Note: The following appears in the LSU football gameday program.
You can make the claim that the decision to come to Clemson by most of the great Tiger basketball players in the last 45 years could be traced to Tree Rollins. The impact of the All-American on the program in the mid-1970s was monumental.
However, did you know Rollins also had an impact on Larry Penley’s decision to come to Clemson?
Penley will be inducted into the Clemson Ring of Honor today. His near 50-year relationship with Clemson and the men’s golf program was clinched on his official visit weekend from Feb. 22-24, 1977. One of his highlights of that weekend was attending the Clemson vs. Duke men’s basketball game.
The Tigers were having an outstanding season, and Rollins was the biggest reason. A sellout crowd watched Rollins have a dominant performance that included the first triple-double in program history against an ACC opponent. Rollins had 16 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks against Duke’s future first-round NBA draft pick Mike Gminski.
“It seemed like Tree put almost every one of Gminski’s shots in the fifth row,” recalled Penley with a smile. “It was a great game and the crowd was so into it. By the end of the weekend, I was sold on Clemson.”
The golf coach who recruited Penley to Clemson was Bobby Robinson.
“My story at Clemson starts with Bobby Robinson,” said Penley. “He took a chance on me twice, first as a player in 1977 and then as a coach in 1983.”
Penley was a four-year starter under Robinson between 1977-81. He earned All-ACC honors as a senior in 1980-81 when he won two tournaments. Shortly after his eligibility was up, Robinson hired Penley to be the assistant coach, an unpaid position at the time.
“I was a couple of classes short of graduating, so I helped Bobby when I came back to finish.”
Penley served in that capacity for the spring of 1982 and the 1982-83 academic year. Those were very successful seasons, as the Tigers won the school’s first ACC title in April 1982 and had the program’s first top-five NCAA Tournament finish in the spring of 1983.
Robinson wore a lot of hats during that time. In addition to being the head coach, he was the No. 2 man in administration under Athletic Director Bill McLellan.
“He was doing the jobs that about 20 people do today,” said Penley. “One day, I went to his office and told him I hoped he coached the golf team forever, but if he ever wanted to concentrate on administration, I would love the opportunity to be the head coach some day.”
At the end of the 1982-83 academic year, he decided to make that move to solely work in administration. He was named athletic director two years later. He also believed Penley, at age 23, was ready to take over the head position.
“I was coaching players who had been my teammates, but I didn’t find it strange at all.”
The Tigers finished 19th in the nation his first year, the first of his school-record 25 finishes in the top 25.
That was his first of 38 seasons as head coach. He took Clemson to the NCAA Tournament all 37 years there was a tourney. His 37 NCAA Tournament seasons are second in ACC history across all sports and are one ahead of former Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s total.
During his career, Penley led Clemson to 83 tournament victories, more than any other golf coach in ACC history. Among the 83 wins were seven NCAA Regional victories, more than any other Division I coach, and 10 ACC titles. The win total was remarkable because Clemson played on its home course just twice.
Penley’s most noteworthy win came in 2003, when the Tigers won the NCAA title by beating Oklahoma State on the Cowboys’ home course. Clemson became the first school to win its conference, regional and national championship in the same year. It is the only spring sports national title in Tiger history.
“That was a great year, but it was stressful,” admitted Penley. “I can’t say it was my most enjoyable year, because we were ranked No. 1 every week. When we won the national championship, it was a feeling of relief. That night, I didn’t go out and celebrate, I just sat in the tub at the hotel and decompressed.”
His final season was also memorable and a bit more enjoyable. The Tigers won the ACC title and senior Turk Pettit won the NCAA individual championship.
“We were good, but we didn’t have the high expectations we had in 2003.”
Clemson was second after stroke play at the ACC Championship, then beat NC State and Florida State in match play.
“Turk winning the NCAAs was very special because his story was unique.”
As a freshman in 2018, Pettit had his clubs stolen before the NCAA Tournament, and he struggled so much at the national tournament that Penley took him out of the middle of the third round.
Then two years later, he won the championship.
“That was a great way to end my career,” added Penley.
