New Golf Head Coach Brad Caldwell has impressive first year, future looks promising
Sammy Dewey, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of ngcrusaders.com
As the North Greenville University golf team wrapped up the season this past week, teammates are very excited about Brad Caldwell’s first season as the new associate head coach of both the men and women’s golf teams.
Caldwell was born on September 16, 1988 in Asheville, N.C. and graduated from Tuscola High School in Waynesville, N.C. While in high school he played basketball, soccer and won the NCHSAA 3-A state championship in 2006 on the men’s golf team.
He is also an alumnus of NGU, graduating in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Sport Management. In college he continued his golfing career being a 4-year letterman and is only one of three other athletes to come through the athletic department at NGU as an NCAA All-American. Caldwell also just recently earned the first Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year award for the program and coached one of his players to a Player of the Year award as well.
Coach Caldwell also still competes at a professional level playing in the NGA Professional Tour, eGolf Professional Tour, Carolinas Professional Golf Tour, Peach State Tour and the Monday qualifiers for the Web.com and PGA Tour as well.
A couple of players, one from both the men and women’s team have also expressed their gratitude and how they feel about Caldwell looking forward as he continues to coach the program.
Senior AnnaLeis Dibert, an All-Conference Third Team player, says, “[Caldwell] has been in the program for a number of years, as a player and as an assistant coach and now head coach. He has taken this golf program farther than any other coach has done. The men’s team is going to the NCAA D2 Southeast Regional tournament for the first time in school history.”
This year’s graduates are Coach Caldwell’s first recruiting class and most certainly has the program headed in the right direction.
“We are blessed to have [Caldwell] as a coach. We would not be nationally ranked or in position to go to the Division II National Championship without his leadership. He pushes us every day at practice to perform at our very best and has been a positive influence in my life both on and off the golf course,” says senior All-Conference First Team player Tucker MacDonald.
As this school year comes to a close, both golf teams have nothing but high expectations for next season.
“The future of the program is very bright with someone like Caldwell as the head coach. With his golf background and his passion for the game, a National Championship is very attainable,” says Dibert.
