2018 SUN BELT COACH OF THE YEAR
2018 SUN BELT CHAMPIONS
Jim Garren was named the head men’s golf coach at Coastal Carolina on July 20, 2017. Since stepping on campus, the 2018 Sun Belt Men’s Golf Coach of the Year has made an immediate impact in leading the Chanticleers to move up 43 spots nationally in his first two years despite revamped schedules that have seen the Chanticleers playing against the nation’s best nationwide.
Not only have the Chants moved up nationally over his time as head coach, finishing the 2018-19 season as high as No. 60 overall, but Garren’s teams have also won five team tournament titles, including the 2018 Sun Belt Men’s Golf Championship, and recorded 15 top-five team finishes overall.
Since taking over the program, the Chanticleers have been represented in three NCAA Regionals with the 2020 NCAA Championships being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a team, the Chants competed in the 2018 NCAA Kissimmee Regional, while Zack Taylor played in both the 2019 NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional and the 2021 NCAA Noblesville Regional events.
He has coached six Chants that rank in the top-15 in Coastal Carolina history in individual career scoring average - Zack Taylor (71.66, first), Morgan Deneen (73.43, fourth), States Fort (73.84, 11th), Thadd Obecny II (73.88, 12th), and Luis Ruiz (74.00, 14th) - while Seth Taylor unofficially ranks ninth overall at 73.69 after three seasons at CCU.
Under Garren’s tutelage, the Chants have had two Sun Belt Newcomers of the Year in Morgan Deneen (2018) and Zack Taylor (2019), a Sun Belt individual tournament champion in Deneen (2018), and eight All-Sun Belt selections in Zack Taylor (2019 and 2021), Fort (2021), Seth Taylor (2021), Wes Artac (2019), Deneen (2018), Ruiz (2018), and Obecny II (2018).
Zack Taylor was tabbed a Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA)/Ping All-Region selection back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, while a total of five student-athletes have earned GCAA All-America Scholar recognition since Garren’s arrival, including a program-record three GCAA All-America Scholars in 2018.
Garren's teams have posted five of the top-15 team single-season scoring averages in program history (289.30 - 2018-19; 289.81 - 2017-18; 298.84 - 2019-20; 291.52, 2020-21; and 294.33 - 2021-22).
In 2021-22, the Chants posted a team stroke average of 294.33 over 30 rounds of play in perhaps their toughest schedule to date. The Chanticleers posted three top-10 team finishes on the season, placing 10th overall at the Desert Mountain Collegiate in Scottsdale, Ariz., before closing out the season with an eighth-place team finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Invitational hosted by Virginia and a fifth-place showing at the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship Tournament.
In an unprecedented time with the COVID-19 pandemic, Garren guided his team to a strong 2020-21 season in which the Chanticleers posted two team wins at the AGT Intercollegiate and the ECU Intercollegiate and recorded six top-five team finishes overall on the season. The two team tournament wins marked the first time that the Chanticleers as a team won two different tournaments in the same season since 2009-10.
The Chants also had three different golfers earn medalist honors on the season for the first time since 2013-14 when Sebastian Soderberg (Insperity Augusta State Invitational), Andrew Dorn (General Hackler Championship), and Ben Wheeler (2014 Big South Championship) all recorded a tournament win, as Tyler Gray won the Intercollegiate at the Grove event, States Fort ran away with the AGT Intercollegiate title, and Zack Taylor placed first at the ECU Intercollegiate in 2020-21.
CCU had three players earn Sun Belt Conference Men's Golfer of the Week honors in 2020-21 in States Fort (Feb. 17), Zack Taylor (March 18), and Garret Cooper (April 8), while three Chants also picked up Sun Belt All-Conference accolades in Zack Taylor (first team), States Fort (third team), and Seth Taylor (third team). Zack Taylor and Seth Taylor both recorded a runner-up finish at the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship with matching 54-hole tournament scores of 223, +7.
The 2020-21 team also turned in the second-lowest 18-hole team score in tournament history with a third-round 270, 18-under par, at the AGT Intercollegiate in February 2021, as well as the fourth-lowest round at 273, 15-under par, at the Stitch Intercollegiate in April.
In the shortened 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Chanticleers posted five top-10 team finishes highlighted by a 54-hole team score of 846, -18 under par, at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate. As a team, the Chants' season stroke average of 289.84 ranks as the fifth-lowest in school history.
The 2019-20 Chants posted the second-best par-4 (4.1582) and par-5 (4.7769) scoring averages in single-season history with both marks behind only the 2006-07 team.
Senior Zack Taylor became just the second Chant to win the annual home tournament, the General Hackler Championship, with a 54-hole score of 208, 8-under par, while posting a season scoring average of 70.79, the second-lowest in CCU's single-season history.
Taylor went on to earn GCAA/Ping All-Region honors for the second-straight season, becoming just the third Chant in CCU history to earn the regional accolade more than once in his career.
Led by a pair of newcomers in Artac and Taylor, who both earned All-Sun Belt accolades, the Chants posted four top-five team finishes in 2018-19, including winning the 2019 Furman Intercollegiate with a 54-hole team score of 845, -7 under par.
As a team, the Chants posted a program-record low round of 267, 7-under par, at the 2019 Sun Belt Championship, in which Coastal finished runner-up, as well as a program-record low 54-hole team score of 825, 27-under par, for the three rounds of play at the conference championship tournament.
