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Bruce Brockbank is retiring as BYU's head men's golf coach after 40 years. His final season culminates with the No. 24-ranked BYU team competing in the NCAA regionals at the University of Georgia Golf Course.
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BYU head men's golf coach Bruce Brockbank. | Jaren Wilkey/BYU
Bruce Brockbank has spent 40 years trying to get to the NCAA golf regionals, and a week from Monday, his No. 24-ranked BYU team will make it.
It will be his last.
Brockbank will officially retire as BYUâs head golf coach at the end of the season, and this trip to the regional at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens will wrap up a remarkable career filled with conference championships, tournament wins, All-America players, trophies, medals and tens of thousands of miles traveled.
This year, heâs got a solidly built team, players familiar with the winnerâs circle and photo ops holding hardware, led by one of the best players in the country, freshman sensation Kihei Akina.
âIâve been fortunate to have had some great guys, right?â said Brockbank on Friday.
Iâve been covering Brockbank since he played at Timpview High School as a junior member at Riverside Country Club with his brother Scott and other T-Bird stars like Chuck OâBrien.
Their mothers would call us at The Provo Daily Herald to be sure we had results of junior tournaments for the scoreboard page or a two-paragraph story.
Crazy. Here, I write about his retirement.
Brockbank is one of only a few golfers to have won the grueling week-long Utah State Amateur championship two times in his life. He is a member of the Utah Section of the PGA, although he has not played competitively in years.
He began his coaching career as an assistant to his own golf coach, the late legend Karl Tucker, at BYU. Brockbank started as a student-athlete on the golf team in 1985, was hired as an assistant coach in 1988 and installed as the head coach of BYU menâs golf in 1992.
He is a humble, kind and generous man, whose personality is easy to play with and compete alongside. His record as a college coach has been impressive.
Continuing the tradition Tucker started, Brockbank makes calls to some of his famous alums, including Johnny Miller, Pat McGowan, Keith Clearwater and Mike Reid to return to Provo for Cougar Day, and they regularly answer the call and come.
He has regularly called upon PGA Tour star Tony Finau to appear for clinics and fundraisers and Finau has participated.
âEvery year you have just tremendous student-athletes that come from great families,â Brockbank said. âIâve been fortunate at BYU to have a system and university where they expect a lot from their athletes because of what it stands for.
Bruce Brockbank has built a remarkable legacy at BYU, leading the team to numerous conference championships and producing All-America players over his 40-year career.
Bruce Brockbank's last NCAA regional with BYU is scheduled for a week from Monday at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens.
Bruce Brockbank has been the head men's golf coach at BYU for 40 years.
BYU's golf team is currently ranked No. 24 as they head into the NCAA regionals.
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âItâs been a privilege to be able to coach there and be around these kids on a daily basis.â
Said BYU athletic director Brian Santiago in a statement when Brockbankâs retirement was announced: âBruce Brockbank has made an incredible impact over his years at BYU and leaves a legacy that will long be remembered
âBruce is revered in the college golf world and has represented BYU with class and character as a remarkable ambassador for everything BYU stands for. He has been all in on BYU and has always done things the right way. We look forward to celebrating Bruceâs hall-of-fame career at the conclusion of the season.â
From BYUâs announcement of Brockbankâs retirement, âOver the span of his head coaching career, Brockbank led his teams to 68 tournament victories and 25 NCAA Regional appearances. His teams won seven conference championships.
âBrockbank coached 24 all-Americans. He was a BYU assistant coach when Masters champion Mike Weir played for the Cougars. As head coach, his first recruit was Matt Thurmond, now Arizona Stateâs highly successful golf coach, who noted that his own experience at BYU as a student-athlete led him into coaching.â
The PGA Tour players Brockbank has had under his wing at BYU include Dean Wilson, Brad Sutterfield, Daniel Summerhays, Zac Blair, Patrick Fishburn and Peter Kuest. Clay Ogden won the U.S. Amateur Public Links title as a BYU golfer.
Brockbank was named conference coach of the year seven times and is a four-time GCAA District VII Coach of the Year.
Asked about his players, his coaching, his philosophy and his impact on his golfers, he keeps it simple as to what works.
âSometimes youâve just got to stay out of the way, and let them do their work, and itâs just fun to be able to associate and watch kids grow,â Brockbank said.
âIâve always believed that 90 percent of the play is going to come from the players and then we can offer them that other 10 percent which is opportunities, places to be, schedules, tournaments, trips and all of that helps them go where they want to be. Only a small few make it to the next level in golf, but many become successful businessmen, fathers and husbands.â
The Cougars will have their work cut out for them in Georgia. Theyâll face No. 1 ranked Auburn, the top seed in the field. As a No. 4 seed, this is BYUâs 28th appearance in a regional.
The 13 teams playing alongside BYU will consist of No. 1 Auburn, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Vanderbilt, host Georgia, Louisville, Kansas, Northwestern, College of Charleston, Rice, Southern Miss, Harvard and Howard.
UGA Golf Course, Georgiaâs home course, is a 7,258-yard, par 71 course with a 75.1 rating.
âThere are some awesome teams and, like every regional, itâs going to be loaded. You have to find a way to finish in one of the five spots to advance,â Brockbank said.
âOur team has had some success recently in regionals. Our confidence is high, but it doesnât matter what you are ranked or where you are seeded because everyone is fighting hard to advance.â
Brockbank has never seen the Georgia course, but he called Georgia Tech golf coach Bruce Helper the other day for a scouting report.
He learned the course is very long with big, slopey greens. The Bermuda grass will be a challenge because the Cougars donât play on that surface often and it makes a big difference in chipping the ball around the green because there tend to be fluffy lies.
âThereâs a reason those teams that play Bermuda a lot seem to get the ball closer when chipping,â said Brockbank. âThereâs an art to it, and teams in the East are used to it.â
Brockbank.
BYU is lucky to have had him wearing that Cougar cap all these years. The coach said heâs going to shift gears, be a grandpa and stay home more, but donât be surprised if he shows up on tee boxes around the state.
Itâs in his blood.