Mike Small Named Big Ten Coach of the Year
May 2, 2011 | Men's Golf
May 2, 2011
Park Ridge, Ill. - For the third straight season and fourth time in his career, Illinois' Mike Small has earned Big Ten Golf Coach of the Year. Small's club earned its third straight Big Ten title this past weekend and won its fifth tournament team title during the 2010-11 season.
In addition, the Big Ten announced its all-conference teams in men's golf. Senior Scott Langley and junior Luke Guthrie were named All-Big Ten first team while senior Chris DeForest was named second team All-Big Ten. Senior Clayton Parkhill was Illinois' representative on the Big Ten Sportsmanship Team.
Small, who also claimed the honor in 2002, 2009 and 2010, has guided Illinois into the national spotlight, regularly ranking among the top 10-15 teams in the nation, this week ranked 11th in the Golf World/Nike Coaches' Poll and 12th in Golfweek computer rankings. Because of its success, the Illini have been invited to many of the elite regular season tournaments competing against the top teams in the country. This year, for instance, Illinois faced 16 of the current top 25 teams, defeating nine of them. The Illini placed second in the Callaway Collegiate Match Play event, defeating No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 17 Texas Tech in the process.
Illinois has won 21 team titles while its players have amassed 15 individual medalist honors in the past four years. The Illini are also one of just 11 teams to have reached the NCAA Championship finals in each of the past three seasons, trying to make it four straight later this month. Small's Coach of the Year honor comes on the heels of claiming his third PGA Professional Player of the Year honor in January.
Guthrie won his third tournament title of the season and became the Illini's first Big Ten medalist since 1999 when he claimed a one stroke victory over second-place Chris Brant of Iowa. He defeated a national field at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational in October and sank a 30-footer for birdie to tie for the championship at the historic Robert Kepler Intercollegiate a week ago. Guthrie is 18th in the latest Golfweek computer rankings. Of the nine stroke-play events this season, the junior from Quincy, Ill., has posted six top-10 finishes.
Langley, the 2010 NCAA champion has also been near the top at most event this season, finishing in the top 10 in six of the nine events this season, including a fifth-place at the Big Ten Championship. He is one of 10 players to be named a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award honoring the top collegiate player in the country. His 72.44 career stroke average is the best in school history, while his 72.80 season stroke average is eighth in school history. Langley is ranked 13th in the World Amateur Rankings.
DeForest has five individual tournament victories, second only to Steve Stricker in Illinois history. He won the D.A. Weibring Invitational for the second time in his career and earned his fifth career Big Ten Golfer of the Week honor after winning all four of his matches at the Callaway Collegiate Match Play. He placed in the top 10 in all four of his Big Ten Championships for his career, which included a tie for fifth this year. He won the 2010 Les Bolstad Award for the lowest stroke average in the conference during the regular season and ranks fifth in career stroke average in school history.
