent trip this past May. The program hosted the Region VIII Championship in 2019 for the program’s first postseason participation. They’ve qualified for and finished inside the top four in their Region/District Championship every year that’s been held since. After collecting the program’s first tournament victory on April 2, 2019 at the Wallace State Spring Invitational, Eastern Florida State has won seven times since. They’ve been ranked inside the top six inside NJCAA Division I in every Scoreboard Powered by Clippd ranking since February 7, 2024. Eastern Florida State has had seven NJCAA All-America selections since 2022, with the program’s first coming from Morela Boyd as a Second Teamer in 2022. Sarah Knitter (2023), Mila Tang (2025-26), Ann Burel (2025-26), and Blair Powers (2026) complete the list. The Titans have received 24 WGCA All-American Scholar selections since the WGCA began recognizing NJCAA All-American Scholars in 2019-20. They had at least three in every season through 2024-25. The 2020-21 team was the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year for having the highest GPA across NJCAA women’s golf (3.76).
Author of Golf for Everyone, Howell has been an avid contributor to education and the game of golf for decades. A Class A PGA Member in the North Florida PGA Section, he has operated over 60 junior golf camps with a combined attendance of more than 1,000 since 1994. He has annually co-hosted the annual PJ Wilson and Henry Scott Minority Junior Golf Camp since 1994 and has hosted over 1,200 “Saturday Junior Hours” at Eastern Florida State completely free of charge. Howell has been an adjunct faculty member at Eastern Florida State College since 1998 and served as the athletic director from 2007 to 2009. He has graduated over 85% of his men’s golfers and was head coach of the 2006-07 Florida Community College Athletic Association (FCCAC) Male Team Sports Academic Award recipient. Howell has served two stints as NJCAA Division I Golf Coaches Association President (2014-16, 2023-26), earning the 2026 Walter Hauck NJCAA Coaches Association President of the Year award that acknowledges “an NJCAA Coaches Association President for their many years of dedicated service, devotion, and commitment to the NJCAA organization.” He was also a NJCAA Southeast District Committee member for 18 years (2008-25) and has served on numerous GCAA committees, including the National Advisory Board and Arnold Palmer Cup Selection Committee. He continues serving on the Labron Harris Sr. Award committee as a past recipient and has served on GCAA NJCAA National Awards committees since the inception of GCAA NJCAA awards in 2007.
Inducted into the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2018, Howell grew up in Branchville, N.J. and has been a resident of Rockledge, Fla. for the past 40 years. Before his coaching/teaching career began, he played as a member of the European Tour from 1988 to 1990.
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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 170 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.gcaa.coach/awards/hall-of-fame.