Coastal Carolina letterman Jacob Wilner recently completed his third season leading the Chanticleers' men's golf program in 2025-26 after guiding the program to a Sun Belt Conference championship, a conference runner-up finish and NCAA postseason appearances during his first three seasons at the helm.
In 2025-26, Wilner led the Chanticleers to a runner-up finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championship after Coastal earned the No. 1 seed for match play by finishing atop the 54-hole stroke-play leaderboard at 14-under par, three shots clear of Arkansas State. The Chants advanced to the championship match and finished as the conference runner-up.
Coastal placed three student-athletes on the 2026 All-Sun Belt Conference Team, highlighted by senior Max Bengtsson's first-team selection. Junior Jack Lee and sophomore Drew Sykes each earned second-team all-conference honors.
Bengtsson captured individual medalist honors at the Sun Belt Conference Championship and later represented Coastal Carolina at the NCAA Athens Regional, where he tied for 28th place at 2-under par. Sykes also earned an individual selection to the NCAA Athens Regional. Bengtsson capped his stellar career with the lowest scoring average in program history, posting a 71.62 stroke average over 63 career rounds.
The previous season, Wilner guided Coastal Carolina to the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Championship and the program's first NCAA Regional appearance since 2018. The Chanticleers earned the No. 1 seed for match play after posting the lowest team score during stroke play and defeated Troy in the semifinals before downing Arkansas State in the championship match to capture the program's second Sun Belt title.
Under Wilner's guidance, Bengtsson was named the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Newcomer of the Year and earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors, while Sykes garnered third-team all-conference recognition.
During the 2024-25 campaign, Wilner guided the Chanticleers to three top-five finishes, including third-place showings at the J.T. Poston Invitational and the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.
In his second season, Wilner led the Chants to a runner-up finish at the General Hackler Championship and a fifth-place finish at the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship. Coastal also posted sixth-place finishes at the Golfweek Conference Challenge and the Daniel Island Intercollegiate.
Wilner saw Seth Taylor earn first-team All-Sun Belt honors for the second consecutive season while concluding his career among the program's all-time greats with 18 rounds in the 60s and 54 career rounds at par or better.
In 2022-23, Wilner guided the Chanticleers to the J.T. Poston Invitational team title and four additional top-five finishes, including a fifth-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championship. He also coached sophomore Trey Crenshaw to the individual title at the Golfweek Fall Challenge, where Crenshaw shot a program-record 18-under-par 198.
In his first season as head coach, Wilner watched Taylor record three runner-up finishes, including at the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Championship. Taylor finished the event at seven-under-par 209 and earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors.
Named the 2021-22 Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Coach of the Year, Wilner returned to his alma mater after 13 seasons as head coach at the University of Nevada, where he led the Wolf Pack to four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances in each of his final four seasons.
In 2021-22, Nevada finished ninth at an NCAA Regional for the second time in four years, just two spots shy of matching the program's best regional finish of seventh. The Wolf Pack did not finish outside the top 10 in any tournament during the season and recorded a program-record team scoring average of 283.42.
During his tenure, Nevada posted eight of the program's 15-best single-season scoring averages, including each of the top five marks in school history.
Over his final five seasons, the Wolf Pack finished among the top 75 teams in the Golfstat rankings, including a No. 34 finish in 2021-22, the second-highest national ranking in program history.
Wilner coached five of the top six single-season scorers in Nevada history, including Quim Vidal Mora (70.03), A.J. Lintunen (71.28) and Peyton Callens (71.67). He also mentored five of the top six career scoring leaders in program history.
Under his leadership, six golfers earned Mountain West Conference first-team all-conference honors, including Grant Booth, Joey Vrzich, Sam Harned, Peyton Callens, A.J. Lintunen and Quim Vidal Mora.
Before being promoted to head coach in 2011-12, Wilner spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Nevada. In 2009-10, the Wolf Pack posted six top-five finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Western Athletic Conference Championship and a team title at the Saint Mary's Invitational at Poppy Hills Golf Course.
During his first season on staff in 2008-09, Wilner helped guide the men's team to five top-five finishes, including a victory at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational. He also assisted the women's program, which recorded three top-five finishes and an individual championship at the Northwest Inland Cup.
Before arriving at Nevada, Wilner spent more than seven years as a golf instructor, including serving as a lead instructor at the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C. He also worked at golf facilities throughout Southern California and Myrtle Beach, including three years as an assistant golf professional at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.
A 2001 Coastal Carolina graduate with a bachelor's degree in recreation and leisure service management, Wilner was a four-year letterwinner for the Chanticleers. He earned All-Big South honors in 1999-2000, helped Coastal rank fourth nationally in scoring average in 1999 and set the program's then-54-hole scoring record with a 205.
Wilner finished runner-up at the 2000 Big South Conference Championship while helping lead the Chanticleers to their fourth consecutive conference title.
A native of Coral Springs, Fla., Wilner graduated from J.P. Taravella High School. He and his wife, Amanda, met while attending Coastal Carolina and have one daughter, Violet.
