Bruce Brockbank is winding up his legendary coaching career by leading BYU to an NCAA regional

“It’s been a privilege to be able to coach there and be around these kids on a daily basis.”

Said BYU athletic director Brian Santiago in a statement when Brockbank’s retirement was announced: “Bruce Brockbank has made an incredible impact over his years at BYU and leaves a legacy that will long be remembered

“Bruce 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 Bruce’s hall-of-fame career at the conclusion of the season.“

From BYU’s announcement of Brockbank’s retirement, “Over 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.

“Brockbank 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 State’s highly successful golf coach, who noted that his own experience at BYU as a student-athlete led him into coaching.”

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.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to stay out of the way, and let them do their work, and it’s just fun to be able to associate and watch kids grow,” Brockbank said.

“I’ve 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.”

The Cougars will have their work cut out for them in Georgia. They’ll face No. 1 ranked Auburn, the top seed in the field. As a No. 4 seed, this is BYU’s 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, Georgia’s home course, is a 7,258-yard, par 71 course with a 75.1 rating.

“There are some awesome teams and, like every regional, it’s going to be loaded. You have to find a way to finish in one of the five spots to advance,” Brockbank said.

“Our team has had some success recently in regionals. Our confidence is high, but it doesn’t matter what you are ranked or where you are seeded because everyone is fighting hard to advance.”

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 don’t 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.

“There’s a reason those teams that play Bermuda a lot seem to get the ball closer when chipping,” said Brockbank. “There’s an art to it, and teams in the East are used to it.”

Brockbank.

BYU is lucky to have had him wearing that Cougar cap all these years. The coach said he’s going to shift gears, be a grandpa and stay home more, but don’t be surprised if he shows up on tee boxes around the state.

It’s in his blood.