Clemson, S.C.—Clemson Head Coach Larry Penley has been named the Golf Pride Grips East Region Coach of the Year by the College Golf Coaches Association. It is the seventh time Penley has been the recipient of the award. He won the organization’s National Coach of the Year in 2003 when he led the Tigers to the National Championship.
Penley also won the award from the Coaches Association in 1988, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, and 2016.
Other coaches named Regional Coach of the Year for 2018 include Greg Nye of Penn State (Northeast), Nick Clinard of Auburn (Southeast), Mike Small of Illinois (Midwest), Alan Bratton of Oklahoma State (Central), and Matt Thurmond of Arizona State (West). Bratton, who coached Oklahoma State to the National Championship, was named the National Coach of the Year.
This recently concluded season, Penley led the Tigers to a No. 13 finish at the NCAA Tournament in Stillwater, Okla. The Tigers also finished second at the NCAA Regional in Bryan, Texas and second at the ACC Tournament at New London, NC.
The Tigers won two tournaments during the regular season, the Puerto Rico Classic and the Irish Creek Invitational. Clemson finished first or second in all six of its spring tournaments leading up to the NCAA National Championship.
For his career, Penley has won 76 tournaments, second most in ACC history behind Jesse Haddock’s 83 at Wake Forest. He has guided Clemson to the NCAA Tournament all 35 years he has been Clemson’s head coach, including 28 trips to the NCAA National Tournament. That includes a 21-year streak from 1984-2004 that is the third longest streak for a coach in NCAA history.
Clemson has been to the national tournament four consecutive years, one of 10 schools that can make that claim.
Penley coached three All-region players this year in Bryson Nimmer, Doc Redman and Turk Pettit. Al-America teams will be announced June 21. Redman won the United States Amateur last August, joining Chris Patton as the only Clemson golfers to win that prestigious tournament.