The Chanticleers also turned in tournament team scores of 845, 7-under par, at the Furman Intercollegiate, tied for the fourth-lowest 54-hole team score in CCU history, as well as a 54-hole team score of 847, 17-under par, at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate, tied for the seventh-best three-round tournament score in the program’s annals.
Taylor went on to compete in the 2019 NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional as an individual and earned GCAA/Ping All-Region honors, the first for Coastal since Sebastian Soderberg in 2013. On top of being tabbed the 2019 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year, Taylor picked up first-team All-Sun Belt honors, while Artac earned second-team accolades in his lone year as a Chant.
A pair of Chants in Deneen and States Fort were named GCAA All-America Scholars, while as a team Coastal was recognized as a GCAA All-Academic Team for the second-straight year.
Coastal won the 2018 Sun Belt Championship in record-setting fashion, made the team's first NCAA Regional appearance since 2011, and posted one of the program's best statistical seasons in school history in 2018. For that, Garren was voted the 2018 Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
However, how Garren led CCU to success was the story, as the Chants were coming off a down season in 2016-17, and Garren had to recruit two golfers from the school's PGA Golf Management Program to help fill out the roster.
One of those recruited walk-ons was Deneen, who won the 2018 Sun Belt Championship and was voted the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year. Deneen was also voted first-team All-Sun Belt. Fellow Chant Ruiz earned second-team honors and Obecny II was a third-team pick.
Coastal opened the fall by shooting par or better in 10-of-12 rounds with three top-five finishes. A tough spring schedule saw the Chants struggle in terms of team finishes but was the proving ground the team needed to make a strong run at season's end. Coastal only had one top-five finish in the spring when the team cruised to win the stroke play portion of the championship by 26 strokes, shooting an 845 for the third-best, 54-hole score in CCU history. The Chants then defeated South Alabama, 3-2, in the semifinals of match play and posted a convincing 4-1 victory over Georgia Southern in the final. The Chants then ran up against a strong field at the NCAA Kissimmee Regional and, despite shooting a 5-under 859, the Chants placed 10th overall.
For the year, Coastal's scoring average was 289.806, the third-best in school history, while the team's 3.1221 stroke average on par 3's was a CCU record.
Also, CCU's 36 rounds of par or better ranked second on the CCU single-season list, while the 4.1935 scoring on par 4's was third, the 523 birdies was fourth and the 4.8938 scoring average on par 5's was 11th in school history.
Garren came to Coastal Carolina after helping Oklahoma to three-straight NCAA Championship appearances and the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship title as the Sooners' assistant coach.
In his first season at OU in 2014-15, Garren helped lead the Sooners to a 20-stroke victory at the NCAA San Diego Regional and the team went on to place 28th at the NCAA Championship. Garren then helped the Sooners take a step forward the following year (2015-16), as Oklahoma advanced to the match play round at the NCAA finals for the first time in program history, reaching the quarterfinals. The Sooners not only made it back to match play in 2017 but also advanced to become national champions with a 3-1-1 victory over Oregon in the final match.
Garren also helped several Sooners earn postseason honors. In 2014-15, a pair of Sooners in Michael Gellerman and Grant Hirschman received All-America recognition, named third-team and honorable mention, respectively. The following year, Max McGreevy was tabbed third-team All-America. In his final season at OU in 2016-17, four Sooners – McGreevy, Hirschman, Brad Dalke, and Blaine Hale – earned honorable mention All-America accolades.
Garren joined OU after a one-year stint as the assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. In that one year, Garren helped New Mexico to four tournament wins, including a Mountain West Conference championship and an NCAA Regional appearance. New Mexico’s Gavin Green was named a second-team All-American while being the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and individual champion.
Prior to his time at New Mexico, Garren spent five seasons as the assistant men’s golf coach and director of recruiting at Southern Mississippi. Over his tenure, the Golden Eagles established five team records and produced four academic All-America scholars after having just two prior to Garren’s arrival. The program also shaped two academic all-conference selections, one first-team All-Conference USA selection in Paul Apyan (2010) and one second-team All-CUSA selection in Derek Plucienksi (2011).
Garren began his collegiate golfing career as a member of the Wallace State Junior College team in 2003. While at Wallace State, he helped lead the team to a No. 3 national ranking in NJCAA Division I. Garren then transferred to Kennesaw State, where he earned his degree in sports management in 2008.
The Cartersville, Ga., native was a three-time Georgia High School State Champion at Cartersville High School. He was a two-time qualifier for the Atlanta Open and also earned alternate status through qualifying for the 2005 U.S. Open.
Garren's Coaching History
2008-13 - Southern Mississippi assistant coach
• 2010 NCAA Regional berth
• 2011 individual reached NCAA Championship
2013-14 - New Mexico assistant coach
• 2014 Mountain West Champions
• 2014 NCAA Regional berth
2014-17 - Oklahoma assistant coach
• 2015 NCAA Championship (28th) – NCAA Regional Champion
• 2016 NCAA Championship (match play quarterfinals)
• 2017 NCAA Champion
2017-present – Coastal Carolina head coach
• 2018 Sun Belt Coach of the Year
• 2018 Sun Belt Champions
• 2018 NCAA Kissimmee Regional
• 2019 individual reached NCAA Regional
• 2021 individual reached NCAA Regional
